Poor offshore wind conditions hurt EON earnings
Revenue from EON's UK offshore wind farms fell by more than a third to €128m ($151m) during H1 2017, compared to €201m during the same period in 2016, thanks to sub-optimal wind conditions. Sales were also slightly down year-on-year at €321m. However, better conditions in Germany and the US saw H1 onshore and solar sales rise by €30m to €710m YoY.
Unfavourable wind conditions in the UK reduced Eon’s adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) from offshore wind by 36% to €128m in the first half of 2017, compared with €201m in the period last year.



Sales from offshore wind also declined to €321m this year from €333m in the first six months of last year.

Output from offshore wind in Germany increased, mainly because of better wind conditions at the 302MW Amrumbank West project, but this was partially offset by grid congestion, Eon said.Eon generated 2.1bn kilowatt-hours of electricity from offshore wind in the first half of the year, the same as last year.There was better news for Eon in onshore wind and solar, which saw adjusted EBIT increase 45% to €77m in the first six months of 2017 from €53m last year.Sales in onshore and solar also improved, growing to €389m in the first half of this year from €347m in 2016.Eon said the main reasons for the increases were better wind conditions in the US, the commissioning of the 200MW Colbeck’s Corner wind farm in Texas last year and higher earnings from equity interests in the US.Output from the sector was 5.6bn kWh in the period, up from 5bn kWh last year.Overall, Eon’s renewables sales increased to €710m from January to the end of June, compared with €680m in the same period last year.However, adjusted EBIT from renewables as a whole fell 19% to €205m this year from €254m in 2016, Eon said.The company said it expects to make a final investment decision in the third quarter of this year on the 201MW Stella onshore wind farm in the US, and has about 500MW on track for completion in 2017 in North America.Eon added that it has 800MW of offshore wind on schedule to be operational over 2018 and 2019.Overall, Eon’s adjusted earnings for the first half of 2017 were down 12% to just under €1.8bn, from more than €2bn last year.Sales also fell to €19.6bn this year, from over €20.2bn in 2016.