Good morning, everybody. We are here to present the Q4 results for Bonheur ASA today. My name is Anette S. Olsen, I am CEO of Fred. Olsen & Co. and Bonheur. And with me today I have Richard Olav Aa, who is our CFO, and he will, as usual, do the presentation. In addition to that, we have the CEOs in each of the daughter companies that will come forward to present. I will start informing you that we today have two of our CEOs that will present for the last time. Ivar Brandvold, who is responsible and CEO for Fred. Olsen Renewables, is now handing over his position to Sofie Olsen Jebsen, coming from Fred. Olsen 1848, and she will take over the helm on the first of March.
Ivar has done a great job, and I'm very happy that he is going to continue with us as special consultant. In addition to that, Alexandra Koefoed, who has been the CEO of Fred. Olsen Windcarrier, is leaving us, unfortunately. She has done a great job in Windcarrier. She is giving the helm to Haakon Magne Ore. Both of these candidates are internal candidates, and we are very happy with this. It's very nice when we are able to get candidates internally. Alexandra has done a great job, and you will hear the good results. So next time we will certainly have the two newcomers talking about each of their areas. Sofie is now handing over the helm of Fred. Olsen 1848 to Per Arvid Holth, and you will meet him next time. With that, I think we will start, Richard, and the word is yours.
Yes, thank you, Anette, and, also, hearty welcome from me this morning. I think before we go into numbers, I'd just like to reflect on the numbers. We have had a solid end of the year. If somebody had told me 12 months ago that energy prices would be 57% lower Q4 2023 compared to Q4 2022, and we still would have an EBITDA in the Q4 of NOK 1.1 billion, I wouldn't have believed it. So, I think all units have done a good job at the end of the year, and we landed the year in a very good way. So, by that, we can go into the numbers. So, point your attention to the right of this slide. Operating revenues in the quarter were NOK 3.5 billion, while the EBITDA was, like I said, NOK 1.1 billion.
It is down due to the energy prices from NOK 1,284 million, so a drop of NOK 170 million, but given the drop in the energy prices, there is solid improvement on many other parameters. I will comment more on the EBIT and the net result on the next slide so we can go through segment by segment, and I will take it brief because we have a more thorough introduction and information from the CEOs on each of the segments. But starting with renewable energy, which then on the back of very strong energy prices Q4 in 2022 had an EBITDA of more than NOK 1 billion, had an EBITDA of NOK 638 million this quarter. You would expect a much sharper drop in the EBITDA with a 57% drop in the power prices, and I will come back a little bit more to how that reconciles.
Fäbodliden II completed, and on the CVN side, which Lars will come more into, we have very important and very, I would say, creative, challenging work ahead of us in both Codling and Muir Mhòr on delivering solid, future-proof consent applications. Lars will cover that more in detail. Then wind service, Q4 normally a weak quarter with the winter season, not Q4 in 2022 and not Q4 in 2023. An EBITDA of more than NOK 400 million in the Q4 of the wind service segment is higher than you normally would see in the season. A lot of reasons for this. Very good performance out in the Far East with the two vessels there. Also the new Shimizu vessel have done a good job. First contract there. Alexandra, I will come back to that.
but also good operational performance on the project in Europe. And also stronger results in both GWS and UWL in this quarter than Q4 last year. So all in all, a good quarter on the wind service side. And Alexandra, we'll come more on the contract side and the backlogs and there are more news there. Then the unit that surprised the most on the upside is Cruise. From an EBITDA loss of NOK 94 million Q4 2022 to an EBITDA of +NOK 133 million. That is by far the best Q4 result Cruise Lines ever had. Of course there is a special effect in the numbers that we have sold Braemar and had a gain of NOK 86 million on Braemar, which is part of the 133.
But even correcting for that, I have not at least found any Q4 numbers on the cruise lines that, even corrected for the sale, is stronger than the Q4 this year. And this is despite that the vessels are not at all full. The occupancy is only 71%. So there is a lot of room to grow, the occupancy on the three ships we have, and also the net ticket income is lower than Q4 last year. Explanation for that is that there are longer cruises in the mix this quarter and longer cruises typically commands less prices than shorter cruises. Other investments, EBITDA of NOK 68 million, which is down from NOK 44 million. The only thing there is that we use more money on technology development in 1848, but well within plans and budgets, so nothing unexpected there.
