Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We're now ready to begin our presentation of the results for the first half of 2023, and we'd like to welcome everyone following us by phone and over the website. Today we're joined by the company's CEO, Roberto García Merino; and Emilio Cerezo, our Corporate Director of Economics and Finance. I'll now hand over to our CEO.
Many thanks, Sol. Thank you to all of you for attending this presentation in which we want to share the most relevant milestones attained during the first six months of 2023, Redeia's performance in the first half of the year, and the results we've achieved in a period that hasn't been without its challenges.
We'll begin by highlighting the most important aspects of the period, and then we'll drill down into the results achieved in the first half of the year in a context which continues to be complex in geopolitical and macroeconomic terms. We'll wrap up the presentation offering you our most updated vision for 2023 and reviewing the progress made in achieving the objectives of the current 2021-2025 strategy plan. I should also say that at the end of the presentation, we will have time to answer any questions you might have. Let's move on to discussing the most important aspects of the period. The current context worldwide means that sustainable, secure supply and availability of energy, correctly priced, continue to be crucial for our transition towards a more sustainable future.
At Redeia, we're fully aware of this reality. That's why we're redoubling our efforts to move towards a decarbonized energy system, providing neutral access to the electricity grid. That's why we continue to work to ensure there's a neutral telecommunications infrastructure that can once and for all close the digital divide, contributing to innovation and progress in society. Proof of this effort can be seen in some of the advances we've achieved in the first half of the year. Let me start by highlighting this point in particular. We have considerably boosted our investments in developing the electricity system, accelerating the rollout of our strategy plan. We've also put the Amazonas Nexus into service after successfully arriving to its final orbital position, which is 61 degrees west.
This satellite, which is aimed at air and maritime mobility market, will enable high-speed internet access throughout the American continents, the North and South Atlantic corridors, and Greenland, improving global connectivity and making universal access to digital rights from space a reality. We've also designed a sustainability plan for 2023- 2025, in which we've defined 87 intermediate and management objectives and 190 actions to achieve them, perfectly aligned with our current strategy plan and with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. This plan aims to maximize the company's contribution to sustainable development, fostering responsible management, and consolidating our position as a global leader in sustainability. Finally, we've concluded the negotiations for the collective bargaining agreements of Redeia Corporación and Red Eléctrica de España (S.A.U.) adjusting the employment conditions of the group company's employees to the current economic and business situation.
Furthermore, we believe that Redeia is ready to meet the challenges that lie ahead for coming years. We firmly believe that the success of the energy transition will be based on connecting renewable resources to the transmission grid in an efficient and safe manner, achieving an increasingly decarbonized electricity system. There, we can definitely be considered a benchmark in integrating renewables into a system that already maintains admirable figures for clean electricity with record highs in wind and solar photovoltaic generation. Specifically, the grid has made it possible to integrate 98.4% of production from clean sources into the electricity system, which means that only 2% of this renewable energy is wasted. That's a percentage well below the 5% limit established by the EU as the efficiency benchmark in management of the system.
We can thus affirm that we are accompanying Spain as it switches its energy model to one that's more sustainable. In this context, we have the National Energy and Climate Plan as a roadmap for projecting a country that's cleaner in terms of energy and whose different territories are better connected and more cohesive. As you know, a draft of this plan has been put out with an update with more ambitious targets now for 2030, including an increase in the target for renewable generation, which goes up from the previous 74% to now 81% in 2030. It also introduced stronger objectives in the field of storage and the importance of transmission grids and investment in smart grids to achieve a system that's compatible with the energy policy and climate goals set by the EU.
It's also important to note that the emission reduction targets in this draft are 9 percentage points higher than in the previous plan. Energy dependence targets have been brought down by 10 percentage points from the last plan. The electricity planning that defines our investment plan is key to being able to meet the commitments established for the following years. In this process of developing the system, the Royal Decree-Law 20/2022 outlines the objective of incorporating specific amendments to the 2021-2026 planning to include the urgent actions that are strategic and a priority for the energy transition and that allow for the development of the industrial value chain while also kicking off a new planning process for 2024-29. The increase in interconnections within the non-mainland electricity systems will have a direct impact on energy and climate, facilitating greater integration of renewable generation and strengthening supply security.
It's also well known, although this time as an area where we need to improve, that the degree of interconnection of the Iberian electricity system with the rest of the European continent is below the established targets. Right now, Spain's interconnection level is less than 5% of the generation capacity installed in the system. In 2023, Spain will be the only country in the European Union below the 10% target set for 2020, so it will be necessary to continue developing new interconnections where Redeia will continue playing a leading role. In our Spanish TSO business, we're keeping up the sound investment momentum we've had for some months now, bringing forward investments to make the energy transition a reality. We're creating sustainable, smart, and resilient grids.
