Completion of 390 MW Benban projects crowns impressive quarter for Scatec Solar

Oslo-based power provider Scatec Solar has continued its steady growth in terms of installed capacity and financial results.

Just days ahead of publication of the company’s third-quarter results, Scatec celebrated completing its 390 MW section of Egypt’s Benban solar complex. Six 65 MW sections of bifacial and tracking solar arrays have been commissioned at the 1.8 GW park near Aswan.

“We have been a pioneer in Egypt since 2013 and been supporting the country’s efforts to increase generation capacity and increase the share of renewables in its energy mix,” said Raymond Carlsen, CEO of Scatec Solar.  “I’m very proud that we have completed our largest project ever. Constructing a total of six solar plants in just over 16 months is a major achievement for everyone involved.”

Impressive returns

In the last quarter alone, the company reached commercial operation on 217 MW of solar generation capacity in Egypt, Ukraine and Mozambique. The completion of the Egyptian plant and several other projects, some of them in the ‘above-200 MW bracket’, had Scatec Solar more than double performance by some year-on-year comparisons.

Power production, for example, jumped from 73 GWh in the third quarter of last year to 295 GWh this time around. The company turned over NOK155 million ($17 million) in revenue and NOK127 million in EBITDA from power production in July-to-September 2018. Those figures rose to NOK357 million and NOK296 million, respectively, in the last three-month window.

Scatec Solar’s most important business, however, remains project development and construction, with NOK1.08 billion in revenue and NOK130 million EBITDA in Q3 last year. Those figures rose to NOK1.12 billion and NOK133 million, respectively.

In the pipeline

The company also has another 711 MW of project capacity under construction with 289 MW of it in Ukraine and 258 MW in South Africa. Scatec added, it has a planning and development pipeline of more than 5.6 GW with signed power purchase agreements which will ensure income of around NOK60 billion over the next 20 years.

Consolidated EBITDA for all the company’s business operations rose from NOK257 million in last year’s third quarter to NOK433 million in the last window. In terms of overall revenue, the company reported NOK512 million for Q3 – NOK218 million more than in the same period last year.

Scatec Solar’s progress and a rising global solar market has led the board to raise its growth target from 3.5 GW to 4.5 GW by the end of 2021. From 2022, the company wants to install 1.5 GW of generation capacity annually and there is no shortage of new projects in sight, as the company touts a 5.6 GW backlog and pipeline portfolio. Of that figure, 2,345 MW could be built in Africa and 1,485 MW in Southeast Asia.