Quarter with results in line with the same period of the previous year and marked by REN’s first green bond emission

 
•             Renewable generation reached 78.7% of the total supply of electricity.
•             100% security of supply guaranteed
•             EBITDA falls around 3.8% to 114.4M€
•             Photovoltaic generation reached 750 MW
•             Natural Gas exports with new maximum of 828 GWh

REN - Redes Energéticas Nacionais reported a net profit of 4.5M€ in the first quarter of 2021, up 0.2M€year-on-year. This net profit was driven by the 2.9M€improvement in financial results and takes into account the full recognition of the  27.1M€ 2021 CESE. Net debt evolved favourably, with a reduction of 7.4% to 2,548M€.

EBITDA reached 114.4M€, a decrease of 3.8% compared to the same period in 2020. An amount impacted by the lower remuneration of the RAB (-2.5M€) and by a lower OPEX contribution stemming from the 1.4M€ increase in maintenance costs, mostly from work for rural fire protection and corridor reforestation.

 
CAPEX increased by 4.8M€ to 31.8M€, while transfers to the Regulated Asset Base increased by 2.8M€ to 7.7M€. It should be noted that the pandemic continues to have an impact on the company's activity, creating a few delays in projects under development.

At the beginning of April, REN held its first issue of 'Green Bonds', in the amount of 300 million euros, maturing in eight years, and with demand five times greater than supply. The issue came two months after the company was certified by the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS-ESG) with the Prime rating, considering that the company makes a 'significant contribution to the achievement of the sustainable development goals'.

Regarding renewable energies, REN signed bilateral agreements for the connection to the grid of 14 solar plants that will total a solar installed capacity of 3.5 GW. 

Service quality remained at the same very high level of the first quarter of 2020, both for electricity and Natural Gas, with 0.00 min. of electricity interruption time and a combined natural gas availability rate of around 100%. 

This morning, at the Capital Markets Day, REN will present its strategy for the 2021-2024 period.
 
 
All-time highs in consumption, generation of renewables and gas exports
 
The total consumption of electricity during the first three months of 2021 showed a slight reduction compared to the same period in 2020 (decrease of 0.5%, or 1.6% when correcting for the effects of temperature and working days). Even so, there were high consumption peaks, with the monthly value for January reaching the highest peak ever, given the cold spell.

Regarding natural gas, domestic consumption decreased by 2.4 TWh (-14% YoY), a value consistent with the higher electricity production from renewable sources, and resulting 45% decrease in the power generation segment. However, in this quarter, the National System reached a new monthly high in natural gas exports, with 828 GWh, and also the highest ever daily value with 47.7 GWh. During this period, Portugal was supplied predominantly from the Sines LNG Terminal.

In the first quarter of 2021, renewable generation supplied 78.7% of the electricity consumption(approximately +10 pp compared to the first quarter of 2020), reaching 88% during February (including the exporting balance). This latest renewable percentage represents the highest value since April 1979. Photovoltaics, although yet without a very significant share, continues to grow, reaching, on 21 March, its highest peak ever with 750 MW.

In March, REN presented a globally innovative solution that will soon enable electric vehicles to be charged through Very High Voltage (VHV) electricity Transmission Grids. Developed by REN, charging electric vehicles from VHV is effective with regard to costs and charging time, compared to traditional solutions for this type of service.

This quarter, REN became the most recent member of Hydrogen Europe, an institution that represents the hydrogen and fuel cell sector at the European level, and that includes over 150 companies, including the main TSOs.

At the beginning of this year, REN was included in the 2021 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI), which includes 380 other companies from 11 different sectors.