ERG S.p.A. (0MHC.IL) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

November 14, 2025

LSE GB Utilities Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers earnings 72 min

Earnings Call Speaker Segments

Operator

operator
#1

Good afternoon. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the ERG Third Quarter 2025 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Paolo Merli, CEO of ERG. Please go ahead, sir.

Paolo Merli

executive
#2

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our third quarter results webcast. Here with me, as usual, is our CFO, Michele. So let's get started with the usual overview of results over the period. I'm on Page #4. EBITDA in the first 9 months closed at EUR 393 million, a touch higher year-on-year. While looking at the third quarter, as was the case in Q2, results are up year-on-year with EBITDA at EUR 119 million, plus 9% year-on-year. The performance of the quarter mainly reflects the full contribution of the new capacity as well as better wind conditions. I'd just like to remind you that the third quarter in '24 was very weak from this point of view. These 2 positives, I mean, the full contribution of the new capacity and the better wind conditions were partially offset by lower capture prices, also due to the progressive reduction of hedging pricing, which tends to follow the price scenario with a 1 to 2-year time lag. As far as the first 9 months results, the economic contribution of new assets, which was quite remarkable, was mostly offset by lower volumes due to weaker wind conditions. This was particularly true as we had already a chance to comment over the first half of the year. The good news is that we have been making up for the shortfall of EBITDA registered in the first quarter over the last few months -- over the last few -- 2 quarters, say. Investments in the first 9 months of the year amounted to EUR 164 million, down significantly year-on-year. The reduction is mainly due to the fact that last year, the CapEx included the acquisition of a wind and solar portfolio in U.S.A., in particular, also a smaller portfolio in France. Out of the total invested in this first part of the year about 40% was through M&A. In particular, I'm referring to the acquisition of wind farm in the U.K. while the remaining 60%, about 60% was spent on organic developments. I mean, greenfield and repowering projects that are under construction in France, Germany, Italy and U.K. and to the completion of the first battery storage plant in Sicily. So I believe this trend, I mean, the lower CapEx spent on a year-on-year basis is very much consistent with our value over volume approach. Adjusted net profit in the first 9 months was EUR 110 million, down 16% year-on-year, basically due to higher depreciation related to new assets, coupled with higher financial charges as a result basically of a mix of higher net debt, higher cost of debt and lower yield on cash management, given the trend in interest rates. But again, the good news is that earnings direction was positive over the quarter with net profit at EUR 27 million, up 9% year-on-year. Net financial position at the end of September was EUR 1.88 billion, plus 5% higher versus the end of 2024, also discounting total distribution, I mean, dividends and buyback in excess of EUR 160 million. Let's move on. I'm now on Page #5. Over the period, we continued to deliver on our strategy. In terms of installed capacity, we had 2 important additions over the quarter for Corlacky Wind Farm, 47 megawatts in Northern Ireland came online at the end of July and is now ramping up production, which we expect to reach full potential, say, in a couple of months as of the start of 2026. We are also very pleased with the commissioning of our first battery storage plant in Vicari, 12.5 megawatts as flexibility, as said, is becoming increasingly important in our plan. We are also pursuing our revenue securitization strategy with the signing of 3 different PPAs during the period with FS Group, which is basically the state-owned railway company for an aggregate amount of around 180 gigawatt hour per year with a tenure of 5 to 10 years. This is an extremely important achievement as those contracts are related to existing plants. I mean plants that have already exited the -- any incentive scheme. So basically, they are merchant, and they will now be covered by this long-term contract. On top of this, we participated in the FERX auction with 3 projects for a total of 148 megawatts, out of which basically the biggest part was made of 2 repowering projects in wind, 141 megawatts and very small greenfield projects in solar. We expect the outcome to be made public in December by GSE. But we are quite confident, finger crossed about the outcome. We also took part in the recent auction in Germany with a smaller projects of 12 megawatts. And again, here, the outcome is expected in the coming months. So we are consistently on track both with our strategy to grow the asset portfolio, but also with our strategy on the route to market to secure revenues through [ CFDs ] and PPAs. As per our ESG strategy, we maintained our top-tier position, a couple of rating that have improved Sustainable Fitch, increased the score from 79 to 83 and also GRESB confirmed ERG as a top performer with a 98 out of 100 rating. So very, very top. We also unveiled our fifth project of the Social Purpose for Solar Revamping program, this time with Banco Alimentare, Sicily. And these kind of projects are something we are particularly proud of. And now to Michele for his review of results in more detail.