EBITDA for NHST came in a little stronger than Q4 last year. Then I would like to point your attention to the parent company. The news in this quarter is the dividend proposal from the board of NOK 6 per share, compared to NOK 5 per share last year, which is a dividend payout proposed of NOK 255 million. After correcting for the dividend, crediting for that, the equity in the parent company is about NOK 8.5 billion, which is an equity ratio of 70%. And cash in Bonheur is close to NOK 3.5 billion by the end of 2023. So going a little bit more into the details on the consolidated financials. Revenues are up. That is largely due to Cruise and the Shimizu vessel. I'll come back to that. I'd like you to point you also to the OPEX.
It seems from these numbers that we are increasing OPEX, to a large extent of NOK 400 million. That is related to two things. It's related to the Shimizu vessel that comes in with both revenues and OPEX, giving an EBITDA contribution, but it's also more OPEX in Cruise because we have more cruise days, more passenger, and then more OPEX, but generating an EBITDA, while the prices on electricity is hitting directly into the revenues. So, OPEX in other units are more or less, as last year. Then there's also a special effect in the number this quarter, and that is the NOK 57 million reversal of the high-price levy accrual. The U.K. government introduced, when the electricity prices skyrocketed, a levy, for, electricity prices above a certain threshold. That levy is calculated on an annual basis, so it's impossible to know the final levy before the year ends.
So what we do every quarter is to estimate the power prices for the rest of the year based on the forward curves and, and so on, and accrue according to that. So when the power prices go higher than the estimates, we have to increase the accrual. When they go lower than the estimate, we can reduce the accrual. And in the Q4, the power prices continued to fall in the UK, so then we can reduce the accrual and reverse NOK 57 million out of the accrual, contributing positively with NOK 57 million to the EBITDA. Depreciation, nothing unusual there, basically currency effects. And then I think we have been more granular now and then in the past to continuously impair development projects that we see would struggle with financial profitability.
We have a huge development portfolio, and some of these projects will have problems on the way. So a more granular approach and, and having smaller impairments than, than chunks, chunks on a more infrequent basis. Net finance requires an explanation this quarter. We had net finance cost of NOK 179 million in Q4 2022, while we have net finance cost of -NOK 361 million this quarter. This is in all material respects related to the interest rate swaps on the Scottish wind farms. We are financed long-term on the Scottish wind farms, and it's a requirement from the banks that we hedge approximately 75% of the interest rate exposure. Those swaps that you do from floating rates to fixed rates, we have to take mark-to-market into account every quarter.
So when interest rates in the U.K. go up, we have a large unrealized gain on these contracts, and when interest rates go down, there are large unrealized losses, and I point to unrealized. Still, we have in the balance sheet approximately NOK 220 million accumulated gain on these swaps, so it's a negative correction in this quarter. But all in all, since we entered the loans, we have a, a gain of a book gain around NOK 200 million. But this cannot be realized because it's a hard requirement from the banks that we, that we hedge the interest rate in the, in the U.K. Yeah. So on the tax cost, nothing unusual there. We pay taxes in Taiwan and the U.K. Good activity and good profits in, in Taiwan drive up taxes, taxes there. So I think we can move on. Yeah.
On the revenue side, we can see it here, the steep revenue decline on Renewable Energy due to the drop in the prices. But I think Renewable Energy, or FORAS in particular, has been very good on, working with, for example, the, REGOs, the renewable obligation certificates, and so on to, to offset some of, of the drop. Wind Service, the revenue driver there is really the Shimizu, Shimizu vessel, that comes in and also good revenue performance in, in Global Wind Service. And Cruise Lines, of course, more cruise days and, and higher utilization of, of the vessels. Yeah. On the EBITDA, we see, an EBITDA, drop in Renewables of NOK 378 million. And, with energy prices going down 57% and energy and pricing going straight to the bottom line, you would expect a much steeper drop.
Of course, we have the reversal of the EGL that helps, but also good performance on the commercial side, from FORAS on, for example, green certificates and also reasonably good OPEX control in the quarter leads to a much less change in the EBITDA than you would expect from the prices. Wind service already commented upon and also the big swing on cruise lines, which comes from both operational improvements and the sale of Braemar. Yeah. Finally, on the balance sheet, the cash and the debt situation of Bonheur and the main subsidiaries. We continue to follow our financial policy laid out in our annual report. This quarter is also a strong support of that we walk the talk of our policy.