In this first half, we've increased our investments in the TSO by more than 70%, especially with the initial steps for the interconnection with France. Progress has been made in the construction of the Chira-Soria pumping station and the commissioning of the new link between Ibiza and Formentera. Regarding this new link, I should point out that the interconnection will be able to cover 100% of Formentera's energy demand at all times, offering security and quality of supply. This is a huge leap forward in the energy transition of the smallest of the islands of the Balearic archipelago. This interconnection involved an investment of EUR 96 million. It was also carried out in record time, 21 months, which was six months ahead of the scheduled commissioning date.
On top of this, our investments are focused on facilitating the energy transition in the countries where we operate and on reducing the digital divide and achieving global connectivity across all the group company's infrastructures. The highlights in the period for international electricity transmission include the expansion of the Centinela substation in REDENOR 2, the commissioning of Tesur 4 in Peru, and the integration and consolidation of the assets acquired at the end of last year in Brazil, which doubled the size of our business in that country. In satellite activity, the Amazonas Nexus satellite has reached its orbital position and has started commercial operations. I'd like to remind you that the initial investment was roughly $300 million for a satellite with 15 years of activity. It currently has 80% of its capacity already committed, which means it has a backlog of around $600 million.
In addition, on the 18th of June, we launched the ÚNICO Demanda Rural program, financed with European Next Generation funds, which is allowing us to close the digital divide in Spain by bringing broadband connectivity via satellite to sparsely populated, remote, and widely dispersed rural areas. Hispasat will be one of the five companies that will lead the consortium that could develop the IRIS² constellation. This is an EU initiative to create a low-orbit satellite system to provide high-speed internet access. This consortium aims to foster collaboration between all the EU actors in the space connectivity value chain to enable the strategic autonomy of the European Union to become reality by providing sovereign, secure, and resilient government services.
In the field of fiber optics in Spain, we can highlight the agreements reached by Reintel with wholesale telecommunications operators in Spain to provide connectivity to the Ruta de la Plata by means of two 600 km dark fiber links and to contract fiber optic backbone sections with an approximate length of 700 km. These agreements are part of Reintel's organic growth plan through local and regional operators, which once again consolidate it as a benchmark provider for network deployment at a national level. I'd like to wrap up here by stressing that all this activity I've just described is framed in a context where sustainability is a fundamental driver for promoting progress and well-being in the regions that the company works in. This performance is recognized by the main sustainability indices in which Redeia is once again one of the top-level companies.
I'll now briefly comment on the results achieved in the period and their main figures. I'll hand over to Emilio, who will analyze these results in greater detail later on. Looking at the main figures achieved during the first half, in general, we can speak about a good half-year, with P&L performing in line with last year's figures in a complex context. We can highlight the significant evolution of our investments. All this will allow us to make sound progress towards achieving the objectives set in our strategy plan. First, I'd like to highlight the excellent performance of the main items on the P&L, especially the fact that revenues rose by more than 3% year-on-year, with an EBITDA slightly higher than in the first half of 2022.
Secondly, I'd like to highlight the increase in TSO investment, where we continue to focus all the company's effort on meeting the targets that we've set for ourselves. Thirdly, let me also highlight our commitment to the soundness of our balance sheet, with a reduction in net financial debt that will allow us to face the strong volume of investments that we expect in the coming years with full guarantees. Lastly, I'd like to highlight that on the July 3rd, we paid out the final dividend for the year 2022, thus fulfilling our commitment to the market. I'll now hand over to Emilio Cerezo, who will analyze these results in greater detail.
Thank you very much, Roberto. I will now take a closer look at the income statement as a whole, where the following things are worthy of notice.
Just as our CEO said, revenues for the period reached EUR 1.06 billion, or an increase of 3.2% thanks to the contribution from our telecom and international businesses. EBITDA grew slightly by 0.6% as a result of solid performance of revenues, partly offset by higher operating expenses after the addition of new companies into the consolidation scope and the effect of accounting for certain costs associated to Chira-Soria, among others. EBITDA coming from regulated businesses accounted for more than 83%. Net profit was EUR 354 million, or a reduction of 2.4% year-on-year, with minority interest linked to the sale of 49% of Reintel as the main cause for this drop. If we move on to analyze revenues by business line, the aforementioned contribution of diversification businesses stands out.
Their solid organic and inorganic performance has made it possible for Redeia to contribute EUR 37 million to group's revenues. The regulated business in Spain had a slightly negative contribution. Revenues from system operation grew by EUR 4 million due to the review of remuneration parameters for the regulatory period 2023-2025. Also, we obtained more income from third-party projects, but these were not enough to offset the EUR 9 million drop in transmission activity, mainly driven by our forecast for 2023 following the new criteria included in the final tariff orders for 2016 to 2019. In international business, which grew by EUR 12 million, we can highlight the positive contribution of REDENOR in Chile or Tesur 4 in Peru after their respective commissionings, the increased work on behalf of third parties, and the favorable effect of exchange rates.