Michele Pedemonte

executive
#3

Thank you, Paolo. In third quarter 2025, baseload market prices have been lower than third quarter 2024 in most of the countries where ERG operates. However, as you know, this trend had only limited effect on our revenues due to the regulated nature of our business model. In Italy, the wind unit revenue stood at EUR 121 megawatt hour, lower than last year, mainly due to hedging at lower prices and lower spot market price, partially offset by the increase of the green incentive value rising to EUR 55 megawatt hour from EUR 42 megawatt hour. In France, the increase in unit revenues was driven by higher short-term hedging prices. In Germany and Romania, capture price are aligned in the 2 quarters. In Poland, unit revenues were slightly lower than third quarter 2024, mainly driven by the short-term hedging. U.K. capture price is around EUR 68 megawatt hour higher than third quarter 2024, thanks to higher short-term hedging. Note that this figure does not include revenues from balancing services. In Sweden, the unit revenue is higher than third quarter 2024, driven by higher spot market price. As for solar [ OE ] unit revenues, we recorded a decrease in the quarter in Italy, mainly due to lower hedging prices. In Spain, capture prices were impacted by the current market environment with a significant profile effect during daylight hours and by short-term hedging at lower prices. In France, solar revenues are sold at feed prices compared to 2024, where the energy produced by newly acquired assets were sold at merchant prices. Energy plant in the United States are unit revenues that reflects the PPA prices, so very stable. Now focus on production. In the third quarter of 2025, the group's overall production was higher than the previous year, mainly due to perimeter effects, coupled with better wind in the period compared with the third quarter of 2024 characterized by wind well below historical average. In Italy, we recorded 622 gigawatt hour, plus 36%, mainly due to better wind and radiation coupled with the perimeter effect due to repower assets. France, 260 gigawatt hour, plus 12%, thanks to new greenfield assets entering operation during 2024 and second quarter 2025, but also to better wind condition on existing assets. In Germany, 95 gigawatt hour, minus 5% due to lower wind conditions and also to the extraordinary out of service of 2 substations that are in the process of being resolved. U.K. Nordics, 159 gigawatt hour, 59 gigawatt hour, higher than last year, mainly thanks to the new assets acquired in January in Scotland and new greenfield assets in Northern Ireland operation during the quarter, coupled with better wind overall. In Spain, 160 gigawatt hour, minus 5% due to lower irradiation and some curtailment during negative prices. U.S.A., 167 gigawatt hour, minus 7%, mainly due to lower wind conditions. Eastern Europe, [ 125 ] gigawatt hour, minus 13% due to worse wind condition, especially in Romania. In the 9 months, the production has been 5.3 terawatt hour higher than 9 months 2024, mainly due to perimeter effect 0.7 terawatt hour, of which 0.3 terawatt hour related to U.S. in the first quarter, partially offset by extremely low wind conditions mainly in the first half in Europe. In the third quarter of the year, EBITDA reached EUR 119 million, EUR 10 million more than third quarter 2024. This growth was mainly due to perimeter effect, EUR 11 million linked to newly acquired assets and organic development as well as better wind condition compared with the third quarter 2024 below historical average as already commented. These positive drivers were partially offset by lower capture prices in Italy and Spain. Italy, EBITDA reached EUR 81 million, an increase of EUR 10 million year-on-year, primarily driven by the higher wind and solar condition, coupled with new investment in both wind and solar. This was partially offset by lower capture price. In France, EBITDA is EUR 7 million higher than last year, supported by higher capture price in wind and perimeter growth and better wind condition. In Germany, EBITDA is EUR 4 million, slightly lower than previous year, mainly due to a weak production. In East Europe, EBITDA is EUR 9 million, EUR 4 million lower than previous year, mainly driven by lower resource. In U.K. and Nordics, EBITDA is aligned to the third quarter 2024 despite the higher production. This is because in the third quarter of 2024, we benefited from liquidated damages and other reversing from contractors. In Spain, EUR 3 million EBITDA lower than last year, impacted by reduced production and lower capture price. U.S.A. EBITDA is EUR 9 million, slightly higher than previous year, 9 months EBITDA is EUR 393 million, higher than previous year by EUR 3 million, mainly driven by perimeter effects, partially offset by the low wind condition in Europe, in particular, as you know, as already commented in the first half of 2025. A comment now on the investments. In the third quarter, we invested EUR 22 million, mainly due to ongoing construction in Italy, U.K., France and Germany. In particular, we spent organic CapEx for EUR 6 million in U.K. for the completion of the Corlacky wind farm and EUR 9 million in Italy, France and Germany for repowering. In 9 months 2025 investment amount to EUR 164 million, of which EUR 72 million of acquisition in U.K. versus EUR 500 million of 9 months 2024, which included the acquisitions in France and U.S. for a total amount of EUR 319 million. Let's now comment on the financials commenting on the other items of the profit and loss. Amortization and depreciation are EUR 68 million in the quarter, higher than last year due to perimeter effect. Net financial charges are EUR 13 million versus EUR 9 million of third quarter 2024. Financial charges versus banks and bondholders net of liquidity remuneration to EUR 9 million plus EUR 3 million due to perimeter effect and lower remuneration on cash. It complement to EUR 13 million, sorry, EUR 5 million are noncash accounting items such as effects coming from the accounting of the tax equity partnership in the U.S. portfolio and figurative lease interest expenses according to IFRS 16. Tax rate in the quarter is stable at 25%. The adjusted net profit in the quarter amounted to EUR 27 million, higher than last year by EUR 2 million, mainly driven by the already commented EBITDA, partially compensated by higher financial charges and amortization. The adjusted net profit of 9 months amounts to EUR 110 million. Finally, let's take a look at the cash flow statement and the net financial position. The net financial debt in the 9 months is EUR 1.9 billion, EUR 0.1 billion higher than the end of 2024, mainly driven by the dividend payment and the investment of the period, partially netted by the cash generation of EBITDA. The net working capital is affected by ordinary dynamics, also affected by payable for investments. So thank you for your time. Now I leave the floor to Paolo for his final remarks.

