SSE reiterates earnings target despite waning wind generation
Electricity output from renewables has lagged behind SSE’s expectations this year, with energy generation lessened by persistently dry and still weather conditions.
The FTSE 100 company revealed that electricity generation from onshore wind was a hefty 29 per cent behind schedule for the three months from March to June, while offshore output was 16 per cent below SSE’s expectations.
Overall, its portfolio of clean energy sources provided 1.55GW of power – under its 2.18GW target and less than the 2.07GW generated last year over the same period 12 months prior.
This represents a five per cent overall shortfall on planned output for the full year.
It’s thermal energy division was also suffering difficulties, with the output of electricity from SSE’s gas-fired generation plant underperforming compared to last year.
This reflected more planned outages which were only partially offset by additional capacity from Keadby 2 and the Triton Power acquisition.
Nevertheless, SSE still expects energy generation to increase in line with a return to more conventional weather patterns – which it has already seen evidence of in its second quarter of trading.
Provided market conditions improve, SSE anticipates earnings per share of more than 150p for the full year of 2023/24.
This follows the clean energy player posting bumper £2.2bn profits last year, where it pledged to ramp up its five-year £18bn net zero investment plan from 2022 to 2027.
Over the past three months, SSE has installed the 114th and final turbine at the Seagreen Offshore wind farm last month and unveiled a new joint venture with National Grid to deliver a 2GW subsea transmission cable from Peterhead to Drax.
Meanwhile first power from Dogger Bank A offshore wind farm, one of the largest sites in the world, is now expected in the coming weeks – where it has a 40 per cent stake.
Finance director Gregor Alexander said: “We are making good progress on the critical national infrastructure projects that underpin our growth plans out to 2027, and we continue to develop options that could see us invest up to £40bn over the next decade.
“We are seizing the long-term opportunities presented by net zero while in the near term, subject to normal weather and plant availability, our outlook for the full-year remains unchanged.”