Aker Horizons ASA

OSE:AKH

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q1

[Kristian Rokke, executive]

Good morning to all joining. Welcome to Aker Horizons' first quarter presentation.

It's been an eventful quarter with major transactions and new initiatives that we believe will accelerate growth in the years ahead. As for main developments, Aker Horizons announced a series of transactions designed to enhance our position as a developer of mega-scale projects to decarbonize power in the industry globally, the most significant of which was the announcement to combine Aker Horizons with Aker Offshore Wind and Aker Clean Hydrogen in an all-share merger. Mitsui joined Aker Horizons as a strategic partner and investor in Mainstream, which will support the company's growth plans. We also strengthened our financial position by securing NOK 1.4 billion in additional liquidity with the sale of REC Silicon to Hanwha as well as Rainpower to Aker Solutions. These steps have secured Aker Horizons' ability to continue industrial progress unabated by market volatility; and provide the financial muscle to take advantage of opportunities such as in Narvik, where we announced the JV with Nordkraft this week to develop sites for power-intensive industries. This will serve as a platform for Aker Horizons' flagship green industrial hub in the North of Norway.

All in all, we have raised capital of NOK 10.4 billion over the past 2 quarters. We're also pleased with the industrial progress made across the group in the period. I will go into more detail on the specifics shortly.

In terms of market fundamentals, the urgency for net zero has never been greater. The REPowerEU plan has aimed at reducing the region's reliance on Russian gas by 2/3 before year-end 2022, notably by speeding up permitting for renewable energy projects and boosting green hydrogen imports. Aker Horizons is well positioned here to meet the EU's needs both through the development of our targeted wind projects in Europe and hydrogen value chains aimed at European offtakes. At the same time, we're keeping a close eye on cost increases caused by commodity price inflation and supply chain constraints and taking appropriate measures to counter any negative effects these may have on project returns. Mary will delve deeper into Mainstream's cost inflation mitigation strategy in her part of this presentation.

The energy transition fundamentals are continuing to gain momentum. Over 80% of global emissions are now targeted for reduction under net zero commitments.

Turning to the transaction that shaped the first quarter. On March 30, we announced merger plans to combine Aker Clean Hydrogen with Aker Horizons in an all-stock merger, as well as Aker Offshore Wind with Aker Horizons. 30-day volume-weighted averages were used for all 3 companies in determining the exchange ratios. The general assemblies will be held next week, on May 4, with anticipated closing in June for both transactions. We see several benefits industrially, financially as well as for the Aker Horizons share itself which will benefit all shareholder groups.

In conjunction with the mergers, we also announced the intention to merge Aker Offshore Wind with Mainstream which also has an offshore wind business. The industrial logic behind combining these companies is strong, including complementary footprints and capabilities, increased scale and improved access to financing for Aker Offshore Wind's projects. AOW adds a leading technology and [ total system understanding ] offshore floating wind developments as well as a pipeline of projects that will offer growth opportunities later in this decade. For ACH, we expect the proposed merger to accelerate the development of large-scale hybrid projects by integrating hydrogen production with downstream applications, combining the strengths of Aker Clean Hydrogen with the financial and broader industrial skill set of Aker Horizons. The merger will facilitate partnerships across value chains such as in Statkraft, expand the opportunity set in new adjacent industries such as green iron and improve access to competitive capital such as from Aker Asset Management. Simply, we see more value by developing hydrogen projects in a hybrid setting, as illustrated specifically in Narvik.

Also, in March, we announced that Mitsui would invest EUR 575 million in Mainstream Renewable Power in the form of new common shares, corresponding to a 27.5% equity stake in the company. The transaction values Mainstream at EUR 2.1 billion on a 100% basis post money. Mitsui is a leading Japanese trading and investment firm with approximately 45,000 employees in 63 countries. Mitsui's business activities span mineral and metal resources, iron and steel, infrastructure, chemicals and energy. The Aker group has a long-standing relationship with Mitsui. And I am personally thrilled that they will take a long-term active role in the growth of Mainstream alongside Aker Horizons.

Mitsui can support Mainstream's transformation into a renewable energy major through its geographic footprint, global customer network and deep understanding of hydrogen and ammonia markets which are particularly relevant for [ power-to-X ].

We also announced 2 divestments in the quarter, further enhancing Aker Horizons' liquidity. [ And we've ] sold our remaining stake in REC Silicon to South Korea's Hanwha at a purchase price of NOK 20 per share, resulting in total proceeds to Aker Horizons of approximately NOK 1.4 billion. Following completion of the transaction, Aker Horizons will no longer own any shares or hold any voting rights in REC. The transaction followed a previous sale in January of 21.9 million shares in REC to Hanwha which resulted in proceeds of NOK 438 million.

Hanwha is a leading solar PV manufacturer globally, operating the largest module production plant in the United States. [ We were ] convinced that Hanwha has the right expertise to contribute to the successful reopening of REC's Moses Lake plant, and thus, this transaction represents a major step in rebuilding the U.S. solar supply chain. Overall, REC has been a great investment for Aker Horizons. We've learned a tremendous amount about the global solar value chain as well as the battery technology space related to silane gas. And we are proud of having contributed to what we expect will be a rapid growth of the business going forward.