Paolo Merli

executive
#4

Thank you, Michele. Now let me wrap up this presentation with our guidance for the full year with just 1 quarter left. In short, we essentially confirm all our guidance. EBITDA still expected within the previous range. Let me give you some more details. October was very good, above the historical average in terms of wind. While these early days of November are conversely quite weak. Nevertheless, our best estimate points near the midpoint of the range. Everything will depend on this last part of the year, which usually, as you know, tends to be winder, I mean, December in particular. In all honesty, reaching the upper part of the range will be very, very challenging given the wind levels so far. We would need extremely favorable conditions, which can't be ruled out that are sincerely unlikely. With this caveat, we confirm our EBITDA guidance within the previous range, but looking at more at the midpoint. CapEx is also confirmed within the range of EUR 119 million to [ EUR 140 ] million. And the same for net financial position at year-end, which is confirmed within the previous range. So thank you for listening, and we are now ready to take your questions.

Operator

operator
#5

[Operator Instructions] the first question is from Enrico Bartoli, Mediobanca.

Enrico Bartoli

analyst
#6

The first one is related to the storage business. You highlighted that you started your first project in this technology. First of all, I would like some comment on, let's say, the revenue partner that you expect from the Vicari battery. And in general, it would be appreciated your view on this technology going forward, both in Italy, if you expect to participate to the MAX auction and in other European countries, what kind of opportunities you see there? And particularly, if on the MAX auction, you can provide a comment on the level of pricing that has been achieved in the first one. Second question is regarding the U.S. market. Several utility companies there, renewable companies are commenting on an improvement in the outlook. If you can give us some comment on how you see the U.S. market in this moment and in particular, if, let's say, better market condition could, let's say, accelerate the acquisition of the [indiscernible] part of the asset in the pipeline, which you have a preemption right in the country. And the last one is on the FERX auction. Terna has provided some preliminary indication of possible prices, if I'm correct, around EUR 80 per megawatt hour. If you think that if your projects are awarded at that level, if you think that the profitability would be interesting? And in case when those projects you think could be start to contribute to your EBITDA? Sorry for the many questions...

