French renewables company Voltalia’s financial performance last year was boosted by the growth of its project development, construction and equipment procurement segment, as the company heightened its focus on developing solar PV.
Revenues for 2021 were up 71% year-on-year to €398.6 million (US$439 million) as revenues from project development, construction and supply of equipment more than doubled. The firm said the increase in construction and equipment supply was driven by external sales in markets such as Portugal, Greece and France.
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Although normalised EBITDA jumped 55% on 2020 to €156.5 million, it was below the prior guidance of €170 million as some disposals of projects under development in Brazil will not be recognised in the accounts until 2022. Without this delay, the company said the earnings target would have been met.
Voltalia’s portfolio of projects under development, intended to be retained or sold with construction and maintenance services, totalled 11.1GW, up 14% on 2020, with solar’s share of the total increasing from 61% in 2020 to 67% last year.
In terms of renewables capacity in operation and under construction, this increased 34% year-on-year to 1.7GW. Installed solar capacity jumped 25% to 304MW as the company bolstered its PV portfolio in markets such as Brazil, the UK, Portugal, Italy and Belgium.
Of the more than 588MW of renewables Voltalia has under construction, the bulk of capacity is solar PV, including the 320MW SSM1&2 plant in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte and the 50MW South Farm solar farm in the UK, which began construction last year and is backed by a power purchase agreement with the City of London Corporation.
Also in the UK, Voltalia announced earlier this year that its 32MW/32MWh Hallen battery energy storage system near Bristol has been commissioned, releasing its first power into the grid in December.
The company is now working on increasing its portfolio of renewables projects in operation and under construction to 2.6GW by the end of 2023.
CEO Sébastien Clerc said the firm is reaffirming its 2023 ambitions “with a conviction reinforced by recent events that we must accelerate the growth of renewable, local, low-carbon and competitive energy, particularly in Europe”.