At the end of the quarter, Aker Horizons agreed to sell all our shares in Rainpower, a hydropower equipment and technology provider, to Aker Solutions. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter for a consideration of NOK 100 million, with an additional discretionary element that may bring the total to NOK 150 million.

Moving on to our portfolio companies.

Aker Carbon Capture is a pure-play CCUS, carbon capture, utilization and storage, company with technology developed over 20 years and validated with over 50,000 operating hours and certified for several applications. The core technology uses a mixture of water and organic amine solvents to absorb the CO2. It can be applied to numerous industries, including cement, bio and waste energy, gas-to-power and blue hydrogen.

First quarter highlights included work being commenced on the FEED study for BP's Net Zero Teesside project in the U.K. as part of a consortium including Aker Solutions, Siemens Energy and Doosan Babcock. This is the world's first commercial-scale carbon capture system on a gas-to-power facility and marks a major step forward for large-scale CCS, with a project capacity of about 2 million tonnes of CO2 per year. ACC mobilized its project execution team to start work on the Twence carbon capture project in the Netherlands. Twence converts 1 million tonnes of waste energy every year, supplying more than 100,000 people in the Netherlands with heating and electricity. There are several innovative aspects of this project, including the use of ACC's Just Catch, which will be the first-of-a-kind modular plant for the removal of CO2 from flue gases and also the reusing of CO2 as a sustainable raw material. The CO2 will be used by greenhouses to enhance plant growth, with an aim to also utilize liquid CO2 for other industries such as chemical and food industries.

In March, ACC signed a memorandum of understanding with Microsoft with the ambition of scaling up the carbon capture value chain. Aker Carbon Capture and Microsoft will demonstrate the full value chain of carbon reduction and removal, utilizing ACC's proprietary CCUS technology and Microsoft's digital capabilities to enable the ecosystem for the voluntary carbon market, providing traceability and data, ensuring high-quality carbon credits. Digitalization is high on the agenda across the Aker Horizons portfolio. And we're working closely with Cognite and Aize within the Aker ecosystem but also with industry-leading external counterparts, needless to say we couldn't have a better partner than Microsoft.

The Brevik CCS project for Norcem HeidelbergCement is progressing according to schedule, with key milestones achieved. This is the first carbon capture project at a cement facility worldwide. The on-site activity is set to pick up in June, with the main installation work to take place next year. Several collaboration agreements were signed in the quarter related to transportation and storage, where the aim is to offer a full value chain approach to CCS by combining ACC's technology with industrial partners' gas processing and marine transport capabilities. ACC; and Northern Lights, the operator of the transport and storage solution for the Norwegian Longship CCS project, signed an MOU to collaborate on the realization of CCS projects in Norway and across Europe to work together to optimize logistics and standardize ship-shore interfaces. ACC also entered collaborations with Dan-Unity CO2, the world's first carbon capture and storage-specific shipping entity; Altera Infrastructure and Höegh LNG.

Aker Carbon Capture has set an ambitious target of securing contracts representing 10 million tonnes of captured CO2 by the end of 2025. So far, with Twence and Brevik, the company has secured 0.5 million tonnes worth of firm EPC contracts. And the company has won competitive tenders for FEED studies totaling 4 million tonnes. In addition, the company is involved in study work and tenders for about 5.5 million tonnes of projects, reflecting high activity levels in the carbon capture market.

Moving to Aker Clean Hydrogen. Aker Clean Hydrogen is a clean hydrogen producer dedicated to developing, building, owning and operating hydrogen facilities, both blue and green, globally. The company has a global portfolio spanning from Chile to Norway; and is targeting decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors like shipping, fertilizer and steel production.

In March, Aker Clean Hydrogen and Statkraft exited the Hegra green ammonia project at Herøya, Norway. We remain committed to developing hydrogen ammonia in Norway and internationally. And Statkraft, Aker Clean Hydrogen and Aker Horizons announced at the time that the companies would seek to collaborate on developing green hydrogen and ammonia projects together elsewhere. Already this week, we were able to announce that Statkraft and Aker Horizons are partnering to explore opportunities for green hydrogen and ammonia production in India and Brazil, targeting local steel and fertilizer industries. Statkraft has substantial experience and presence in both countries. The potential that resides in these markets is a considerable magnitude. Both India and Brazil are large consumers of hydrogen, have supportive governmental policies and benefit from world-class renewable energy resources, which offers opportunities for green hydrogen and ammonia production. Brazil is the world's fourth largest consumer of fertilizers, accounting for about 8% of global demand. Currently the country imports more than 80% of its consumption. Recently the Brazilian government enacted their National Fertilizer Plan, seeking to reduce Brazil's dependency on imported fertilizer by, amongst other means, attracting and supporting foreign investments. In India, the steel industry produces about 100 million tonnes of steel [indiscernible]. Here green hydrogen can be used to replace gray, fossil fuel-based hydrogen; coal; and natural gas as fuel and feedstock. This will reduce CO2 emissions while bolstering the country's energy security.

