Financial position

Development in debt position

The net debt position rose by €580 million to €3,873 million at year-end 2023 (31 December 2022: €3,293 million). This rise is a direct result of much higher investments in 2023 in relation to the cash flow from operating activities. The redeemed leases are paid lease obligations that are justified based on IFRS 16 as repayment of the financial lease obligation. The development in the net debt position during 2023 is shown in the graph below.

    Development in net debt position

Net debt position

Alliander has an EMTN programme worth €5 billion. This used to be €3 billion, but was increased as of 15 July 2022. As at 31 December 2023, the carrying amount of the outstanding bonds was €2,187 million (nominal value €2,200 million). Alliander has two euro commercial paper (ECP) programmes totalling €1,500 million, which can be used to issue short-term debt instruments. In addition to the standard ECP programme there is also a separate programme to issue green ECP debt instruments. In the latter case, the funds obtained are used to finance assets that are further specified in the Green Finance Framework. At year-end 2023, €500 million in ECP loans were outstanding (2022: €300 million).

Interest-bearing debt

The repayment schedule for the interest-bearing debt as at year-end 2023 was as follows:

Repayment schedule for interest-bearing debt (€ million)

The amounts scheduled for repayment in 2024, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2030 and 2032 mainly relate to bond loans. The other amounts relate to the repayment of shareholder loans and other loans.

Available green financing capacity

Alliander has arranged six green financing facilities since 2016, including five publicly issued green bond loans. The proceeds of these financing facilities have been used to fund various assets that are defined in more detail in the Green Finance Framework of August 2022. (https://www.alliander.com/en/green-finance-framework/). These assets and financing facilities are accounted for in separate reports (https://www.alliander.com/en/investors/financing/green-bonds/). A summary referred to as the allocation table is part of these reports. This summary details the size and composition of Alliander N.V.’s green asset portfolio and green financing facilities.

Allocation table: use of funds available from green financing facilities

The table shows that the net weighted carrying amount of green assets as at 31 December 2023 was €2,772 million. This represents an increase of €660 million since 31 December 2022. As a result, €572 million in green financing capacity was available as at year-end 2023. A new long-term green financing facility was arranged in 2023: a green bond for a nominal amount of €500 million. The weighting factor for the renewable energy asset category as at year-end 2023 has been set at 50% (source: nationaalklimaatplatform.nl). This relates to the share of renewable energy generation in the total electricity production capacity in the Netherlands. Rather than using green financing for our entire electricity grid, we have decided to invest these funds solely in the part used to transmit green electricity.