ONDE: first six months with the margin improved

In the first half of 2024, ONDE recorded the operating income of PLN 22.7 million, and the net profit of PLN 15.9 million. It is the developer segment that has mainly been responsible for these good results after 6 months.

In the first half of 2024, the ONDE Group, specialising in RES construction and developments in Poland, achieved revenues exceeding PLN 354 million, versus PLN 500.6 million in the similar period of 2023 (-29.3% y-o-y). Nevertheless, ONDE was still able to improve its margin. In the first half of 2024, the company’s operating margin was at the level of 6.4% vs.  3.7 % in the first half of 2023, and the net margin amounted to 4.5% vs 2.5 % in the previous year. This significant improvement in ONDE profitability mainly resulted from the sale of three photovoltaic and one wind farm projects, of the total capacity of 60 MW.

‘Our activities in the development segment have been expanding quickly, and therefore we still enjoy a good standing in the current difficult conditions in the contracting market’, says Paweł Przybylski, ONDE President.‘We efficiently shift the focus to development, construction and sales of own projects, and dynamically expand our portfolio, which will ensure a reliable profit to us in the future. We have assembled a strong and experienced team responsible for development, so I am certain that the development rate of this segment will accelerate significantly’, adds Paweł Przybylski.

Currently, ONDE is constructing a 32‑MW PV plant, the largest project from the Company’s own portfolio realised to this date. Completion of its construction is planned for the first quarter of 2025.

‘This year, we are analysing initiation of one or two new projects, and we intend to start construction of several power plants of the total capacity exceeding 200 MW in 2025. Eventually, the level of realised megawatts in our portfolio, and therefore, the value of projects owned, may increase, as we are working very hard on their hybridisation and optimising. For example, one of the PV farms constructed currently will increase its planned capacity by ca. 25 %. We are also working on connecting wind systems to it, which would add further megawatts to this investment – explains ONDE President.

In its portfolio, ONDE has RES projects of the total capacity exceeding 1 GW, of which 415 MW have connection conditions. The Company management intends to significantly expand this portfolio in the next 2–3 years, aiming at achieving at least 2 GW.

‘In last months, we expanded our portfolio of own RES projects by ca. 170 MW, of which 63 MW are at the advanced stage, with connection conditions. Currently our pipeline of projects ready for construction is relatively large, so in the nearest future we are going to focus on securing land for greenfield projects, of low capital intensity and with a potential for a high margin’, emphasises Paweł Przybylski.

At the end of June 2024, the value of the portfolio of ONDE’s external orders in the RES construction sector amounted to PLN 534 million, i.e. 12% less than in the same period of the previous year. The Company, similarly as the entire RES sector, expects the successive release of a substantial supply of new projects as a result of the amendment to the Distance Act, planned for this autumn. According to the sector’s estimations, a reduction in the minimum distance between turbines and buildings can increase Poland’s potential for onshore wind projects even twice by 2040.

‘Liberalisation of regulations, together with funds from EU programmes, will stimulate improvement in the RES development and construction market. Poland’s needs and ambitions concerning expansion of its RES capacities are huge. Similarly as funds that are to be allocated to green transition. However, we analyse the legislation process, and resultant investments, from the perspective of years, not quarters’, concludes ONDE President.