The hydrogen project at Rjukan moves ahead. From Rjukan, we will be able to deliver cost-competitive compressed hydrogen for shipping, road transport and industry in Eastern Norway. The project recently passed another decision gate, completing the feasibility phase and proceeding with the concept selection phase. The Rjukan project is well positioned to be an early industry mover. Also in the quarter, ACH entered a series of partnerships with companies such as Kuehne+Nagel, Grieg Edge and Aker BP to enable green fuel offtake in the maritime sector; and more recently with the Norwegian logistics company Peak Group, which -- whom ACH will seek to collaborate on green fuel delivery. Peak Group has about 30 ships in operation today and has plans for increasing its [ bulk ] transportation fleet to be fueled with renewable ammonia or hydrogen. The shipping industry is responsible for about 3% of global commissions -- emissions. And decarbonizing shipping is in a classic dilemma where you can't produce large quantities of green fuel before the ships have converted their engines, and you cannot convert before you are [ assured ] that there will be a viable market for green fuels. Joining forces along the value chain is the most viable way to tackle these hurdles.

Aker Horizons sees hydrogen as key to unlocking the cheapest renewable resources through the ability to export hydrogen derivatives such as ammonia and methanol. Starting in Narvik and using an expertise built up in ACH, Aker Horizons will originate and develop green industry projects hub by hub. We have identified decarbonizing steel, the world's largest emitting industrial value chain, as an attractive opportunity for Aker Horizons. Standardization is key to reducing CapEx in building hydrogen, ammonia and methanol plants. ACH is developing a standardized execution model and designing standard technical solutions. The company is establishing a supply chain tailored according to ACH specifications, with strategic suppliers to deliver the right equipment at the right time and cost. Proprietary plant architecture enables modular-based plants and low-cost scale-up. In addition to lowering costs, standardization reduces delivery time [ and improves ] safety. ACH has now shortlisted strategic vendors for key technology and equipment and initiated a design competition.

Turning to Aker Offshore Wind. Aker Offshore Wind is a pure-play offshore wind developer with a focus on floating offshore wind. The company plans to develop, build and operate deepwater wind farms; and contribute to the production of renewable energy. Key advantages the company benefits from include the Aker group's deep industrial expertise in offshore developments; collaborations with a number of industry-leading strategic partners; and close cooperation with Principle Power, a floating wind technology company with a proven [ floating -- floater ] design. Aker Offshore Wind is currently engaged in prospects and projects in South Korea and Norway, the United States, the U.K., Sweden and Japan. The company saw positive investments across its portfolio in the quarter.

In January, Korea Floating Wind or KFWind, the joint venture between Ocean Winds and Aker Offshore Wind, obtained its first electricity business license from the South Korean government for a capacity of 870 megawatts. In March, a second EBL was obtained for 450 megawatts. KFWind now holds a 1.32-gigawatt EBL capacity, covering the 1.2-gigawatt net capacity target which is based on grid limitations. Securing these licenses represents a key step toward realizing the South Korean developments, which are on track to become one of the world's first large-scale commercial floating wind projects. KFWind has already started most of the field studies and is continuing its engagement with key local ocean stakeholders as required to secure the remaining permits. The permits are expected to be approved in 2023, with the objective of reaching financial close in 2024. KFWind could source up to 77% of project manufacturing domestically, of which around 63% would be fabricated in Ulsan area, creating thousands of jobs and the reindustrialization of the region.

Also in January, the Scotland leasing round was announced without Aker Offshore Wind securing any project licenses. Despite the disappointing result, Aker Offshore Wind remains committed to developing offshore floating wind in the U.K., where future opportunities include plans in the Celtic Sea and progressing the Northern Horizons integrated energy project. Industry incentives and regulatory framework supporting the industrialization of floating wind continued to develop favorably in many markets this past quarter, notably in the U.K., the U.S. and across Europe. In Norway, the government announced at the end of March that the upcoming licensing round for floating offshore wind at Utsira Nord will be based on qualitative criteria, an encouraging step which the industry has been calling for. In the U.S., further developments were made to support the industrialization in California, with the California Energy Commission approving a $10.5 million grant to help develop the Port of Humboldt into a floating offshore wind hub. Aker Offshore Wind plans to participate in the California auction in autumn of 2022, wherein 4.6 gigawatt in total will be put to auction.

Then over to Mainstream and Mary.

[Mary Quaney, executive]

Many thanks, Kristian.

I'm very pleased to join this morning to present Mainstream's progress during the first quarter of this year. It's been a period of really very exciting progress and key developments for the business. And the most significant development this quarter has been Mitsui's landmark investment of EUR 575 million in the company, which Kristian has already spoken about. I am delighted to welcome Mitsui as our new long-term strategic partner and shareholder alongside Aker Horizons. This is another transformational step for Mainstream's future expansion. It not only brings a very significant injection of capital into the business, which will be deployed to drive growth, but Mitsui's complementary geographic footprint, the global customer and strategic network and industrial capabilities will really accelerate our journey to becoming a renewable energy major this decade.

Then elsewhere right across the business, I'm very pleased to announce that our Condor portfolio in Chile reached full commercial operation in Q1. Our Condor portfolio consists of 3 wind farms and 1 solar farm, with a capacity of 591 megawatts. And this is the first phase of our 1.37-gigawatt Andes Renovables platform. Staying in Latin America: We achieved a significant milestone this quarter when we commercialized our first development in Colombia, the 100-megawatt Andromeda solar farm. We signed a private power purchase agreement with the local energy distribution company Air-e.

