German wind energy developer PNE Wind has announced turnover of €16.6m for the first half of the year, a huge decrease from the same period in 2010 when turnover stood at €41.1m. EBIT decreased to €0.9m from €8.2m in the first six months of last year. The company attributed falling revenue to a decision to focus on offshore wind projects, which have a higher investment and construction time than onshore developments. The company predicts EBIT to grow to at least €60m by 2013.
Cash flow from current business activities increased to €6.6m compared with a loss of €3.7m in the first half of 2010. This is mainly due to a milestone payment of around €6.7m from Danish energy company Dong for the offshore facility Borkum Riffgrund I.
The company said that significant progress was made in the offshore sector as it won approval for grid connection of the Gode Wind II plant from German transmission operator TenneT. The company has partnered with Vestas to deliver the 252MW project. PNE said it received the interest of ten European banks looking to finance the venture.
PNE also said it will invest heavily in the onshore sector in the UK and opened an office in Edinburgh to drive this forward. It also broke into the US market through a sales agreement for a development in South Dakota. In addition, it received approval for an onshore wind farm in Hungary.
Martin Billhardt, chairman of the board of directors of PNE WIND, said, 'Our result for the first six months is fully as planned. Significant progress has been achieved in both our offshore and foreign activities. Despite the high preliminary costs for the establishment of our projects both in Germany and abroad, we were able to achieve a positive operational result for the half year. We expect to see significant progress in the coming years, especially in the offshore wind energy sector. We are therefore convinced that, with our six own wind farm projects in the North Sea PNE WIND is well positioned for further company growth.'