The Spanish energy group Endesa made a profit of 2,541 million euros last year, an increase of 77% compared to 2021, the company announced on Friday.
Endesa attributes the 2022 result in part to “the good behavior of the gas business” in a year marked by the increased production of electricity using gas, in combined cycle power plants.
This increase in electricity production using gas was due to the need to offset the effects of the drought in the Iberian Peninsula (which affected hydroelectric generation, which depends on water stored in dams) and the closure of French nuclear power plants (allowing energy exports to France from Spain).
Endesa says the 2022 results are also due to a “lesser deterioration in business” of the company outside the Iberian Peninsula, compared to 2021.
The company is the largest Spanish electricity company and the second in gas distribution in Spain.
In Portugal, Endesa produces and distributes electricity after winning the tender for the conversion of the Pego power plant (Abrantes) last year with an investment project of 600 million euros.
Endesa also has projects in Portugal to generate solar energy in the Algarve and at the Alto Rabagão dam (Montalegre).
In a statement on the 2022 results released this Friday, the company emphasizes that it invested 2,343 million euros last year, 8% more than in 2021 and the highest amount ever in Endesa’s history.
In 2023, the company expects to increase the value of investments by 20%.
Endesa’s turnover in 2022 amounted to 32,896 million euros, 57% more than in 2021.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to 5,327 million euros, 25% more than in 2021.
Endesa ended 2022 with 10.5 million electricity supply customers in Portugal and Spain.
“We have successfully overcome one of the most challenging exercises in recent years, both due to the market context and regulatory interventions”says the executive president of Endesa, José Bogas, quoted in the communiqué released this Friday.
In the note, the company emphasizes that 2022 saw “the deepest energy crisis in recent decades” as a result of the Russian attack on Ukraine, and that last year was also “marked by numerous regulatory measures, both at European and Spanish level. “.
In particular, Endesa refers to the extraordinary and temporary tariff on energy companies’ revenues approved by the government of Spain, as the executive believes that extraordinary profits due to the rise in inflation are at stake.
The company challenged this fee in the Spanish court, deeming it “unjustified and discriminatory”, according to the statement released today by Endesa.
Source: DN