In Japan, in March, we closed a transaction along with Aker Offshore Wind as our partner, which we announced last year, to take an initial 50% stake in Progression Energy's 800-megawatt offshore wind farm in Japan. We're delighted to partner with Aker Offshore Wind and Progression Energy to expand our growing offshore wind footprint in the APAC region. And we believe we will significantly contribute to the growth of the emerging Japanese offshore wind sector. Also in March, as Kristian has mentioned, Aker Horizons announced its intention to combine Aker Offshore Wind and Mainstream. And combining Aker Offshore Wind's strong technical and engineering capabilities and early-mover position in floating offshore wind with Mainstream's project development methodology, our execution track record and global presence will unlock new offshore wind opportunities worldwide for us.

On the next slide then you will see that we continue to grow our global development pipeline. It now stands at a net 17.1 gigawatts, which is an increase of 0.5 gigawatts from last quarter. At the development phase, this quarter, we've added capacity of 560 megawatts of early-stage development projects in South Africa. That gives us a total global development pipeline of just over 15.5 gigawatts of net capacity. In construction, we have 780 megawatts of capacity. This has reduced compared to the previous quarter, which reflects that the Tchamma and Cerro Tigre wind farms as well as the Rio Escondido solar farm in Chile have now achieved full commercial operation during the quarter and therefore move across into operations.

So as a result, these 3 assets increased our operational capacity from a net 310 megawatts in Q4 of last year to 810 megawatts now at the end of Q1. And a reminder also that, in addition to this pipeline, we have an extensive portfolio of projects in our predevelopment pipeline. These projects which sit within our opportunities, they're currently undergoing rigorous prefeasibility and feasibility analyses. And then if they successfully pass through that screening process, then they funnel through into our development pipeline.

The next slide then is a snapshot of our global portfolio which spans across Latin America, Africa, Asia Pacific and offshore. And as usual, on the left-hand side there you'll see our capacity by technology, which is a well-balanced portfolio between onshore wind and solar PV. This technology split is important to maintain as we increasingly develop our projects with a hybrid portfolio approach combining wind and solar technologies and also a growing pipeline of offshore wind projects in development.

Then on to the next slide, before I take you through our platform updates, I just want to start by looking at some key themes and challenges which are impacting on the global industry at the present time; and to explain how we -- as an experienced global developer, how we actively manage these challenges. We monitor the industry closely. We work very closely with the supply chain, and we first started to see cost increases come through just over a year ago in Q1 of 2021. Since then, the global industry as a whole has experienced significant pressures on inflation and costs compounded by supply chain issues across the globe. And then in Q1 of this year, with the onset of the Russia Ukraine invasion, we've seen a further increase in both volatility and in cost inflation. And clearly, if not managed correctly, these have the potential to negatively impact on project returns. As an experienced developer of renewable energy across many markets, I should point out that these themes are not new to us. They're part of an ever evolving landscape, which we have shown throughout the years that we have particular expertise in managing as the energy transition evolves.

So let me just start with some examples with our single largest platform, the 1.3-gigawatt Andes Renovables platform in Chile. As you can see from the slide, we secured the Andes power purchase agreement in 2016. And importantly, these are fully index linked to U.S. CPI so therefore protected from inflation. And then on the contracting side, all of the key contracts were signed pre 2021. Our contracting approach is to fix the costs in these contracts so that we don't bear the risks of rising costs in the period between the signing of the contracts and the projects reaching commercial operations. On our wind projects, the turbine supply agreements and the balance-of-plants agreements entered into to date are fixed price. And similarly, for solar PV contracts, our contracting strategy has been fully wrapped EPC contracts so they -- so that we are not exposed to fluctuations in solar module pricing, for example.

So in summary, the index-linked PPAs combined with our fixed price contracting strategy and timing has resulted in a strongly mitigated inflation risk profile for the entire platform. Similarly, all recently awarded PPAs for our projects in South Africa, in Chile and Colombia, which have a total combined capacity of a net 700 megawatts, they're also fully index linked either in U.S. dollars for Chile or in local currencies for the South African and Colombian projects. So this again ensures that the latest cost inflation has been incorporated into the PPA pricing. And in addition to this, our diversified growth strategy spread across a range of geographies, currencies and technologies, combined with our very robust funding position now following the recent Mitsui transaction in particular, ensures that we have a very strong risk mitigation strategy against costs volatility across these platforms. Of course, there are significant challenges, but we continue to manage them effectively.

So now let me take you through our platform updates. So starting in the Lat Am region, where Chile continues to be a key focus: Our top priority here is to bring our entire 1.37-gigawatt Andes Renovables platform into commercial operation over this year and next year; and then secondly, to secure more private and public PPAs during 2022 and to progress our next 1-gigawatt platform. I'm delighted to report that our Condor portfolio, which is the first of the 3 phases in the Andes Renovables platform, has now reached full commercial operation. This portfolio, which has a total capacity of 591 megawatts comprises 3 wind farms and 1 solar farm. And the portfolio achieved financial close at the end of 2019. So that was just 3 months before the COVID pandemic began, and despite the very many challenges that this entailed, all 4 assets were successfully commissioned 24 months later.

