EnBW, Germany’s third-largest energy supplier, increased its operating result or adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) by 60 per cent to almost 6.4 billion euros (6.9 billion dollars) in 2023.

The surge was mainly due to increased thermal generation from coal and gas and trading.

The Karlsruhe-based company announced on Wednesday that due to increased market prices and fluctuations, the electricity generated was sold in significantly better conditions than in 2022.

This year, a decline to between €4.6 billion and €5.2 billion is expected.

“The background to this is that the volatility on the markets is decreasing, and we assume that we will sell the electricity generated in our plants at lower prices than was the case in 2023,’’ the chief financial officer, Thomas Kusterer, explained in a statement.

He added that the very good result for 2023 in thermal generation and trading could not simply be extrapolated into the future.

The new chairman of the organisation’s board of management, Georg Stamatelopoulos, said that, due to the very good result, EnBW would once again significantly increase its investments in implementing the green energy transition in the coming years.

Mr Stamatelopoulos said, “Gross investments of €40 billion are planned by 2030, some 90% of which will be in Germany. 

“This makes EnBW one of the largest investors in the implementation of the energy transition in Germany.”

Mr Stamatelopoulos took over as the chief executive officer almost three weeks ago. 

His predecessor, Andreas Schell, left after less than a year and a half due to disagreements with the supervisory board over corporate strategy. 

(dpa/NAN)