(Montreal) Boralex passed its turn in a recent call for tenders from Hydro-Quebec for two separate blocks of electricity. The renewable energy producer, however, intends to try its luck in future calls for tenders from the state-owned company.
Posted at 3:53 p.m.
Hydro-Quebec unveiled last week the list of companies that submitted a bid for a wind power block of 300 megawatts (MW) and another block of renewable sources of 480 MW. Hydro-Québec will analyze 24 bids, but Boralex is not one of the companies that submitted a project.
Asked about the subject, the president and CEO of the energy producer, Patrick Decostre, replied that the management anticipated that the competition would be too strong for this project and that it decided to pass its turn, during a conference call with financial analysts to discuss the latest quarterly results.
We anticipated that the competition would be very strong, because the volume of electricity is smaller [ce qui fait en sorte qu’un plus grand nombre d’entreprises ont la capacité nécessaire pour présenter une soumission].
Patrick Decostre, CEO of Boralex
Mr. Decostre said that calls for tenders for larger volumes of electricity are planned and that Boralex intends to submit a bid for them.
Hydro-Québec and Boralex have already entered into partnerships in the past. In April, they agreed with Énergir to carry out three projects in the Charlevoix region.
During the second quarter, Boralex was selected for a 540 MW solar project and 77 MW of storage in the State of New York, underlined the leader. Added to this are 177 MW of wind and solar projects from the acquisition of Infinergy in the United Kingdom.
The leader reiterated that he considered that the context of the energy crisis in Europe, particularly in France, was favorable to him. “France does not produce enough and has become an energy importer,” he said.
The French government announced emergency measures last week to speed up the development of renewable energy projects, which are threatened by rising construction costs.
Among the measures announced are the possibility of selling electricity up to 18 months earlier if a project is completed more quickly, indexation of the price of resold energy and the possibility of increasing the capacity of a project without justification. “These measures should have a positive effect on our activities in the short and medium term,” said Mr. Decostre.
The results
In the second quarter, Boralex announced a net profit of 14 million, against a loss of 12 million in the same period last year.
The company generated 1,298 gigawatt hours (GWh), a decrease of 2% from the prior period. Revenues, for their part, amounted to 168 million, an increase of 14%.
Diluted net income attributable to shareholders per share was 10 cents, compared with a loss of 16 cents. Prior to the earnings release, analysts surveyed had expected earnings per share of 7 cents, according to data firm Refinitiv.
In the afternoon, the action lost 48 cents, or 1.02%, to $46.36 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.