Amid the challenging scenario created by the coronavirus pandemic, the energy generated by UHE Santo Antônio in 2020 reached 17,741 GWh, 4.3% higher than that produced in 2019, surpassing the record recorded in 2018 (17,430 GWh), according to the Report of Santo Antônio Energia's management released this Tuesday (16th). With the result, the hydroelectric power plant consolidates itself in the market as the 4th largest energy generator in Brazil, serving the generation scheduled with the National Electric System Operator (ONS) capable of serving more than 45 million people.

Still on the plant's operation, SAE achieved an important advance in the Availability Index Factor (FID), which increased from 0.9646 to 0.9696. The improvement was achieved despite the difficulties brought about by the operation in a containment regime, adopted in a large part of the year. “The company closes the fiscal year 2020 with the certainty of having overcome the challenges that have presented itself and with a positive balance of advances and achievements, despite being marked with the memory of a disruptive year due to the impact of Covid-19”, evaluates Roberto Junqueira, CEO of SAE.

Liquidity 

The company also showed a significant improvement in its liquidity, ending the year with an increase of R $ 186 million in the cash balance, availability well above that of previous years. The efficient management of expenses and adherence to standstill programs contributed by the National Development Bank (BNDES) and the Banco da Amazônia contributed to this strengthening, which resulted in the suspension of payment of the installments of financing in the total amount of R$ 350 million.

They also positively favored the postponement of investments (Capex), which were facilitated by the reduction of activities caused by the pandemic, without impacting the plant's performance and in alignment with environmental and sectoral regulatory bodies.

Financial result 

SAE's net financial result went from R $ 1,552 million in 2019 to R $ 1,853 million in 2020. The variation is due to the 25% increase in financial expenses (R $ 2,112 million) mainly impacted by the increase in the debt balance, which resulted in an increase in interest expenses and monetary restatement (IGP-M) of other provisions, partially offset by the increase in financial income (R $ 131 million in 2019 to R $ 259 million in 2020).

It is worth mentioning that the UHE Santo Antônio was implemented in the Project Finance mode, so that the results of the first years of operation are strongly impacted by financial expenses, which will be reduced over the years, after the gradual amortization of financing. The company ended the year 2020 with a loss of R $ 1,426 million, compared to a loss of R $ 933 million in 2019.

EBITDA 

Despite the improvement in its financial liquidity, SAE presented an EBITDA of R $ 1,268 million (40% margin), standing at a level similar to that recorded in 2019 (R $ 1,282 million), adjusted by the reversal of provisions made in that year.