PNE experienced a drop in profitability in 2020.
The German developer reported EBITDA of €26.7m compared to €28.7m the previous year.
The group’s Annual Report 2020 shows revenues of €109.7m, down from €132.8m, and total aggregate output of €151.7m lower than the previous year’s €171.2m.
PNE said the results were strongly influenced by the development of the internally operated wind farm portfolio.
This has created “hidden reserves” that are not immediately apparent, it said.
As a result of the investments in PNE’s own projects, pre-tax profits totalling euro €81.6m were eliminated at group level, of which €50m were during the reporting period, with €11.6m being excluded the previous year.
Chief executive Markus Lesser (pictured) said: “2020 was both an extraordinary and a successful year for PNE AG.
“Despite the difficult general conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we made significant operational progress in various markets.
“We closed the last fiscal year with a pleasing financial result and have consistently evolved strategically in accordance with the ‘Scale up’ concept.”
In 2020 PNE obtained further approvals, was awarded contracts in tenders, commissioned wind farms and started the construction of further wind farms, according to the report.
The project pipelines in wind energy and photovoltaics were expanded and the position in the service sector strengthened.
In total, PNE completed, sold or started construction of projects with a capacity of approx 461.2MW in the reporting period, up from 450.8MW in 2019. This means that project realisation is once again above the level of the previous year.
PNE has also successfully developed its business in the offshore wind energy sector.
For example, PNE was able to recognise the outstanding milestone receivables for the Gode Wind 4 and Atlantis I projects developed by it, since the likelihood that these projects will be realised by the purchasers has increased further.
In Vietnam and in the USA, PNE is currently examining the possibilities for developing offshore wind farm projects.
With the completion of a further wind farm in 2020, the nominal capacity of wind farms operated by the company itself increased from 130.1MW to 134.8MW last year.
This year, two further wind farms with an additional 16.8MW have already been completed and taken over into PNE’s own operations.
Further wind farms intended for PNE’s own portfolio are currently under construction and in the approval process.
PNE plans to expand the portfolio of internally operated wind farms, primarily in Germany, to up to 500MW by the end of 2023.
Overall, at the end of 2020, the companies of the PNE Group were working on onshore wind farm projects with 5405MW (compared to 5235MW in 2019) of nominal output to be installed, which are in different phases of the multi-year development process.
This means that the project pipeline was expanded compared with the previous year.
There has been significant progress in the development of photovoltaic (PV) projects.
In this field, the project pipeline more than quadrupled by the end of 2020.
PNE was working on PV projects with a nominal capacity of 548 MWp in Germany, Italy, Romania and the USA at the end of 2020.
In addition, despite necessary investments in the strategic expansion of the business model, PNE expects Group EBITDA totalling €24m to €32m for fiscal year 2021.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it can be expected at this time that the operating business will be subject to postponements of project right sales and project implementations from 2021 to 2022, it added.