In terms of the individual assets. The Alena wind farm received its commercial operation certificate in December. The Rio Escondido solar farm obtained its certificate in January. And then the Tchamma and Cerro Tigre wind farms received their certificates in February and March of this quarter, respectively. I'm really very proud to report that the assets are today generating enough green electricity to power approximately 680,000 homes and are preventing 660 tonnes of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere every year compared to fossil fuel-generated power.

Then the second phase of the platform, which is called the Huemul portfolio, consists of 3 wind farms and 2 solar farms. It has a total capacity of 630 megawatts. This portfolio achieved financial close in September 2020, and we are on track to complete construction during 2022. And then the final phase, the 148.5-megawatt Copihue wind asset, a single-asset portfolio which includes our first private PPA in Chile, is on track to reach COD in 2023.

Then in addition to the Andes Renovables platform, we are also progressing our 1-gigawatt Nazca platform, which we announced last year. The Humboldt portfolio is the first phase of this platform and comprises 300 megawatts of wind and solar across 2 projects. It is fully contracted with a long-term bilateral PPA which we're progressing towards financial close this year. And in addition to Chile, we're also exploring significant growth opportunities in Latin America and Central America. And we recently appointed a regional head who is located in Panama. In January, we announced the sale of our Chilean joint venture with Actis called Aela Energia, which we sold to the Canadian-listed developer Innergex for USD 686 million. This planned exit to Innergex will generate net proceeds after-tax to Mainstream of approximately USD 114 million, and we expect to close the transaction in quarter 2 of this year.

Then staying in Latin America. We announced our first significant commercial milestone in Colombia this quarter. We have been actively developing and expanding our portfolio of wind and solar assets in Colombia since 2019. We have a small but highly experienced local team based out of our office in Bogotá. And over the last 2 to 3 years, we've grown our development pipeline to over 750 megawatts. At the end of March, we commercialized our first development in the market by signing a deal to supply 180 gigawatt hours of clean energy each year in a private PPA with the local energy distribution company Air-e. Mainstream was 1 of 4 companies awarded a contract as part of this competitive auction and in which we secured 50% of the total available capacity in the process. The power purchase agreement has a tenure of 15 years and will come into effect from 2024, so to supply the power, we will build the 100-megawatt Andromeda solar PV plant, which is located in Northern Colombia. And we very much look forwards to building on this first significant achievement in Colombia for us enabling the country to decarbonize through what we expect to be the large-scale deployment of renewables. So with hundreds of megawatts already in the pipeline, we're very pleased that we've made a very good start to our activities in the market.

And now on to Africa. In October, we announced a major win for Mainstream in South Africa. And this win makes Mainstream the leading renewable energy company in the country and the single most successful company in the history of South Africa's renewable energy procurement program. We were awarded 12 wind and solar projects, so a total capacity of 1.27 gigawatts, which represented half of the total allocation in the round, so right now our team in South Africa are progressing the completion of all preconstruction activities across the portfolio, including grid and financing, to ensure full readiness for financial close. And then at that time, the ownership of the assets will transfer to the equity consortium, of which Mainstream then owns 25%. As with all of the projects we have completed in South Africa, we will deliver the engineering and construction of the 12 projects. And then looking beyond round 5, we're actively expanding and progressing our development portfolio in preparation for future private and public tenders. We're actively engaged in many private PPA opportunities in the market, and I expect to have an update on this next quarter. And our team in South Africa is also now preparing our next tranche of projects to compete in the forthcoming round 6 of the renewable energy procurement program. Recently the government announced it expects bid submission of round 6 to take place in Q3 of this year.

Then our pan-African platform called Lekela Power, in which we hold a minority shareholding, has over 1-gigawatt gross capacity either in construction or in operation. We operate the entire fleet of Lekela's operational assets in South Africa, which is 5 wind projects totaling 610 megawatts. And similarly to the recent sale of Aela in Chile, our planned exit is underway of the Lekela platform; and financial advisers have been appointed. Phase 1 of the process kicked off in December. And similarly to the Aela process, we're seeing very strong interest in the platform; and we expect to close the transaction this year.

And so on to the Asia Pacific region. Our priority focus here is to bring our flagship solar and offshore wind assets, both located in Vietnam, to financial close; to grow our pipeline; and to continue our entry into new markets. Vietnam is our key market in the region and we have been actively developing projects there since 2016. The country has a strong commitment to renewables and has stated their intention to phase-out coal by the 2040s, to reach also net zero by 2050. And the eighth power development plan, called PDP8, is expected to be published in H1 this year, with the latest draft of the plan indicating a very strong commitment to accelerating the transition to renewables and particularly in offshore wind. We're very well positioned to capitalize on this accelerated pathway to renewables with a gross pipeline of 2.3 gigawatts of offshore wind and solar assets now in development.

In Q4, I reported that we achieved a vital step for the Phu Cuong Soc Trang offshore wind farm with the receipt of a decision on investment and an investment registration certificate from the provincial government of Soc Trang for the first 200-megawatt phase of the offshore wind farm. This is the final permit required for the project and an important step towards finalizing the grid connection agreements and then to securing the power purchase agreement [indiscernible] on the project and brings us a significant step towards final investment decision.

