Solar project developer and asset owner Photon Energy Group saw its revenue soar last quarter thanks to elevated power prices in Europe.
The company’s electricity sales revenue more than doubled in the third quarter of 2023 to €15 million (US$14.57 million), up from €6.5 million in Q3 2021.
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Those results build on a previous record quarter for the company when in Q2 2022 its revenue reached €10.9 million.
The revenue generated in July and August 2022 alone was 75.3% higher than Photon’s entire electricity revenues generated in Q3 2021.
As most of the company’s portfolio (83%) consists of selling electricity directly to the grid at market prices, it has so far generated €30.8 million of revenues in the nine first months of 2022, a 50% increase from the whole of 2021 that saw it make €19.4 million from electricity revenues.
Georg Hotar, CEO of Photon Energy Group, said: “The energy market environment fully validates our merchant strategy for our IPP portfolio and allows for the significant operating leverage in our business to become ever more visible.”
At the end of last month, European Union countries agreed to impose a cap on operational solar PV plants as part of a package of emergency measures aimed at reducing costs for consumers. Ministers from the bloc’s 27 member states agreed to cap the market revenues at €180/MWh (US$177/MWh) for ‘inframarginal’ electricity generators given the “unexpectedly large financial gains” such operators have made over the energy crisis.
However, individual member states are able to set a higher revenue cap if they see fit and SolarPower Europe said it is “deeply concerned” about patchwork implementation as it urged member states to stick to the EU-level cap of €180/MWh and apply the cap on net market revenues only. LevelTen has said a patchwork implementation of the EU’s power revenue cap could stall renewables development and dent investment.
Earlier this month, Photon secured a €28.1 million long-term refinancing for its 14.6MW Czech portfolio of nine power plants that were connected to the grid in 2009 and 2010.
Moreover, the company has a proprietary solar portfolio with a total capacity of 91.9MW, with seven plants currently under construction in Romania with a capacity of 28.3MWp. These projects are expected to be connected to the grid by the end of the year.
Including the projects in Romania, Photon Energy has a development pipeline of 892MW in its key markets in Central Eastern Europe (Romania, Hungary and Poland) and Australia.
The company has reinforced its 2022 financial guidance – which was increased during its Q2 results – for the year, with revenues of €85 million and an EBITDA of €24 million forecast, said Hotar.
PV Tech publisher Solar Media will be organising the second edition of Large Scale Solar CEE in Warsaw, Poland during 8-9 November. The event will focus on Eastern Europe with a packed programme of panels, presentations and fireside chats from industry leaders responsible for the build out of solar and storage projects in Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and Hungary.