The incorporation of new assets to the consolidation perimeter of Argo in Brazil in December 2022 and better results of TEN in Chile also help explain this performance. In the telecom business, improved revenues come mostly from the addition on satellite business. In the opposite direction, there were lower revenues due to the scheduled discontinuation of video services in Brazil. This growth arrests of improved results of investees due to greater contribution from Hispasat following the signing of a new contract with the Ministry of Defense. On the side of fiber optics, linking these contracts to inflation is the main driver for improved revenues. We now focus on the operating expenses, we see that these rose by EUR 50 million, or 18% higher, than the same period last year.
To more clearly understand this performance, it can be useful to break down the increase between comparable and non-comparable expenses. As we can see on the slide, non-comparable operating expenses grew by EUR 43 million, mainly driven by the addition of access to the perimeter for EUR 27 million and the accounting of associated costs for Chira-Soria for EUR 21 million. The reason is that regulation applicable to the accounting of these assets requires the construction of costs and revenues based on the degree of progress, thus generating a net impact on EBITDA for the remuneration of the work in process, which rose to EUR 3.6 million during the first half of the year. In addition, the non-comparable effect coming from international construction projects must be taken into account, and this was EUR 5 million.
As for comparable costs, we see that these only went up by 2.5% despite the inflationary environment in which we find ourselves, mainly driven from higher staff expenses linked to a growing workforce and the costs in connection with collective bargain agreements signed at the beginning of the year. In this sense, collective bargain agreements had a non-recurring accounting impact at the end of last year. These will be normalized at the end of this year. The performance of revenues and expenses leads to an EBITDA showing a slight growth over last year, supported by a positive contribution of the group's regulated businesses. Under TSO, efforts made to contain operating costs have successfully offset a reduction in regulated transmission revenues. EBITDA from international business also grows thanks to higher revenues and the contribution from investees.
EBITDA in the satellite business shrank as compared to previous years due to the expected expiration of some video services in Brazil. The recent startup of commercial activity in the new Amazonas satellite will make a significant positive contribution. EBITDA from the fiber optic business declined slightly due to an increase in electricity costs. Net profit, net of the effect of non-controlling stakes for the sale of 49% of Reintel, was placed 1% above last year. The improvement in EBITDA and financial results due to positive management of cash surpluses that provided financial income during the period were offset by a slightly higher effective tax rate due to taxation associated to the dividends received from group companies. As for investment, we continue to allocate capital in line with the group's strategic priorities established for the 2021-2025 plan.
As we can read on the slide, the group's total investment amounted to EUR 414 million. We consider that it is important to underscore that TSO investments reached EUR 354 million, or a 74% increase over the same period last year. Among other actions, we see the boost generated by investments linked to the interconnection with France via the Bay of Biscay group or the commissioning of the new submarine link between the islands of Ibiza and Formentera. International investment activity was limited, as expected, to completing Tesur 4 in Peru and certain progress in REDENOR 2 Substation in Chile. In telecommunications, investments came mostly from the launching of the new Amazonas Nexus satellite, which was recently put into commercial operation, as we recently said. To conclude the section of investments, I must underscore that over 85% of the company's organic investments are eligible under EU taxonomy.
The group's net financial debt stands at EUR 4.3 billion, EUR 321 million below December 2022. I must remind you, however, that the EUR 500 million of hybrid bonds issued in January are accounted under equity. At the same time, average gross financial debt went from EUR 6.4 billion- EUR 6.1 billion at June 30th, 2023. Operating cash flow generated during the year exceeds EUR 280 million, mainly coming from two contrasting aspects. First, the generation of a solid cash flow from operations arising to EUR 632 million from improved profit before taxes and higher interests. Second, due to the negative contribution coming from working capital, which involved a cash outflow of EUR 345 million, driven mainly by the refund of excess tariffs collected in previous years.
Taking all of the above into account and considering investments made through the year, payment of dividends, and the funds coming from the hybrid bond issue, net financial debt fell by 7%, thus showing solid financial ratios and maintaining an attractive credit rating. In this sense, Standard & Poor's recently reaffirmed our rating at A-minus, with a stable outlook. It is particularly noteworthy in our debt structure the high fixed-rate percentage of 90% considering the trend in interest rates for the past 12 months. This structure allowed average cost of debt for the group to stand at 2.11% despite the complicated interest rate environment. Over the next five years, we will be facing maturities of approximately EUR 3.9 billion, out of which EUR 3.3 billion are already covered by a strong liquidity position.