We can look at the numbers and, for the entities we Bonheur controls 100%, we have a cash balance by the end of the year of NOK 4.6 billion, up against an external debt of NOK 3.5 billion. Bonheur ASA, plus some other minor entities here in Oslo, around NOK 3.5 billion in cash and around NOK 2.8 billion in debt. We see cruise lines now are generating cash, so they have actually no same cash position as they have in external debt, and that is related to the seller credit to Holland America Line. Wind service also generate good cash and almost no close to a cash position up against the loans on Brave Tern and Bold Tern.
Renewable energies still sit with a good cash position even we dividended out NOK 650 million from renewable energy to Bonheur in the Q4, still NOK 368 million, which is controlled 100% by renewable energy. In the joint ventures, where we really take on the leverage, the joint ventures, the external debt is exactly as planned at NOK 5.2 billion and a cash position of NOK 362 million. And the other items on wind service, that is, mainly then the UWL partnership and the Blue Tern vessel, we see also that good cash position compared to a debt position of NOK 1 billion. So, I think that takes me to the end of my presentation, Anette. Godt.
Thank you, Richard. We will now present Fred. Olsen Renewables and Ivar Brandvold, please.
Thank you. Thank you, Anette. Good morning, all. It's been a rather undramatic quarter in renewables. The most notable change in our portfolio has been that we have completed the Fäbodliden II project, and that has been moved from construction and into the operating box to the right. The capacity is included in the Fäbodliden capacity. You can see it to the bottom right lower end. We continue to mature our assets and the portfolio, and we are maturing around 4 GW of portfolio in the development phase. We have a little bit more than 500 MG consented, and the target now is to move the consented projects into construction. Of course, it also is to maintain focus on operation and to improve the efficiency at any point in time. Apart from the Fäbodliden II, not a big change on the portfolio side this last quarter.
If you then move to the market, we have four graphs here, and I'll start with the upper left where you see the generation. The Q4 was rather low wind generation, and we saw a rather low wind generation through the entire year. So 2023 has been on the performance side when it comes to the generation, dominated by the lower wind. If you go to the upper right and you look at the market, and the main drivers there, and you then see the gas prices have dropped since the spikes in 2021 and 2022. The reason for the drop, main reason for the drop now through 2023 and in the Q4 is that there is a lower consumption of gas due to lower power generation on the gas-fired power plants throughout Europe and the UK.
You can also see a drop in the coal prices into through 2023, and the main reason is that there is record high inventories on the coal. And you can also see there is a slight drop in the carbon pricing through 2023, and that is in the back of lower usage of fossil fuels in the power generation. And that has been offset by nuclear and by wind in general. And if you then also look at the hydrological balance in the Nordics, in Scandinavia, that is in our case, you can then see that through the entire 2023, it's been relatively balanced, and it's around, should we say, normal levels.
So on the back of this, we have also seen that the power prices have dropped from the high levels in 2022, as was mentioned by Richard, to a more stable level through 2023. And it's even during this winter, we see relatively stable conditions. The power prices in Sweden are at about the same level as before the pandemic and the rise in 2021, 2022. In the U.K. and in Norway, we see stable prices, but at a little bit higher level than we have seen before. Though then moving into production, you can see on the right-hand side just a table of the capacities that we have installed on all our wind farms. And to the left, you see the increase, or you see the power production or power generation through the years from 2010.
As you can see, 2023 was a rather low. On the right there, you see 2024 would be then the forecasted P50, the 50% expectation level for, for this year. Then finally, to construction, we completed the Fäbodliden II project in the last quarter. I'm happy to say that we completed the project within budget and also one month ahead of planned operating date. The Fäbodliden II consists of four Vestas turbines, so 4.3 MG, and has a tip height of 200, maximum tip height of 230 meters, hub height of 155. They are the tallest turbines that we have installed. You can see a picture then from the Fäbodliden II area to the right. The picture is taken from top of the nacelle on one of the turbines. Beautiful picture, I would say. This will be my last presentation.
It has been a pleasure, and I have really enjoyed also participating in these presentations. So thank you.