We see the APAC region as a very high-growth opportunity with renewable energy capacity set to treble by 2050. In the Philippines, we are progressing our lead project, the 90-megawatt Cam Sur wind farm. And we are actively exploring other early-stage opportunities and pipeline additions. Outside of Vietnam, we are progressing a number of new market entry opportunities, including Indonesia.

And then moving on to the next slide, where I will speak about our market entry into the Japanese offshore market. So in this quarter, we announced the closing of our deal to enter into the Japanese offshore wind market, along with Aker Offshore Wind as our partner, through the acquisition of an initial 50% stake in Progression Energy's 800-megawatt floating offshore wind farm. The project is a well-formed early-stage development opportunity. And the site has been identified as ideal for floating wind and has got proximity to good grid conditions. And as a consortium, Aker Offshore Wind, Mainstream and Progression, together the 3 companies bring highly complementary capabilities and experience. Aker Offshore Wind leverages decades of offshore floating expertise. Mainstream brings a global leadership position in offshore wind development, yes. Progression Energy has a very successful track record in identifying markets early with strong fundamentals. And so with the closing of the transaction now, the parties will collectively continue to progress the project.

Here in Ireland, in our home market, we are seeing good progress on the policy side for offshore wind, where the Irish government has recently concluded a consultation on the future leasing process for the next phase of offshore in which Mainstream is progressing projects. The consultation focuses on the allocation methodology for new Maritime Area Consents for seabed leases. Policy determination and way forward are expected in Q3 of this year, with the application process then expected in the first half of next year. Ireland has enormous untapped offshore wind potential. And we are actively progressing opportunities for fixed and floating technologies of the east, west and south coasts of Ireland.

And then on to green hydrogen and power-to-X, where we are progressing a number of opportunities. And Kristian will speak more to the broader strategic direction of Aker Horizons later on. A number of Mainstream markets are really naturally excellently positioned for the hydrogen economy and provide us with competitive advantages in developing green power-to-X solutions. Chile has a strong green hydrogen strategy and targets being a leader in the market, leveraging from its excellent renewable energy resources, capabilities and synergies with the strong mining local industry, with domestic as well as export targets. South Africa is similarly well placed; again excellent, low-cost wind and solar resources, high availability of land; and again a domestic mining sector with raw materials for the hydrogen economy. These play very much to Mainstream's strengths in developing large-scale infrastructure projects in markets in which we have a leading position and a very well-established presence.

So good examples of where we will draw upon our developer mindset, the agility we are known for in the industry as well as our ability to identify opportunities earlier and using our core development capability. And so we're very well positioned to pursue a number of interesting development opportunities both in these and several other similar markets that we're actively working on.

So to conclude. Q1 has been a very strong quarter for us; the landmark transaction where we welcomed Mitsui as our new long-term strategic shareholder and partner alongside Aker Horizons, with a very significant capital investment in the business as we grow very rapidly. We continued to expand with pipeline increases and new market entries across all of our platforms. We brought the first phase of our Andes Renovables platform into full commercial operation. We commercialized our first project in Colombia through the signing of a 15-year PPA with the local distribution company Air-e. We closed the transaction, along with Aker offshore winds, to acquire an initial 50% stake in Progression Energy floating offshore wind farm in Japan. Aker Horizons announced its intention to combine Aker Offshore Wind with Mainstream. And I very much look forward to continuing to update on further progress across our activities right throughout 2022.

So at that, let me pass you to Kristian for his perspectives.

[Kristian Rokke, executive]

Thank you, Mary.

We really couldn't be more pleased with how the partnership with Mainstream is developing and with having Mitsui onboard as a partner. We see Mainstream as an integral part of Aker Horizons' plans to develop large-scale green industrial hubs globally, [ drawing on ] synergies between Mitsui, the Aker Horizons portfolio and other strategic partners.

With that, it's over to Nanna to walk us through the financials.

[Nanna Tollefsen, executive]

Thank you, Kristian.

Starting on Slide 21. In the quarter, there was a slight positive development in the net asset values from NOK 16.9 billion at Q4 to NOK 17 billion at Q1. There were several large movements in the buildup of the net asset value in the quarter. Our listed assets Aker Carbon Capture, Aker Clean Hydrogen and Aker Offshore Wind saw share price decreases, decreasing our net asset value by a total of NOK 2.3 billion. This was countered by an increased valuation for Mainstream established by the transaction agreed with Mitsui the 24th of March and closed on the 7th of April. This transaction values Mainstream to EUR 2.1 billion, of which Aker Horizons holds 54.4%; and increases Aker Horizons' net asset value by NOK 2.4 billion.

The net debt was reduced by NOK 154 million in the quarter with proceeds from the first sale of shares in REC Silicon of NOK 438 million we received in Q1, partially countered by investments, interests and running costs.

Slide 22 shows key financials for Aker Horizons and holding companies for the first quarter. We reported a negative EBITDA of NOK 45 million in Q1. This is reflecting general overhead and project activity in Aker Horizons. The net profit was negative NOK 1.2 billion, reflecting value change in our listed shareholdings; and other financial items, [ mainly paying ] interest costs.

Cash flow from operating activities consists of running costs and interest paid and amounted to negative NOK 104 million in the quarter. The driver of investing cash flows in the quarter was Aker Horizons' investment into SuperNode, where Aker Horizons has invested its pro rata share in a private placement according to plan to fund the company's further development. Proceeds represent the first transaction with Hanwha Solutions for the sale of shares in REC Silicon, which was closed in Q1. The total cash flow in the period sums to positive NOK 227 million.