I must also mention the efforts the company continues to make in sustainability by financing green projects contributing to energy transition and mitigating climate change, 100% streamlined with the EU taxonomy. During the period, there have been two significant milestones: the expected issuance of a hybrid bond for half a billion euro, reinforcing the solidity of the group's capital structure, strengthening our solvency, and diversifying our investor base, as well as acknowledging our sustainable commitment by the Afi 2023 award. We are finally proud to state that 57% of our financing is linked to ethical, social, and environmental criteria, bringing us closer and closer to our commitment of having 100% ESG financing by 2030. Ultimately, we can conclude that we are positioned as a benchmark in ESG due to having 45% of our institutional shareholding cataloged as socially responsible investment.
Having analyzed the end of the midterm, I will give the floor to our CEO to tell you our vision for 2023 and the advance of our 2021-2025 strategic plan.
Thank you very much, Emilio. Right, well, in February this year, we set out our vision for 2023. The company's performance in recent months allows us to reaffirm these objectives for the end of the year and to be optimistic about achieving the goals we set out for the 2025 plan. A key factor is the sound progress of our TSO investments, which have significantly accelerated in the transmission network and will reach levels already close to the company's record highs in 2023. This makes it possible to confirm the current new investment cycle, keeping our investment targets for the end of the year at around EUR 700 million, with prospects of even surpassing these levels.
In EBITDA, it should be noticed that the higher TSO commissionings, the greater contribution from the latest lines acquired in Brazil, and the new commissionings in Peru and Chile for the international business, the stable fiber revenues, contractually protected against inflation, and the slightly lower contribution from the satellite business due to the expected end of certain connectivity service in Brazil, give us a forecast of estimated EBITDA of over EUR 1.5 billion in 2023 and net profit in line with those obtained in 2022, with both figures consistent with the strength and stability of our business lines. We can now move on to discussing the progress we've made in our 2021-2025 strategic plan, just as we're at the halfway point in it.
First of all, I'd like to remind you of the efforts the group has made to increase its investments in the transmission network in Spain, which is reflected in an increase in the 2021-2025 investment target from the initial EUR 4.4 billion up to a figure of around EUR 4.8 billion, with a 10% increase in the TSO investment target. This increase is underpinned by the change in the company's investment dynamics, which has led us to exceed EUR 700 million this year. That means that by 2025, our best estimate is to reach a TSO investment volume of around EUR 3.7 billion, as against the initial EUR 3.35 billion we had to start with.
Far, this first half year, we've made 10% progress toward the TSO investment target in 2025, and we expect to complete a further 10% in the rest of the year we have ahead of us. We've already completed our organic and inorganic investment target in the international markets, and in addition, we've made 47% progress towards our investment target in the telecommunications activities in the first half of the year. As you can see, in general terms, investment is rolling out as planned, with the pace and volume committed increasing in the case of the TSO. We can conclude by once again reaffirming our financial targets for the period up to 2025, offering attractive shareholder remuneration and maintaining a sound financial structure. That concludes today's presentation.
I'd like to thank you for your attention and say that we'll be very happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.
The Q&A is now beginning. If you wish to speak, please go to star one on the keypad of your telephone. The first question comes from Javier Suárez from Mediobanca. Go ahead, please.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for the presentation. I had two or three questions. The first one has to do with your business plan update and when we should expect to see. I mean, in the presentation, you said that the end of the climate plan should move us towards the end of 2024, but does that mean that once you've got more visibility about it, you'll be able to come up with a new business plan, maybe extending visibility to the end of the decade?
I'd also like to ask whether right now, with the visibility of CapEx that you have, is there perhaps a lack of regulatory visibility? I think that the regulatory debates will start in 2024 but won't end in 2024. My question is, how are you going to try to match these two variables? One is the visibility in CapEx, and the other is the regulatory visibility in order to get a business plan that will give you some visibility right towards the end of the decade. That would be my first question. The second question has to do, obviously, the company is speeding up its investment rollout and the effective increasing CapEx in the scope of investments for the end of the year. Talking about your organic CapEx, it seems this will become more and more important.
How does the company see the need to accompany the new CapEx with more asset rotation? Would some of the assets that you have for diversification here be considered less core than they used to be?
Javier, many thanks for your questions. If you wish, we can start with the first one. I think that, as you said, you've identified the issue. We do have two variables. They're both very relevant for the future of Redeia in the medium to long term. One is obviously CapEx, our capacity to invest.