Thank you, Ivar. I'm sure you will have some questions at the end. But next one out is Lars Bender, CEO of Fred. Olsen Seawind.
Thank you, Anette. Yes, and I will give you a presentation of the quarter for Fred. Olsen Seawind. If we flip to the first slide, thank you. I think it's more than two years ago now that we started and spun out Fred. Olsen Seawind from Fred. Olsen Renewables. And I think as of today, we stand on a very solid platform of projects, but also a solid base of a good team and future prospects. And I think overall, 2023 has been a good year in consolidating the platform we stand on. Both in Ireland and in Scotland, we've seen significant de-risking, and we've seen significant achievement of milestones, which I'll come back to for those two markets. The market where 2023 probably hasn't been as expected has been Norway. During Q4, we saw another delay in the submission deadlines on Utsira Nord .
We also have seen during in that quarter that Ørsted have decided to withdraw from several markets. That includes the Norwegian Market, an d of course, the fact we were in partnership with them means that we now, together with Hafslund, will continue in Norway with them. We still remain committed to the Norwegian market. The fundamentals in Norway are still good: strong wind. We have a strong supply chain for floating and also over time a need for power in Norway. So the fundamentals are there, but we also need during 2024 to see progress on the governmental side and probably more predictable frame conditions. But I thought I would go into more detail with the core markets. So Codling has during 2023 and Q4 developed very positively. We've had significant de-risking of that project. I think there are three major milestones which we've seen over the last year.
First of all, we have a MAC, Maritime Area Consent, which is the exclusivity to develop the project. Second, we have access to grid in the magnitude of the size of the project. And third, very importantly, we secured a route to market with the CFD mid-2023. So overall, significant de-risking of the project, which of course is very positive. On the CFD, just to recap, we have been awarded 1.3 GW in the auction last summer, which is equal to 43% of the total volume in that auction. It's a 20-year CFD. And very importantly, in the environment we are in right now, it has inflation protection 100% on FID and 30% through the period of the project. So overall, a solid project with solid fundamentals and, from our perspective, significant de-risking over the year.
Looking ahead at 2024, we are looking towards submitting a consent or a final consent application during 2024 in Ireland for the project. That is the last of the de-risking milestones before the project is ready to take FID. Positive developments, but of course also in the environment we are in now, it requires creativity around supply chain and how we enter into commitments during the course of a project like this. If we then move to Scotland, we have also during Q4 seen good news. The U.K. government confirmed in Q4 that there will be a floating pot or a separate floating pot for CFD, which of course has been one of our main assumptions for our project in Murvora. It basically means that the project we have will only compete against other floating projects and not bottom-fixed.
That is, of course, important for the value of the project, but it's also important to get floating wind started in Scotland. So that's important news from Q4. Overall, we have during 2023 been focused on de-risking that project as well. We have gathered data on the site. We've gathered wind data, soil data, and also MetOcean data. All of that information and data has come in as expected. So we stand at the end of the year with a really good site with favorable LCOE drivers. We have a location close to demand, favorable water depth, and also good soil conditions. So very much as we expected. And that, again, of course, gives us confidence in also submitting a consent application for that project during 2024.
That is probably, when we look ahead, the major milestone for that project in 2024 will be to submit a consent application for the project. The project is continuing to be developed as an integrated team between Fred. Olsen Seawind and Vattenfall. I think very positively, we see that we have managed to really develop the project very quickly and really be on fast track, both for consent but also the later milestones for the project. If we then take a step back and look at the big picture for offshore wind, we still see significant traction on the development of installed capacity. We have installed much more capacity over the last five years than what was originally expected. We also see targets in line with net zero, which of course indicates a significant growth.
The flip side of that is, of course, we have seen short-term challenges in offshore wind, talked about it before, significant increase in interest rates, significant inflation, and also isolated issues in the supply chain. But we still remain with a positive view on offshore wind long term. I think especially in Q4, we saw some news which were really positive in relation to offshore wind. I think especially in the U.K., they came out with an announcement around AR6. As I alluded to before, they established a separate pot for floating wind, but they also indicated a cap on price of GBP 176 in 2012 prices, which of course shows a commitment to supporting floating wind in its early days to develop into a competitive technology. So that is one of the positive news.