This brings us to available liquidity on Slide 24. At quarter end, the RCF of EUR 500 million was undrawn and we had a cash position of NOK 651 million. This sums up to available liquidity of NOK 5.5 billion. The net debt position was down from NOK 5.4 billion at Q4 to NOK 5.2 billion at Q1.

The capital structure on Slide 25 reflects listed assets recorded at market value and unlisted assets at book value. The loan-to-value as defined by our covenant stood at 12% in Q1, giving significant headroom to the covenant level of 50%.

So then taking a step back from the Q1 accounts. There has been a number of transactions announced the last 2 quarters that have strengthened the financial position of the Aker Horizons ecosystem. In sum, we have raised new equity of NOK 6.6 billion, NOK 5.6 billion of which in Mainstream and NOK 1 billion in Aker Horizons. In addition, we have sold shares and assets for NOK 3.8 billion, NOK 2.8 billion of which are sale of shares in Aker Carbon Capture and REC Silicon and NOK 1 billion is the sale of Aela platform in Chile. This sums up to a total of NOK 10.4 billion of capital raised through these measures taking -- taken in Q4 and in Q1. Additionally, we have raised -- increased our RCF by NOK 1 billion, adding up to a total of NOK 11.4 billion in increased liquidity.

So looking at the pro forma financials for Aker Horizons and the holding companies as per Q1. Taking into account the transactions that have been announced, Aker Horizons has a pro forma gross asset value of NOK 25 billion; net debt of NOK 1.1 billion; and available liquidity of NOK 9.6 billion, with the available liquidity being split approximately in half between cash and undrawn RCF. Aker Horizons is therefore in a strong position with significant available liquidity, a strong balance sheet and access to both public and private capital.

With EUR 575 million of additional capital, Mainstream is well funded and has strategic owners in Aker Horizons and Mitsui. The intention to merge Aker Offshore Wind and Mainstream will create an industrially stronger company and give improved access to financing for Aker Offshore Wind projects. Aker Carbon Capture has a solid financial position with NOK 1.5 billion in cash as of Q1. Aker Carbon Capture also has access to public market capital, in addition to private capital, for example, to fund assets in the "carbon capture as a service" business model.

Aker Clean Hydrogen will be merged with Aker Horizons, establishing a hybrid asset development muscle. Our plan is to fund a large part of the CapEx with long-term infrastructure capital, including a partnership with Aker Asset Management. With regards to SuperNode, Aker Horizons remains the strategic owner, and the funding needs in the short term are limited. All in all, the Aker Horizons ecosystem is well capitalized to seize opportunities and to accelerate net zero.

So with that, I give the word back to you, Kristian.

[Kristian Rokke, executive]

Moving on to the second part of today's presentation with some strategic perspectives. A lot has happened in Aker Horizons over the course of 6 months, which has shaped our portfolio and business development strategy. Our mission is really quite simple: accelerate the transition to net zero through industrial projects and technologies, bringing the Aker Horizons ecosystem and Aker group capabilities to bear. We are purpose-driven with an environmentalist perspective of being commercially minded in all we do. The best and really only way to have a long-term environmental impact is by having a [ commerciable ] product.

The era of new and more ambitious political and industrial solutions to our climate problems is upon us. Earlier this month, the IPCC warned yet again that it is now or never if we want to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. At the same time, geopolitical tensions have accelerated the energy transition considerably. The REPowerEU plan has been launched, and various EU member states have followed up with their own more ambitious targets. As an example, the European hydrogen market in 2030 just quadrupled compared to the plans that existed at the beginning of the year.

Turning to Slide 29. And what we have done, as illustrated here, is to organize Aker Horizons as simply as possible to position ourselves for what we believe is massive growth potential this decade. We have the companies in the portfolio today, Aker Carbon Capture, Mainstream and SuperNode. They are stand-aloned, managed companies with the support of Aker Horizons on strategic development, financial structuring and partnerships, to name a few key items. They are to be leaders in their respective fields, with the ability to finance themselves on a stand-alone basis. The Mitsui transaction in Mainstream and previous capital raises in ACC are examples of such robustness. In terms of M&A, I expect this to be a tool we will use to expand our list of companies.

Then we have asset development. This will consist of the current Aker Clean Hydrogen projects and technical resources combined with Aker Horizons projects and business development resources, a sizable starting point for creating a world-leading developer of green energy and green industry projects. We are already working on expanding our list of target areas that we think will be central to reaching net zero.

Then moving on to Narvik and some context. There are key challenges that need to be overcome to succeed with global decarbonization and the energy transition. Firstly, there is frequently a mismatch between the location of the best renewable resources and the largest offtake markets. This will increasingly create arbitrage opportunities between producing markets and offtake markets. Secondly, electricity lacks the long-distance mobility. Aker Horizons is addressing these challenges by taking a holistic approach to developing value chains based on local low-cost renewable energy that is integrated with midstream products such as hydrogen and downstream end-use products such as ammonia, green iron and fertilizers; and then exported globally. Our hybrid projects under development in Northern Norway and Chile can contribute to both industry decarbonization and addressing energy security issues in key regions around the world. We believe there is a significant potential for this hybrid project strategy.

