SOWITEC group: significant strengthening of medium- to long-term project business through new development contracts in 2022
Sonnenbühl, 19 January 2023 – SOWITEC group (SOWITEC), one of the world’s leading developers of renewable energy projects in the wind and solar sectors, is looking to the future with confidence. The main reason for this is the positive business performance in 2022, in which SOWITEC successfully developed wind and solar projects with a total capacity of around 1,000 MW and sold them to international energy companies. In addition, SOWITEC signed new substantial solar project development contracts in 2022 for a total capacity of around 2,000 MW. In Brazil, solar projects with 250 MW are to be developed for an international energy supplier by 2024, as well as solar projects with 750 MW for a local financial investor by 2024, and in Mexico, solar projects with 1,000 MW are to be developed for Iberdrola by 2026. As a result of the newly concluded agreements, the contractually secured project pipeline grew to around 7,500 MW as of 31 December 2022, corresponding to potential revenues of more than EUR 100 million until 2028.
SOWITEC also expects to be able to achieve additional growth in the next few years in the area of power-to-X (P2X), in which the company has already been active since 2019. In 2022 alone, SOWITEC was able to sign five letters of intent on the establishment of joint ventures for over 2,000 MW of P2X projects with various companies such as Air Liquide, Statkraft, Rolls Royce, Aker and Brazil Iron. The focus is on projects for the production of green steel, green fertilizer or hydrogen, for example.
The sales successes of 2022 prove once again that SOWITEC is an established partner of renowned international energy companies in the development and realization of renewable energy projects. For example, in 2022, two solar projects totaling 700 MW in Brazil and a 200 MW solar project in Colombia were sold to a European utility, a 10% stake in a 53 MW wind project in Uruguay was sold to Cubico, and an 18 MW wind project in Germany was sold to Stadtwerke Tübingen.
Frank Hummel, CEO of SOWITEC group: “After two difficult years, which were mainly influenced by the effects of the Corona pandemic, we were able to report a pleasing business performance again in 2022. As a result, in the first nine months of 2022, we succeeded in increasing consolidated revenue from EUR 7.7 million to EUR 13.8 million and EBIT from EUR 1.4 million to EUR 4.3 million, while the consolidated equity ratio rose from 71.8% as of 30 September 2021 to 74.0% as of 30 September 2022. We expect that we have been able to continue this positive development on a full-year basis. In 2023, we also aim to further increase both revenue and earnings, for example by also intensifying our activities in Germany again.“
In order to take advantage of the large market potential in Germany, SOWITEC is currently evaluating the issuance of a new corporate bond including an exchange offer to the holders of the existing secured corporate bond 2018/2023 presumably in the first half of 2023. Against this background, ICF BANK AG and Quirin Privatbank AG have been commissioned to conduct a market sounding and a management roadshow. The final financing decision will be made by the Management based on investor feedback and the prevailing market environment.
About SOWITEC:
As one of the leading global project developers for renewable energies, SOWITEC is active in 13 countries with a focus on the rapidly growing emerging and developing countries. With more than 140 employees, SOWITEC covers all areas of solar and wind power project development: from planning and design, yield and profitability calculations, construction support, sales and financing to technical and commercial management of wind and solar parks. More than 60 wind and solar projects developed by SOWITEC with almost 3,000 MW are currently in operation in eight countries.
www.sowitec.com
Contact:
Frank Ostermair, Linh Chung
Better Orange IR & HV AG
089/8896906-25
linh.chung@better-orange.de