I think that, luckily, we do have quite a lot of visibility there of the kind of investment we can roll out between now and 2030, either linked to the planning we have covering the 2021-2026 plan or the indications we get from the energy and climate plan that has already established investment in the grid of up to EUR 9 billion up to 2030. That means that the horizon for investment is pretty clear in the main orders of magnitude. What's missing maybe in the company is to confirm that we have the capacity to deal with the EUR 1 billion investment each year that we require for the internal horizon that we have as our target for this year, but also thinking about next year.
Once we get that capacity, that EUR 1 billion a year, we should be able to deal with the kind of volumes of investment we need to meet the Energy and Climate Plan targets for 2030. That's sufficient to plan for the future of Redeia and the market needs and the company's ability to execute its plans. I think we should be able to meet the targets and estimate things within a reasonable time period, thinking ahead to 2030, because there, I'd say the future of the company is pretty clear. As you say, Javier, so correctly, the other thing is the regulatory side of things, what regulations will cover the rollout of these investments. We've been working on the regulatory review, which will affect the period that starts in 2026, both internally and in contact with the CNMC, which is our regulator.
It's true, the CNMC, well, it's giving us, what, two and a half years to wrap up the process. We think the CNMC will be focusing next year on starting a dialogue with us to analyze alternatives in developing the regulatory model. It's also true that formally, we're not expecting anything until 2025. Next year will be a year in which we will be sharing ideas, the outlook we have, and proposals we have with the regulator. It's also true that in this future regulatory framework, there are two or three fundamental parameters that, well, we think are reasonable to push up. One is the financial returns. We've had that 5.58 for the rest of the period, but given the current interest rates, it would be only fair to think that there'll be an increase of that benchmark rate.
There's another rate in the costs recognized by the regulator, which in our case are based on benchmarks which go back to 2015 or 2016. Really, after this period where we've had a high impact of inflation on raw material costs, it would only be fair to put up these benchmarks. We're quite optimistic that in two of the key variables in the model we should see an upward review. There are other parameters that aren't actually covered in the current regulatory framework, the work-in-progress remuneration and the different factors recognizing the impact of inflation.
There, in the regulations, we think if we look back to the installation of the pumping station in the south of Chira-Soria, which was recognized when we did the work-in-progress being included, and just because of convergence with general standards in other European regulatory frameworks, we think that the Spanish regulatory framework should recognize these structural changes which the model doesn't currently cover. There's a big variable, the 2025, not giving until 2025 any visibility of the regulations. We'll be in contact with the regulator over the next year, which will give us some idea of what we can expect in the framework. Once we've got those two variables clinched, we'll be clear more about the investments, and we'll have to wait for more details about what's happening on the regulatory front.
There maybe we'll have to wait and see what the update might be for our strategy plan. Your second question. Indeed, I do think we're in an investment cycle which is really powerful in the core business of the company, regulated activity in Spain in the transmission grid. There, it's true, as we've always said, one of the premises of the company is that we must maintain a robust balance sheet with the financial capacity to cope with the investments we need, that EUR 2 billion that I was talking about per year. We have to look at the core business of the company and of the group and look at our priorities about where we want to invest.
Evidently, just as we've always done with Reintel, for example, if we needed to come up to invest more in certain other assets in the company to get a more robust core activity, well, we'll analyze those things. At the moment, we've already got our commitments quite clear in financial terms. We've already got the capacity to generate cash. For now, these alternatives of getting value from certain diversified assets and moving them around within the plan. If we need to do that, then evidently that we will always try to establish priorities in a sensible manner.
Next question from Manuel Palomo from BNP. Please go ahead.
Hello, good morning, and thank you for taking our questions. Actually, I have two questions for you.
The first one is, could you please share your vision about the new track of the NECP and consistency of the investment plan for Red Eléctrica with that new draft NECP? Should we expect for those investments to grow? That's the first question. The second one is about optimization from the perspective of shareholders. I fully agree when you mentioned potentially better returns in the oncoming regulatory framework until 2025 and better structural results in the regulatory framework. My question is, why would you accelerate those investments? Why are you in such a hurry to invest before or while the new regulatory framework arrives? Why not wait until a new regulation framework and keep your balance healthy in the meantime?
Perfect, Manuel. Thank you very much for your question or questions.
Regardless, the ultimate objectives of the NECP, there's clearly an evident strategy to bring in renewables into the system. In terms of new renewable generation volumes estimated, and maybe the reference of the present plan or the new draft establishes a clear target from the Red Eléctrica perspective, any implementation of either NECP plan, both the present one and the draft, will require further grid development, some serious grid development. All the magnitudes and renewables, gigawatts and PV will not be efficiently integrated into the system without an equal grid deployment. If you're asking whether the new plan is consistent with the new investments forecast for oncoming years, I would say it is.