Paolo Merli

executive
#7

You, Enrico. I'll try to answer in order as you asked about the storage business. Yes, we are very pleased to announce that our first plant, battery storage just started basically in July, and now it's ramping up its services and its functioning. This plant is totally merchant. I have to be direct on this, but it's located in a specific area where we have another wind farm. And we consider that location particularly attractive given the local conditions of the network. The plant is now also do whatever is needed to take part of the services provided by the TSO. So we expect to add, say, some revenues going forward coming from the participation to this kind of frequency services to the network. For the time being, it's just a month or more of operations, it has already made a margin of 100,000 or a little bit more in terms of contribution margin, which is pretty in line with our expectation. But let me say this first plant is a sort of training area for us to learn competencies, how to manage this kind of plan vis-a-vis the network. So we hope just the very, very first move into a larger stream of revenues going forward. In fact, the second part of your question was related to [indiscernible]. I can confirm what I can announce because we said we hadn't say nothing about this. We participated to the auction with a couple of projects. All in all, roughly 80 megawatts or even a little bit more than that. And as many other operators, we were not awarded the tariff because our bid was in the region of EUR 20,000, EUR 20,000 per megawatt hour, which resulted higher compared to the average awarded price in the region of EUR 15 -- 13,000 per megawatt hour, a significant discount compared to the price cap of the auction that was [ EUR 37 ] per megawatt hour. But nevertheless, let me say, we remain very committed to this kind of stream. And we are now starting a different business model, different from, I mean, the MAX, even though we recognize the MAX was a quite good mechanism. And now we are starting a hybrid business case for these 2 projects. Hybrid means maybe part of the revenues coming from a tolling agreement and part from merchant use of the plant and maybe part from capacity market because this plant could participate to the next auction of capacity market, which is different from the MAX. In the meantime, we are also working hard on developing a large pipeline of projects of battery storage, I mean, not just in Italy, but also in Spain and in U.K. Those are the countries where we recognize the better value in developing this kind of assets. In Italy, for instance, we have a quite large pipeline. Part, of it is well advanced. And we hope, say we are working on 600 megawatts pipeline right now, and we hope half of it could be authorized in the next 12 months. The second part is second 300 megawatts are a little bit behind this. But in a couple of years, we are ready -- we would be ready also for this second wave of the pipeline. In the same -- so more or less the same in Spain. We are working on several projects, even though, let me say, Spain is not paradoxically because it probably is the country where storage would be needed more, but they are lagging behind in terms of regulation, in terms of connections and so on. Now something is moving. our, say, job is to get ready when the right conditions will be there. So I hope to have answered your first question. The second one is about the U.S. market. Yes, it's true. We noticed that the baseload prices are going up, at least where our current assets are operating in Illinois and Iowa. And yes, we are also aware that this undergoing trend about data centers that are pushing up demand and then driving prices higher. I have to remind all of you that the 2 assets in our portfolio are covered by long-term PPA. So in the short term, in the medium term because those PPAs have a duration of 10 years since the code, so still probably 8 years to go. So by then, we don't see any particular upside from the market. But for sure, we would -- it's legitimate to think that probably the renewal of those PPAs will be a premium compared to the current pricing. On the development side, you know that our model is learn and grow. I mean we are buying just in case some CPs are met. And among those, for sure, the fact that the plant is already started up with a commercial operation date in place and a PPA and tax equity scheme already negotiated. So basically fully derisked asset. For the time being, we still see in the U.S. market a gap between bid and ask. And we don't want to derogate on our financial discipline. So we are waiting for the right moment. We have a kind of methodology to value these assets, and we want to stick with this methodology. The U.S. market probably also for what you have just said, are still based on expectations that are not in our, say, approach. So we are very cautious. The third question is about FERX. Vice versa, we are very positive, say, on repowering. Repowering is a wonderful tool through which we can, on the one hand, rejuvenate our asset base. And on the other hand, to secure a long-term mechanism, CfD or whatever a PPA to stabilize the revenue. And yes, we took part to the last auction with 150 megawatts more or less, basically 3 projects to say. But the one we are looking at more carefully are the 2 wind repowering projects that are very important for us. The total of those projects is 140 megawatts, and we are quite confident to be well positioned to get the tariff CfD. As you probably know, GSE issued a press release saying the pricing of wind fell into a range between EUR 70 and EUR 83 per megawatt hour. So the average point in 76, we -- our bid was slightly better than this. It may seem a lower price compared to the initial expectation, but let me say that we managed to negotiate CapEx per megawatts, which are better than what we thought at the beginning. So in the end, the return at which we think we can install those 2 projects are in line with our objectives. And on top of that, please, I want to remind you all that we got some financing from the European Investment Bank that makes the levered return on these projects double digit, low double digits that's our expectation. So Enrico, I hope to have touched and cover all your points, if not any.