Second part is the year ended with record high FIDs for offshore wind projects, which also gives confidence in the future for the industry. I think for us as a developer, the challenges we see now in supply chain, we see cancellations on other projects, is something we take very seriously. We currently are very focused on balancing the risk of our projects, being sure that we de-risk the projects while not taking on more commitment than the de-risking can justify. That also means that with that strategy, we are in a situation where our projects have been de-risked, but we haven't taken on commitments which doesn't match the de-risking. So with the portfolio of projects, we believe we are in an advantageous position with solid fundamentals in our project and also a good look ahead on de-risking the projects further in 2024. With that, I will give the word back to you.
Very good, Lars. Alexandra Koefoed, CEO of Fred. Olsen Windcarrier.
Thank you, Anette. Yes, I'll go straight into it and present what will be for me the last quarterly presentation of Windcarrier. So the quarter has been very similar to Q3. We have had Bold, Brave, and Blue working on the same project. So Bold in Taiwan on the Changfang project, Brave Tern in France on the Saint-Brieuc project, and Blue Tern in Scotland on the Neart na Gaoithe project. So solid operations on Windcarrier-owned vessels. And then, I guess, going to highlights of the quarter, Blue Wind, the Shimizu vessel, performed her first project in collaboration with Windcarrier. So we have the contract with the end client, and then Blue Wind Shimizu is a subcontractor to Windcarrier. So I think that's definitely one of the highlights in the quarter.
The other one, which is basically a little bit more symbolic, but it did create some engagement in the office between the younger engineers and on the vessels. We passed our 1,000 turbines installed. So solid operations and then high occupation, that drives good results. So another strong quarter. It's not our best quarter, but it places itself in the top three. But in terms of overall yearly result in 2023, that's a solid new all-time high for Fred. Olsen Windcarrier. So we came in on an EBITDA of EUR 98 million last year, which was another solid record, was EUR 77 million. So solid operations on the three vessels and also adding Shimizu to the backlog, which gives an EBITDA contribution. Then I will move to backlog. So first, sort of what happened in Q4. We added a contract in 2027, the Baltica 2 contract with Ørsted.
And we also filled a gap that we had, a small gap, in 2024. So that's finalizing the Greater Changhua contract or project for Ørsted. I think it's the third time we're back on that project installing the last four turbines. So that's contributing to Q1 in 2024. And of course, we have completed quite a bit of work. And then subsequent news since Q4 ended. So I'll touch upon that first. Brave Tern entered the yard in Navantia for her conversion upgrade like we did on Bold Tern two years ago. So that means she'll be in the yard more or less for all of H1. So in relation to the backlog in 2024, we still think we have a strong backlog for 2024, given that one of our vessels is out for half a year. In addition to that, we have signed since end of Q4.
So it's not included in the backlog columns that you see in the figure. That's end of Q4. So subsequent events, we have signed a reservation agreement for a contract of revenue around EUR 100 million. That contract will be executed mainly in 2025. So it's a relatively long contract. We do expect that reservation agreement to turn into a firm contract by end of Q1. And then I would also just like to highlight that in 2025, we have a contract with significant subcontractor content. That's a contract we signed back in 2022, just in terms of guiding for 2025. But still, a very, very solid outlook for Fred. Olsen Windcarrier.
We have on sort of at the end of Q4, EUR 535 million backlog, and then the EUR 100 million that we expect to become a firm contract by the end of the quarter on top of that, as well as the Blue Wind backlog of EUR 133 million. So all in all, that's EUR 766 million. And to put it into perspective, that's more than double what we had two years ago. So at least I feel I'm leaving the company in good shape. I've appreciated my actually more than 13 years in the Fred. Olsen Group. So I think this will be it for now.
Thank you, Alexandra. Next one is Fred. Olsen 1848 with Sofie Olsen Jebsen presenting to you.
Thank you. Next slide. I will start off with Brunel, where the main focus this quarter has been to finish off the basic design, where we are aiming to reach TRL 6 by the end of the quarter. This will, of course, be a significant milestone for the technology. For the floating maintenance solution, which is the maintenance solution where you can do on-site exchange of major components in floating wind, we are working together with Fred. Olsen Windcarrier. We have just finished a technical feed study for the solution, and that lays a basis for the work going forward, which will be mainly commercially focused. We're working together with customers to detail the business model. For our floating solar developments, I thought I would start off by showing you a film. So if that can be played, please.