The Narvik region offers the cheapest renewable energy in Europe, and that's baseload; as well as excellent transportation networks and local stakeholders committed to the energy transition. We have secured key industrial sites; and entered into a partnership with a local developer of powered land, Nordkraft, which is primarily owned by local municipalities. They have over 200 people in the region; and a deep understanding of how to develop infrastructure key for power-intensive industry. The main focus now is developing large-scale green hydrogen and then using this hydrogen in combination with other local industrial applications as well as for export, a prime example of a hybrid hub. This is a holistic development and will draw on the full range of skills in Aker Horizons' asset development organization from lead origination through offtake development and strategic partnering.

I would be remiss if I didn't address the current market volatility driven by a number of factors such as geopolitics, inflation and supply chain constraints, some of which Mary addressed. Much of this hasn't come as a surprise. And we have worked actively both to secure funding short term as well as to build long-term sources of capital such as through Aker Asset Management. Aker Horizons is in better position than ever to use volatility to our advantage while building planet-positive industry long term.

With that, we'd be happy to take some questions.

[Ivar Simensen, executive]

[indiscernible] we have received some questions and -- which we're happy to answer. And the first 2 questions come from Jørgen Bruaset at Nordea. They are for Mainstream. And we still have Mary with us; also joined by Paul Corrigan, CFO of Mainstream, in Dublin. The first question reads, "Regarding Mainstream, any thoughts on the broader industry trends on access to funding and consolidation? It seems like private capital is cheaper than public capital and so on and also thinking about deals in your -- with your peer groups and the Mitsui deal." Finally in this question is how is your appetite for bolt-on M&A for Mainstream. And what does joining forces with Mitsui do to impact any potential future IPO ambitions for Mainstream? So if you would address the first question, Mary and Paul.

[Mary Quaney, executive]

Yes, absolutely. So certainly we're seeing that, the access to funding and private capital, it's a very, very strong market. There's a very deep pool of capital available and, clearly, as we have seen as we've just closed the private transaction with Mitsui; and also as we are seeing in the planned exits of the Aela platform in Chile and also the Lekela platform in Africa, both of which we are minority shareholders in. Similarly, across the project finance sector, we are seeing deep pools of competitive capital for good-quality projects. So a very robust funding picture that we are seeing right across several fronts. In terms of M&A opportunities, we continue to screen several opportunities. And we do expect M&A also to be a tool that we use to expand Mainstream's portfolio and to continue to accelerate our growth trajectory. And particularly now with the investment by Mitsui and the depth of capital that we have available to grow the business; and the strategic partnerships with both Mitsui, Aker Horizons, combined with the development track record and muscle of Mainstream and our geographic footprint, we are certainly in a very rapid growth trajectory.

In terms of the timing towards IPO [ and that journey ]. That continues to be unchanged. And again, with the Mitsui investment, we're in a very solid position so as to continue to grow the business and continue to enhance our level of growth across many different factors so that then we'll be very well positioned for future IPO in time.

[Ivar Simensen, executive]

The second question from Mr. Bruaset is simply on round 6 in South Africa. With bids to be submitted in the third quarter of this year, when should, or can, we expect winners to be announced?

[Mary Quaney, executive]

Yes. So the South African government have now indicated the bid submission to take place in Q3 of this year. Based on historic processes then, that would imply that the results will be in Q4 of this year. So that's currently our expectations.

[Ivar Simensen, executive]

Then we have some questions from Jørgen Lande, Danske Bank, one on financial guidance and one on power markets. And so the first question then is on Mainstream. Is it fair to expect a positive EBITDA result for 2022 based on currently installed capacity? The second question is, "Given the volatility and uncertainty at the moment, are you able to enter into fixed-price contracts on solar and wind?

[Paul Corrigan, executive]

It's Paul Corrigan, the CFO. I'll take the first question, but before answering this, I will say that we don't provide guidance in terms of forecast EBITDA, so I'll just have to answer this in general terms. We are and will now see a positive contribution from the operating projects, notably Condor which is fully operational now, to be followed by Huemul and Copihue. So they will start making a positive EBITDA contribution towards group activities, but to counter that, we will continue to have investment in other activities [ in ] earlier-stage development activities right across the group, which tends to be negative from an EBITDA point of view. So the overall picture will be a blend of those before we start seeing an increased contribution from the underlying projects.

[Mary Quaney, executive]

Then in terms of the second question, which was given the volatility and uncertainty at the moment, are we able to enter into fixed-price contracts on solar and wind. The current status is, yes, that we are today. However, it is a very challenging environment. And certainly what we are seeing is that the duration of quote availability, that window between fixed-price quoting versus contracting, certainly is narrower than it would have been in the past. So we continue to manage this period of volatility very, very closely. And we have very strong relationships right across the supply chain. Overall, our contracting approach remains the same, but we will continue to manage the situation very closely.

[Ivar Simensen, executive]

That concludes our Q&A session this morning and it also concludes our presentation. We thank you for following us this morning. We will return with a market update for the second quarter on July 12. And should you have any questions in the meantime, do not hesitate to contact investor relations at Aker Horizons. That concludes the presentation for today.

Thank you.