Vattenfall’s wind business posted a third quarter operating profit of Skr887m (€94m), up from Skr620m (€66m) in the year-ago period, on the back of higher revenues and generation from onshore and offshore wind.

Net sales at the Swedish utility and developer were Skr1.39bn (€148m), up from Skr918m (€98m) in the previous year’s quarter, thanks in part to the commissioning and operations at the 288MW DanTysk project off Germany and 37MW Clashindarroch onshore project in Scotland (pictured).

Wind generation rose to 1.1TWh in the period from 0.7TWh last time around. Hydro was also up by around 50%.

In the wider business Vattenfall posted net sales of Skr37.5bn (€4bn), up from Skr34.7bn (€3.7bn) in the year-ago period, with pre-tax profits of Skr1.6bn (€170m) compared with a loss of Skr18bn (€1.9bn) last time around.

“The profit increase is mainly attributable to higher production volumes and lower operating costs”, said chief executive Magnus Hall, who also added :

“Market conditions remain challenging however, with a considerable capacity surplus and low electricity prices, especially in the Nordic countries, which is squeezing our production margins. Cost-cutting efforts must continue.”