Operator

operator
#8

The next question is from Roberto Letizia, Equita.

Roberto Letizia

analyst
#9

And just a clarification on the guidance, if it's possible and the moving parts that drives to the guidance. So if we stick to the midpoint of the guidance, actually, the implied fourth quarter would be in the region of EUR 180 million, EUR 78 million, EUR 80 million, EUR 178 million, EUR 180 million, which would be a significant increase year-over-year, above 20% basically. And actually, I worked out Corlacky new plant should maybe potentially add up only EUR 2 million, EUR 3 million. Just wonder if you can a little bit compose this picture that drives to a plus 25% considering, of course, the other delta change in the perimeter versus the trend in the wing just to get how visible is also the midpoint that you are targeting right now. Then again, I was also interested in the battery. And well, if I take it out EUR 100,000 for just a few weeks of operations and I take it on the full year, could it be that we have a EUR 0.4 million, EUR 0.5 million of EBITDA over the year for that Vicari plant? That would be nice to have as a reference to understand what's the profit potential of you being involved in the pipeline you said you're working on? Then I'm afraid, but on the incentive, I know we are still getting out an understanding on what's the outcome of the FERX, but we always look ahead and we'll start talking about the potential [ FERZ ]. I don't know if you have any idea of how this could be shaped in the future for the incentives on the '26 and '27. And the last one is a consideration of the data center. You mentioned for the U.S., but it's also a driver for Europe and Italy as well. I was wondering if you are already starting to think about it as a potential business model also for you? We saw in the past days, both A2A and Enel yesterday also starting to present this direct involvement into construction of sites and gain on rental fees for the hosting the energy provider and the services. I don't know if that can potentially work also for renewable groups that can add on top of the energy service provided the very cheap sourcing cost and as well as the green footprint to any potential IT development.

Paolo Merli

executive
#10

So Roberto, there are many questions. So let me try to go in order. The guidance, I'd say, I already had the chance to comment during my speech. October was very good, started off very good. Finally, basically, the first months closed significantly above budget. Unfortunately, the very first days of November were very weak. So part of the upside we had in October was eroded. But from next week, at least according to the weather forecast, something could change and wind could be back, difficult to say. But I repeat, we are very, very confident about the fact that the number should be within the range. And near the midpoint. We are looking our best estimate today is something a number of ballpark figure nearby the midpoint of the range. To go in the upper part is pretty unlikely, even though not impossible because we would need an extraordinary wind significantly above historical average. It happened -- it has already happened in the past. It's not I repeat impossible. But our real target is nearby the midpoint of the range. And today, I would say the consensus also from new analysts are more or less slightly below the midpoint of the range because according to our data, it's about 560, the consensus, and we are nearby, say. Yes, it's true. It would imply a fourth quarter significantly up year-on-year. But it's not a secret that the last -- the fourth quarter of '24 was pretty weak from wind condition point of view. So it's a reasonable number. So it's a sustainable number also considering the very -- the larger portfolio we can rely on right now because it's not just the best for sure, but it's above all the assets that enter into operations during '24 and the first part of '25. And please consider, and this is always more true that to bring new assets to its full potential required times. So we are also having an improved performance from, for instance, our U.K. portfolio, our repowering projects and so on. So the contribution of new assets is improving quite significantly over the first 12, 18 months of operations, please consider also this. About BESS, I say I don't want to enter into more detail than I have already given in the sense that we are now working operationally on this 12.5 megawatts and we expect margin, say, in excess of EUR 1 million for sure on '26, between EUR 1 million and EUR 2 million from these assets. But let me say, the game changer will be the next projects. And as I said, we are trying to elaborate a business case, which is different from MAX for the time being, even though MAX, 2 MAX auctions are expected to take place in 2026 -- in 2026. So we are at a crossroad with different option. We'll pick the one we consider the best for us, but we are not ready to give an answer more precise than what I just said. [ FERZ ], yes, it's on the pipeline. The main innovative concept is to introduce noneconomic criteria and that those maybe are welcome because our powering projects, we believe are bringing value added to the system because we are doubling the capacity, tripling the productions without occupying more soil. So it should be favored, I mean, by the regulator, but also from a technical point of view, the Fair should introduce kind of -- I don't know yet how, but some kind of ability, let me say, the Fair want to stimulate the creativity operator of operator to follow the profile of demand. To me, it's quite difficult because wind and solar are unpredictable. I mean, they are producing when sun or wind is out there, but let's see. For the time being, we are focused on short-term FERX because we would be very, very pleased if those 2 projects can go on in their construction. They could enter in their construction phase. Data center, yes, it's the topic trend of these days. Nowadays, we can keep talking about data center. We are positive on them. We still need to see the real upside of them in terms of demand because everybody knows that one of the problem is the weakness of demand across Europe, electricity demand. The European Commission recently stated through their 2040 climate framework that they should push more on electrification of consumptions. And one of the pillar of this electrification is exactly data center. So we are not studying right now a precise business model on data center, but we will definitely benefit if this kind of electricity stream will keep growing going forward. So Roberto, I hope to have touch your point.

