Vattenfall’s president and chief executive, Magnus Hall, has decided to leave the company.
The developer’s board of directors will initiate the recruitment process to find a new president and chief executive. Hall (pictured) will leave his post by 31 January 2021 at the latest.
Hall said: “After many exciting and inspiring years as CEO of Vattenfall I have decided to step down.
“It has been an incredibly inspiring journey together with engaged colleagues in the executive team and across the company who have all worked hard to take Vattenfall to its current position.”
Chairman of the board of directors, Lars Nordstrom, said Hall has “significantly contributed” to Vattenfall’s improved position in the market through his “leadership, and his commitment” to customers, employees and to the energy transition.
“He leaves a financially stronger and more stable Vattenfall with a clearly defined target, to enable fossil free living within one generation,” he added. “On behalf of the board I would like to express our sincere gratitude to Magnus and thank him for his valuable contributions to Vattenfall.”
Vattenfall’s existing strategy and financial targets remain unchanged, said Nordstrom.
Hall added: “Vattenfall is one of the drivers towards a fossil-free energy future and I will remain fully committed until my successor is in place.”
Meanwhile, Vattenfall reported an operating profit of Skr5287m (€512m) for the first half of 2020, compared with Skr11,038m, in its interim report, January to June 2020.
Large fluctuations in the Nordic power market impacted the company’s results, said Vattenfall.
Operating profit before depreciation, amortisation and impairment losses (EBITDA) for the group reached Skr25,152m in the first half of 2020, compared with Skr20,102m in the same period in 2019.
Within the group’s power generation business wind accounted for Skr2002m in underlying operating profit for the first half of this year, compared with Skr1851m in the first half of last year.
Overall the power generation business reported Skr6882m in underlying operating profit for the first half of 2020, against Skr8419m in the first half of 2019.
Vattenfall stated the volatility in the Nordic electricity market, with large fluctuations, which has the single largest impact on group’s earnings, impacted on its results for the first half of this year.
During this period the system price peaked at around €30 per megawatt-hour (MWh), but fell recently to under €1/MWh, an historically low level.
This is mainly explained by large runoff into reservoirs and a high level of wind power generation, Vattenfall said.
“Extreme price differences” have arisen between price areas in Sweden, partly due to transfer challenges in the transmission grid.
After reaching an agreement with Svenska Kraftnat, Ringhals 1 was brought online earlier than planned following its maintenance outage, to stabilise the frequency.
Hall said: “Despite a tumultuous market development in many respects, the future direction is clear. We see continued support for investments in fossil-free energy solutions.
“Among other measures, during the quarter we took the decision to invest in what will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm, Hollandse Kust Zuid 1-4 in the Netherlands (1.5GW, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of approximately two million households).”
Other highlights include an investment decision and agreement on future sale of the South Kyle wind farm in Scotland.