Further investment will be required, not just to deploy the grid, but also to provide smart networks that can operate in different environments and the operations required to face the challenges coming from that massive integration of renewables into the system. We are accelerating our investment capability as we expect that volume to be put into grid investments. We're considering further scenarios of even larger grids to face all that inflow of renewables after 2026 because our strategy is clear beyond the more or less ambitious objective set by the NECP. From our perspective, that EUR 9 billion investment is more than consistent. Actually, we foresee a scenario where even more investment will be required after the new NECP draft is passed.
As for the second part of your question, I believe we need to focus on the role Red Eléctrica plays in the whole electric network system, regardless of the regulation framework applied to our activity. Our main purpose is operating and managing the electric grid, which requires massive investments to cover or to meet the system's needs. Obviously, we trust that the regulation framework applied to our activity will be consistent with energy policies on the table in Spain. Our role is and remains to deploy the electric grid when the planning states and whenever it is necessary to accompany the energy transition process in Spain. We trust that the regulator will be consistent with the energy policy and will acknowledge the effort we're making to accompany the electric system needs. We trust it will this is the way it will happen.
The regulator will realize that any aspects that can be improved will be improved. It is our duty in Red Eléctrica to deploy our grids and networks and work with the regulator to make that deployment profitable and valuable for our shareholders. That's the task we have ahead of us along with the regulator. To round that up, to add something to that in terms of investor remuneration, all the commissionings we do in 2024 and 2025, considering the n+2 regime we have now, will be remunerated under the new remuneration framework. That affects our TRF, which we expect to be over 5.58% as we have forecast now. In the new environment of inflation, these fees will also be applicable for the investment under the new risk appetite framework with whatever new standards are approved after 2026.
Certainly, we expect those thresholds to exceed the ones we have today.
Next question from Ignacio Domenech from JB Capital. Go ahead, please.
Hello, good morning. Thank you for answering the questions because I want to come back to the draft Energy and Climate Plan with greater export being made to France. I'd like to ask whether you're expecting a third interconnection. If so, when it might come into operation. The second question is related to your financial income. I think you've benefited from surplus tariff and getting up previous tariff increases. Could you say what's outstanding to return during the year? What your estimates are for the financial income of the group for 2023 year-end?
Thank you very much, Ignacio, for your question. Well, interconnections. Well, you know that's one of the main points of focus for the company.
You perfectly understand that we do have a lack of capacity in our interconnection with the rest of Europe. We're working very hard, very intensively so that as soon as possible we can have the Bay of Biscay's underlying interconnection. If everything goes well this year, we'll already have the physical infrastructure rolled out. We can expect commissioning for the end of 2027 or maybe 2028. We can expect it to come into real operation then. We're rolling out the plan. That's great news because the dynamics of the work done with RTE, which is our peer in France, is going very well. You can ratify that by looking at the progress we're making, working in the Bay of Biscay with our French peers. The CNMC has supported us and the ministry as well.
We hope to make an announcement this year that we actually have this physical infrastructure going. We're just waiting for the final formal announcements to be made before we make our announcement. Parallel to that, we've got the two interconnection projects over the Pyrenees, which would give us capacity of about 8,000 MW more with the rest of the European continent. What we're expecting is that there will be complexities in the projects. We think that around about 2030, 2031, these projects should come online with the dynamics of the work. Work is being done already on some of the preliminary stages of analysis.
We think that right now, given the need of the Spanish electricity system and the understanding between the regulators and the TSOs and the ministries in the two countries, we should be able to get work going very soon on covering that interconnection shortfall. Emilio, on the financial side of things, maybe I'll hand over to you because that's one of the positive points to highlight this half-year. Although if we go on seeing this performance, we will have to see that in the treasury at the end of the year.
Well, actually, Ignacio, during this year, we've had attractive revenues coming from our solid high liquidity position, about EUR 1.6 billion. Certainly, most of this liquidity position will be drawn during the second half of the year. We've already paid EUR 0.4 billion in dividends, which is amortized a bond issue for EUR 300 million.
We will also have to return the excess tariffs we've been charging in previous years. At present, at the end of June, we have approximately half a billion EUR to return to CNMC. We expect that most of that will be paid back this year. Maybe 100 million will be carried over for next year. That will mean that our net financial debt will go back to a higher level than we have today. Financial revenues will dwindle during the second mid-year. Right now, despite the rise in interest rates, we've had better mid-year results than last year. Our vision is that by the end of the year, the financial net results will be slightly below last year's, considering that financial revenues we will generate during the second mid-term will be lower than those during the first half of the year.
Next question from Fernando Lafuente from Alantra. Go ahead, please.
