French renewables company Voltalia has published its financial results for 2023, which include earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of €241.1 million (US$259 million), a 76% year-on-year increase.
The company’s turnover reached €495.2 million (US$531.9 million), an increase of 6% over 2022 figures, while net income reached €29.6 million (US$31.8 million), compared to the net loss of €7.2 million (US$7.7 million) that the company endured in 2022.
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Much of this growth stemmed from the company’s investments in solar, including a 230MW solar portfolio in Ireland, announced last August. Voltalia has also developed, and then divested from, a 42MW solar project in Mauritania, which includes a battery energy storage system (BESS) of 18MW/9MWh, and a 9MW solar facility in France. The company noted that its divestment from these assets helped protect it from a “decrease in solar panel prices that impact certain margins”.
Voltalia also has 461MW of new solar capacity under construction, across 11 countries, and the company now has 2.85GW of renewable capacity in operation and under construction, exceeding its target of 2.8GW announced in the third quarter of last year.
“Voltalia reaches or even exceeds its 2023 targets,” said CEO Sébastien Clerc. “This is the result of four years of commitment by the teams who, despite the emergence of Covid shortly after 2023 objectives setting, have enabled us to multiply plant capacity by 2.7, turnover by 3.3, EBITDA by 3.7 and net income group share by 6.4, between 2019 and 2023.”
Long-term solar plans
The company has made solar a key part of its long-term plans. The capacity of Voltalia’s solar portfolio exceeds that of its wind portfolio, with 1.4GW of solar capacity in operation as of the end of 2023, compared to 866MW of wind capacity. The vast majority – 773GW – of this wind capacity is also concentrated in Brazil, whereas the company owns more than 100GW of solar capacity in three countries – Brazil, France and Albania, and more than 50GW of capacity in a further four countries.
Alongside the financial results, Voltalia announced that, by 2030, its solar projects under construction will have a carbon intensity of -35%, compared to -4% in 2023, as it looks to prioritise the acquisition of “low-carbon” solar products, and incorporate them into its construction work.
The company also announced plans to ensure that all of its solar capacity would comply with the International Finance Corporation’s environmental and social sustainability standards, compared to just 44% of solar capacity that currently complies with these standards.
Looking ahead, Voltalia noted that it has received a “favourable legal decision” regarding the power generation the company lost following the August blackout in Brazil last year. At the time, Voltalia said that the blackout, and resulting production cap from the grid operator, had led to a “significant” impact on the company’s productivity in Brazil, where it operates 733MW of wind capacity and 711MW of solar capacity.
A Brazilian court granted Voltalia, and other renewable power producers such as EDPR, reimbursement of their lost finances, but the National Electric System Operator has requested a review of this decision, so the potential windfall has not been included in Voltalia’s latest financial figures.