Swedish power utility Vattenfall swings to third-quarter profit
Vattenfall earnings rise despite lower spot power prices
Forward sales of electricity locked in higher prices
Profitability a challenge for new projects, CEO says
Updates with CEO quotes in paragraphs 3, 8 and 11, detail on investment environment
By Nora Buli
OSLO, Oct 31 (Reuters) -Sweden's Vattenfall swung to a third-quarter net profit of 2.1 billion Swedish crowns ($196.6 million) from a 2.61 billion crown loss a year earlier, it said on Thursday, citing increased power output and the impact of forward sales at higher prices.
Underlying earnings before interest and tax at the state-owned energy group rose to 1.4 billion Swedish crowns from 946 million a year earlier, despite lower spot electricity prices, Vattenfall said.
"We still have an improved result and that is mainly due to our hedges, which come in nicely and improve our result, but also we have more production this year than last year, both in nuclear and in wind," CEO Anna Borg told Reuters.
The benchmark Nordic system price for wholesale power averaged 19.86 euros per megawatt hour for the quarter, down from 27.77 euros/MWh a year ago.
However, Vattenfall sold 56% of its 2024 production in advance at higher prices, helping to lift achieved prices in the quarter to 35 euros/MWh, up from 28 euros/MWh for the corresponding period last year.
Vattenfall has already hedged 52% of its 2025 Nordic generation at an average of 48 euros/MWh.
Still, earlier in October, Vattenfall ramped down its 1.1 gigawatt Forsmark 2 nuclear plant for several days.
"We have seen very low prices in the Nordic market for quite some time, and (prices were) simply too low for too long in order for us to keep running as usual," Borg said.
Vattenfall is also scrutinising every new investment carefully and in September paused its Swedish Kriegers Flak offshore wind project.
Borg said that while there is clearly a need to invest in fossil-free technologies, there is a question mark around the pace of the energy transition.
"It's difficult to see the profitability being good enough in some of the projects in this market environment," she said.
($1 = 10.6829 Swedish crowns)
Reporting by Nora Buli; Editing by Terje Solsvik, David Goodman and Jan Harvey
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