Operator

operator
#11

The next question is from Emanuele Oggioni, Kepler.

Emanuele Oggioni

analyst
#12

I have 3 questions. The first one is more high level related to your strategy and the fact that in the last 2 business plan, you cut the development CapEx and the growth basically of the company waiting for an improved scenario. But it seems that, in my opinion, at least that this scenario has a bit improved compared with 1 year ago, for example. So you have we are lower interest rates, probably lower CapEx per megawatt. Then I have also a question more specific on the CapEx, but not higher for sure. Also, the outlook for -- in some markets, not only in the U.S. has improved as regards to the electricity prices or at least before everyone would have foreseen a decline in power prices. Now probably the outlook has improved, et cetera. So do you see the condition -- so this improved condition to resume and to accelerate basically your growth in terms of development CapEx the next business plan? So this is the first question. The second one is more short term on '26 hedging. If you can provide an update. And the third one, I said, is on the supply chain. So if there is an update on the CapEx per megawatt for onshore wind and solar.

Paolo Merli

executive
#13

Okay. About CapEx, yes, you are right. We mentioned a little bit lower interest rates, some aspects of the outlook that has slightly improved over the last few months, 12 months exactly. But we are very concentrated on our business plan and part of our business plan is based on repower. So the fact that you are seeing lower CapEx is just a matter of time. I mean, if FERX would have taken place -- had taken place when it was supposed to, probably right now, we were spending -- we would have spent more in terms of CapEx. So we are just adapting our deployment in terms of time line, say, waiting for the proper conditions to go on with our investment. That's the real reason behind the profile of CapEx. So if in a month, say, GSE we confirm that our 2 projects are among the awarded one, we will start the construction and then we'll approve the CapEx. And in parallel with those 2 projects, we have other projects ready to be launched, not just in Italy, but also in Germany, in France and so on. But it's not -- so this environment is not for us stimulating an acceleration beyond what we have already announced during the business plan because you said just the positive, but also there are point of attention in the market, looking, for instance, the negative hours and so on. So for us, it's crucial when we approve an investments to secure its return in terms of IRR. And to do that, we need to have the route to market already secured. We will need to secure the CapEx per megawatt. And behind this, there is a huge -- a big, a big work to do. That's our approach, and we don't want to get away from this kind of approach. We are still on that approach, and we keep it. So we don't see particular acceleration. We hope to accelerate on our organic pipeline, that's for sure. And we are working on the next business plan, and we hope to say a little bit more in March '26 when we'll update the financial community on our plan.

Michele Pedemonte

executive
#14

Regarding hedging, we are entering November with 2026 volume that are hedged on 75%. So we have exposed to market 25%. What we expect in the coming 2 months is to reach our target that is around 80%, 85% by the end of 2025 to start 2026 with our target hedge volume. So this is -- you know that we are following a 3-year rolling hedge policy that some short-term hedging to the long-term hedging provided by tariffs or PPAs or green certificates. So this is the situation of the hedging today. Regarding the supply chain, you are right that we are seeing for sure, stabilization, some -- also some improvement in the supply chain. In particular, we have experienced in this moment of projects in Germany, France and in Italy, in wind in particular. In particularly in Italy, the competitiveness of the auction has some effect also on the behavior of the wind turbine suppliers because they recognize that if they want the projects that are based on their technologies, they know that they need to be competitive in their offer. Otherwise, there are no projects for them. And so I think there is an alignment of interest between -- in this specific case between [ IPP ] and technology provider to be competitive in the auction. And this is something that we see happening on the market. Regarding the remaining part of the cost per megawatt, civil works and so on, I don't see any particular disruption in the market, in particular for wind project and in particular for ERG that is an established player in this market.