Hello, good morning, everyone. Three questions for me, please. The first one on investments. This investment target you included in your presentation, does that include or can you tell us how much of that investment can be called one-ups in terms of interconnection or the Chira-Soria pumping station? The second one is about your OpEx. How do you expect OpEx to go this year vis-à-vis 2024 and 2025? What are your forecasts? The third, dividend payout, seeing how your actions have evolved from your strategic plan from that floor of 0.8. Does your mix of higher asset investment include further considerations of this 0.8 floor? Is there a margin to put that at 1?
Well, thank you very much, Ignacio, for your questions.
About our investment plan, certainly, the increased investment objective is driven by a higher investment volume than we expected in the Chile project and the interconnection with France. That increase of the investment commitment arises from the kind of projects we're managing right now. Higher investment for integrating new renewable projects, higher investment in one-ups like the project to interconnect with France and the Chira-Soria pumping station. This would be part of that increased investment. There is also additional investment targeted to expanding the grid to integrate new renewables. As for the OpEx integration, you may have noticed that we're making a huge effort to contain the inflation impact on our OpEx. The guidance we gave in September for an increase, a recurrent increase in costs of approximately 2% is the objective we're setting for ourselves at the end of the year.
Certainly, 2023 looks weird in the comparative because there are several one-ups. We're recovering. Our management is focused on recurrent OpEx costs. That's the order of magnitude we expect in the increased expenses of the company at the end of the year. Honestly, in such an inflationary environment, it seems to me that this is a very positive sign for efficiency and contained costs that we're implementing. As for our OpEx vis-à-vis 2024 and beyond, well, there will be an effect considering that the asset maintenance plan we implemented in 2022, 2023 comes to an end this year. We're talking about EUR 45 million-EUR 50 million in maintenance OpEx we have for 2023 that will no longer be present in 2024.
In 2024, there will be revenue reduction coming from pre-98 assets that will shift our focus to internal efficiency policies to minimize OpEx in the company in the same measure as our expenses go up. That special maintenance plan that was valid for 2022 and 2023 will no longer be there. We're talking about EUR 35 million-EUR 40 million in expenses that will not be there next year. We will implement some extra efficiency program to deal with the remuneration impact. About dividends, well, first of all, that EUR 0.008 per share floor is solid right now and unmovable. Although our investment plan keeps evolving, our commitments to the market remain firm and unshakable. As a matter of fact, Fernando, just as we did in 2023, if there is a possibility to pay out a higher dividend, we will consider it.
It's one of the priorities in the group. The first thing we must do is confirm that this floor of 0.8 will not collapse. If we do a dividend policy review, it can only go upwards. Certainly, the investment cycle ahead of us is very high. We need to be consistent with the cycle. Our priorities remain unshakable.
Next question comes from Javier Garrido from JP Morgan. Go ahead, please. Javier Garrido, your line is open. Can you go ahead, please?
Yes. Hello, good morning. I had a question relating to recent news on the different producers of renewables, above all the thermosolar producers that have been trying to sue the system operator. Could you talk more about that and any possible risks you might have in that kind of suit?
The second thing is related to what you said about the dividend, to clarify whether that potential upside for the dividend would come from one-off sales, for example, like you have with Reintel. Even if you don't sell off assets, there might be a one-off deal. If the performance of the profits is better, you might actually go up higher than that floor.
Yes, thank you, Javier. Well, regarding your first question, quite honestly, the management of the system with this volume of renewables that we're seeing is quite complex. Evidently, we have to integrate the energy in a safe and secure manner. The level of quality in the Spanish system is very high. I wouldn't go far as to say it's the best in the world.
It's definitely up there with levels of restrictions very low, below the 2% leakage that we talked about, talking about the integration of renewables that we have in the Spanish system. If you look in the middle of the year, we're covering, on average, about 52% of the demand with renewable energy. It's true. The installed capacity value isn't that high. I'd still ask you to ask about this and look at the data and compare us with the other systems, looking at the quality of the integration of renewables. It's very high in Spain. There could be one-off cases in which perhaps the producers do feel that their interests haven't been met. Okay, maybe they might take regulatory measures or technical measures. I think that the technical management of the system is done on the basis of neutrality and transparency.
We try and do the best we can. The level that we have in Spain, it was below 2% leakage in Spain, where we're integrating more than half of the demand with renewables. The threshold for efficiency would be about 5%. The level of quality of the Spanish system is really high. Please do have a look at the comparable data so you can confirm what I have just told you. Obviously, if there are any generators who feel that their interests aren't being met, then we have to talk to them and see what might have happened. Obviously, the management as such is professional, neutral, and independent, top quality. We're proud of the Spanish system. You ask about the dividend. Well, I'd like to be clear. The commitment is a floor of EUR 0.8 per share.
