The Swedish energy giant Vattenfall recorded a healthy profit in the first half of 2021: The reasons for this are the nuclear compensation and higher electricity prices.
The compensation for Germany’s premature phase-out of nuclear power and higher electricity prices brought Vattenfall a billion-dollar profit in the first half of the year.
The bottom line was for the Swedish energy giant in the period from January to June this time a whopping plus of 23.6 billion kroner (around 2.3 billion euros), as the group announced in Stockholm on Tuesday. In the previous year there had been a loss of just under 1.6 billion crowns, mainly due to impairments of the now shut down Hamburg hard coal power plant Moorburg.
Vattenfall was also able to increase earnings adjusted for one-off effects: It was 17.3 billion kroner and thus around 4.3 billion more than in the first half of 2020. Net sales increased by 1 percent to 80.5 billion kroner compared to the same period in the previous year ( 7.85 billion euros).
The Bundestag had cleared the way for the billions in compensation in mid-June, which the electricity companies received as compensation for the German nuclear phase-out. “We can finally leave some priority legal matters behind and instead look ahead with a focus on our core businesses and customers,” said Vattenfall boss Anna Borg. This has an impact of 11.1 billion crowns (almost 1.1 billion euros) on the Vattenfall result for the second quarter. The sale of the Berlin electricity network, which was completed on July 1, at a purchase price of 2.1 billion euros, will only flow into the third quarter.
The nuclear compensation is one aspect, but only one of the reasons behind the strong half-year result, Borg told the German press agency. In addition, there are also higher electricity prices, since it was unusually cold in the first few months of the year before there was little rainfall in Scandinavia in the second quarter.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