Emanuele Oggioni

analyst
#15

Just a follow-up on the -- still on the hedging. You mentioned the volumes, but as regards the pricing overall, there is any improvement in this 3-year hedging?

Michele Pedemonte

executive
#16

I cannot comment on specific figures on the hedging. We are following in the 3 years methodology, the price on the market. So in this moment, on the term, I don't see any particular change in respect of 2024 regarding the price that we are building up for 2025. The price for 2026, we are not seeing any material change regarding the price of 2025.

Operator

operator
#17

The next question is from Davide Candela, Intesa Sanpaolo.

Davide Candela

analyst
#18

I have 3, if I may. The first one is still on batteries. I was wondering if you can share your view about the cost trajectory of the technology that to me, it looks like there are some room for improvements also on a technological point of view. So I wonder if this is a good positive case for the technology going forward. Second question on M&A, you partly already answered with regards to U.S., but with moving to Europe. I wonder if you can share your view how the market is going, if you are considering [ Sandoies ], which is the gap actually between the bid ask in this part of the world? Third question with regards to the PPAs market. And this question is related maybe to the demand growth expected from data center. In the PPAs, do you see utilities that are actually some of them downsides in their CapEx in renewable as key clients in future to lock in some new capacity that renewable operators like you could develop in future?

Paolo Merli

executive
#19

Very, very quickly. BESS, yes, you are right. We noticed a huge improvement in the capital intensity that is getting lower and lower. In particularly, over the last few months, the few months before the launch of the MAX auction, we noticed a significant drop the CapEx intensity. As a matter of fact, say, in July, the cap was set at EUR 37,000 and then the outcome came at EUR 13,000. So with a very huge discount because the pricing of the furniture went down quite significantly. So this is an upside for sure going forward. It's not a secret that scale is crucial. I mean the operator that won 70% or even more of the MAX auction was a large-scale operator. So you need to be -- to have a significant pipeline to reach this kind of pricing, but we are working in this direction. M&A, U.S. is still an area at which we are looking at despite what I said before, but still it's interesting for us also for the reason Roberto mentioned before, the trend in terms of data center and whatever. But still, we are looking for the right moment to increase our presence there. About Europe, yes, we are involved in some beauty contest, in particular, in countries where we have a quite sizable positioning and it's not a secret like France, U.K., Germany, these kind of countries. But as you know, M&A, you can't say anything until you have closed it because until the last moment. But yes, we are working on some very specific asset acquisitions that could create value from our perspective. PPA market, I think we are delivering a lot, much more than we ourselves could think just a few years ago. In 2021, in 2021, we had 0 PPA in our portfolio. Now we have 3.7 terawatt hour per year of production covered by PPA with high-level offtakers across the world in Europe, both in Europe and U.S. So we believe to have been a leader in this segment. Even in this quarter, in the third quarter, we closed down 3 important PPA with FS, the train operator in Italy. We are now working on other PPA on some assets outside Italy. We hope to be in the position to announce something -- sorry, in the very near future. And if the question was to understand the PPA market is still alive, yes, it is, and we expect it to develop even further because as you said correctly, most of the integrated utilities are moving capital from RES to other segment like regulated ones in particular. And then from this point of view, they would need to sign more PPA. In fact, ourselves ERG itself has signed a few PPAs with utilities recently. And this trend should reinforce in our opinion going forward. So, I hope to have answered your...

Operator

operator
#20

The next question is from Alex Roncier, Bank of America.

Alexandre Roncier

analyst
#21

I have 2, if I may. The first one is just regarding the lower capital intensity or at least CapEx per megawatt, I think, that you were talking about. I just want to kind of make sure I understand correctly because I think historically, you had a CapEx per megawatt guidance that was a little bit higher than the rest of the industry due to your own integration as well as Italy and repowering, so some specific. And I think you've been talking down CapEx per megawatt for yourself in terms of your next investment. what you've been doing as well, and I'm glad to see that comment being made again today during the call because you made that first, I think, last time at the H1 call was regarding turbine prices perhaps coming in lower than what you were expecting or at least the European OEMs being a bit more conscious of Chinese competition and perhaps lowering prices. I think that's a message that very opposite of what the OEMs themselves are talking about. So I would be interested to really have your view about what you're seeing in terms of turbine prices for Europe. And I'm just also wondering if the lower costs you are getting on your projects is perhaps due to other factors as well? I mean, is it because of the balance of power, system, transformer, connection, [ PC ], some better integration or maybe some lower costs that you're trying to put in, in terms of risk conversion for the project themselves because I know historically in the past, you were getting a lot back from compensation. And then the second question, perhaps, and sorry for the first long question, is that given that perhaps organically, you are trying to accelerate, I'm conscious of that, but you're perhaps not deploying as much capital as what you were thinking. Should we safely assume that, that means there is even more upside regarding higher dividend per share or higher share buyback into next year which was already the case at the beginning of the year. So any kind of color on capital allocation? And ultimately, if you had any more directionality being given by the Board and by both your main shareholder groups.