That's the commitment that we took on. It's true that last year, because of the excellent deal with Rei ntel, we could think of possibly increasing the remuneration of our shareholders. Right now, we're not looking at any similar deal to that we have with Rei ntel . The priority is to roll out investments in the TSO in Spain. What I can say is that one of our top priorities is to try to share value, contribute value to our shareholders. That's always a priority, to increase the dividend in line with the situation of the company and the rollout of the investment plan and the requirement for working capital over the next few years in the company.
Thank you very much. There are no more questions in Spanish. Now we'll take the questions in English. Thank you.
If you'd like to ask a question, you can press star one on your telephone keypad. Our first question comes from Arthur Sitbon of Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open.
Hello. Thank you for taking my questions. I have two. The first one is on the gradual increase in penetration level from wind and solar. Last year, in 2022, wind and solar accounted for around 35% of power production in Spain. I was wondering, what do you think is the limit to that percentage of the power mix that can be achieved to weave the current Spanish electricity networks as it is without any further investment? I was wondering if you've made any budget in terms of what would be necessary to achieve the 81% that is targeted as per the new draft energy plan. I know the 81% and the 35% are not directly comparable.
It's just for illustration. The second question, we've seen the situation in the U.K. recently in the water sector with high leverage for some high gearing for some companies. I was wondering if this is something that the Spanish regulator is looking at as well and if there could be, in the future, constraints on the level of leverage undertaken by Spanish networks companies. I'm asking the question in the context of, obviously, the rising investments that you're going to have in the next years. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Arthur. I can share with all of you certain numbers. I think in terms of integration of renewables, we're in a privileged situation worldwide.
Our system has a mix that already incorporates more than 60% of renewable generation with the system operation and grid manager that, on average, this half has been able to cover 52% of demand with renewables, which has managed the peaks with the integration of the renewables, which are much higher than before, which means that we're more than ready to manage the integration of even more renewable volumes into the system. It's true that the system, well, the grid and the system operation requires additional investment so that that management can be even safer and more efficient. That's where we have to focus, Redeia and Red Eléctrica, to ensure we've got the capacity and sufficient resources to accompany this increase in the percentage of the integration of renewables.
What I want to highlight is, first of all, the reality that we're already covering more than half of demand with renewables in the Spanish electricity system. We've managed higher peaks than ever. Technically speaking, we're ready in volume and quality terms to do more continuous integration. It's true. We have to reinforce some of the grid in the system so that the operator has other tools to have more visibility of all the different sources of generation coming into the system. We're more than ready. The Climate and Energy Plan has very ambitious targets. It's true that these targets will require the deployment of infrastructure and tools for the system's operator. The starting position that we have in this electricity system and in the sector in general, and more specifically Red Eléctrica, our starting point is one which we consider to be privileged.
The second question, allow me to not give a clear answer because it's something that's not up to Red Eléctrica. The regulator and the ministry are working on optimizing the deployment of infrastructures that are required for our transition. It's up to them to work on that. Our role, evidently, is to integrate the renewables more safely and more efficiently as they come into the Spanish system more and more in the future.
Okay. We can now take questions that came in over the website. They're just two. First of all, José Javier Ruiz from Barclays asks what the negative effect is, if you annualize it, for the end of the video contracts in Brazil and the compensation for the commissioning of the new Amazonas Nexus satellite.
Right. Okay. Right. Well, numbers then.
Looking at revenues, the contracts we have, the agreements for content in Brazil that conclude this year are about $30 million in revenues, annualized, that is. The revenues coming from the commissioning of the Amazonas Nexus satellite, let me remind you, it's the satellite with the biggest field rate that we've ever seen commissioned in Hispasat or in Redeia . That will be over EUR 40 million a year. That's very good news as we see the commissioning of Amazonas Nexus. We're signing contracts to extend the commercial capacity of the satellite. Next year, we expect an impact which will be more than positive from Nexus on the accounts of the group. They will offset and more than offset the impact of the end of those content contracts in Brazil.
The second question comes from UBS. It has to do with curtailments. We'd like to ask whether you know what problems there might be in capacity at some points in the network? Would that mean you'd have to roll out your CapEx faster than expected over the next years?
Well, thank you, Gonzalo, for the question. That goes back to what I said a minute ago. At some point, there will be grid curtailments. There will be developers or facilities that cannot transfer their energy to the system. If we're below 2% under the renewable capability, it's still a high efficiency threshold. At the same time, that will allow to detect certain thresholds in the grid where we will have to quickly deploy solutions. We are already working on that. These deployments are already part of the 2021-2026 plan.
Allow me to remind you that this plan can suffer alterations to provide solutions to specific bottlenecks in the grid. These restrictions are very reduced, very small. We will continue to work to reduce these bottlenecks.
Okay. That was the last question. With this, we finish today's presentation. May we remind you that the investors relations team remains available to you for any additional information. Thank you very much, everyone. Have a good summer.