Paolo Merli

executive
#22

Okay. Alex try to answer your question very rapidly, and then I leave Michele to elaborate a little bit more on your first question as a CFO, is also accountable for our procurement. So he's negotiating every day with all the names you mentioned. I mean, the Chinese and OEMs, Western OEMs and the Chinese one. MAX, historically, honestly, we had a CapEx per megawatt, which was lower, not higher than other operators because in 2020, 2018, we managed to sign a framework agreement with Vestas and Enercon at the price at that time. So we had a wave of investments 3, 4, 5 years after that framework agreement supported by a lower CapEx per megawatt in terms of wind turbines. Then unfortunately, those frameworks expired and then back to normal, let's say. So that's the reason behind the increased CapEx per megawatt over the last, say, 2 years. Having said that, over the last 2 projects I mentioned before that took part to the FERX auction, together with our partner because we consider the OEM with which we work as a partner and they were aware of the competitiveness expected in this auction, we found an agreement to reduce the CapEx subject to the fact that we order a certain kind, a certain type of machine and turbine. So I can confirm that the reduction was strictly limited to the wind turbine supply agreement, subject, of course, we were -- we are awarded by the CfD. Of course, there is also, let me say, I don't want to enter into the shoes of OEM, but there is a kind of reversal engineering exercise also for them. I mean, if they know the pricing at the FERX option is going to be 75 or 76, they adapt their value proposition for wind turbines in order to get the order. So it's a double interest. And fortunately, it's an interest that we have in common. This kind of partnership, we hope is going to work as regards the FERX. About the Balance sheet, I think it's a nice problem to have. I mean, having a stronger balance sheet than other peers, and this is definitely our picture because as you have seen, the net debt has remained broadly flat, notwithstanding we distributed almost EUR 170 million in '25, dividends plus buyback because in January, don't forget, we spent more than EUR 20 million in buyback. Going forward, we like to have a strong balance sheet because whenever opportunities will arise also from an M&A point of view, we are ready to get the in March, when we are -- when we close the profit and loss, for the full year, usually, we have a confrontation, I mean, a discussion internally to set the dividend, think about maybe buyback and whatever. As we said, buyback is considered a flexible tool to allocate properly cash. But for the time being, I'm not ready to take any commitment from this point of view, except confirming the EUR 1 per share dividend that was our minimum, say, target from this respect. So Alex, do you have any...

Alexandre Roncier

analyst
#23

It's super helpful. Just maybe if I can, just one very quick follow-up. So you mentioned you had a historical framework with Vestas. Any comments you can give us about the partner you're adding for the FERX procurement?

Michele Pedemonte

executive
#24

No. But -- I don't know if you want --No, no. I mean maybe what I can say is that we have a history of working with Western O&M, so Vestas, Enercon, Nordex and so on. But we cannot rule out the possibility to work also with the Chinese supplier. We see that they are entering the market in Europe. So have very small market share up to now. And not all projects are good for their technology in terms of size of wind turbine comparing to the permitting that we have in our project. Notwithstanding that, we have discussion ongoing also with them to understand if we can benefit from lower cost technology, but without compromising on the asset quality that is one of the characteristics of our group that is to maintain a quality in our asset base that can deliver value in the long time.

Alexandre Roncier

analyst
#25

Okay. So haven't selected yet, but keeping all options open, including Chinese provider.

Operator

operator
#26

Gentlemen, there are no more questions registered at this time. I turn the conference back to you for any closing remarks.

Paolo Merli

executive
#27

Thank you. Thank you all for the interest, and we will see the next one in March for the full year results and also for the update on the business plan. Thank you very much, and have a good weekend.

Operator

operator
#28

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over. You may disconnect your telephones.

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