So you now saw our floating solar pilot being installed by our very hands-on team in Ris earlier last year. The pilot has provided us with very valuable insights in both procedures, but also a lot on how it's operating, all the components, etc. And we're incorporating this into future lessons learned. So I also wanted to communicate that there has been a change in floating solar. All the floating solar activities are now gathered in under Fred. Olsen 1848. The focus here will be technology development. We believe that floating solar has a huge potential to be a part of the energy mix in several countries worldwide. And we will tackle this or attack this as a technology developer. Thank you.
Thank you, Sofie. Now we will talk about cruise. Richard, please.
Yeah. I don't understand that they portrayed me as a detailed cruise expert, but I'll do my best as usual. We had the three vessels, Borealis, Bolette, and Balmoral, operating in this quarter, and we sold Braemar. I'll tell a little bit why that, because Braemar has been a very good ship for cruise lines over many years. And she was put in layup together with other ships during COVID. And to be totally open about that, we have been in doubt what to do with Braemar. But a while ago, we said that, okay, the two new vessels, they are so well received in the market, and Braemar is a little bit of a different concept. So we decided to put her out for sale. So we're very happy that we found a buyer that will convert her into retirement flats for U.S. retirees.
So she can have a future there. We got a good gain on the sale. We can now concentrate on Borealis, Bolette, and Balmoral, which are all about the same size in number of passengers. They're on 1,300 each. We can have a more similar concept across the three ships. Also on the performance, occupancy is up 71%-64%. I think that is not unique to cruise lines. We see cruise demand is back in the U.K. Most of the cruise lines see higher occupancy. We are also very proud of the service level we have been able to install at the ships. We had a good service level pre-COVID, but also now coming out of COVID with very good customer feedback.
That was illustrated by this Feefo award, which is an award completely based on customer review, where cruise lines came in at a very high level with 4.6 stars out of five stars achievable. So a good service level. Maybe a little bit on the disappointing side is the ticket income of 160 bond per diem. It's still on the low side. It's much higher than pre-COVID. It's down from Q4 in 2022, but that's mainly due to a different mix of cruises with longer cruises compared to shorter cruises. So cruise lines have a job ahead to continue to drive up occupancy and also see how they can deliver even more valuable product to the customers so we can continue to get a higher price for our services. But all in all, resulted in a positive EBITDA of NOK 133 million.
Also importantly, we continue to see good booking numbers. We are in the middle of the wave season for the cruise industry, January and February. We see booking numbers coming in good. Again, that's nothing unique to cruise lines. So by that, takes us full circle back to where the presentation started. I think we have commented on all the bullet points and all the numbers here, Anette. I think that's also over to you again.
Good. I'm sure there are some questions. We will now open up for that.
Thank you. If you have a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. Your first question comes from the line of Daniel Haugland with ABG SC. Your line is open.
Thank you. And congratulations on a solid set of results, especially given the tough price backdrop in the gas and power markets. And it's also very good to see the solid performance in wind and cruise. I have three questions, if that's okay. So the first one is on renewable energy. I guess you're aware of that there was a Bloomberg article some weeks ago making some quite serious accusations regarding overstatements of curtailment compensation in the U.K. I don't think you have commented on this publicly. So maybe you could say something about your at least preliminary response to this. So that's the first one. Thank you.
Absolutely. A perfect question for you, Ivar.
Yes. Yes, we, of course, are aware of the article. I think I'll answer in just explaining the situation in the UK. The curtailment is part of the government's way to balance the grid in the UK. And the way it works is that if there are signs of overproduction, certain wind farms are being asked by the national grid to curtail, that is, to hold back production. This is part of a procedure that has been established for years and is a well-functioning and well-governed system in the UK. And as I said, we are part of it. It has two elements. It's the price per megawatt-hour, which is offered by the various wind farms. And we believe we are within the expectancy level there.
Then, of course, it is to be compensated for any loss of generation because you have been asked to curtail or to constrain your production by the national grid. And how that is done is that it's done forward modeling every half hour and hour. And on that basis, the loss of generation is also calculated. And then you are compensated accordingly. And that is how the system works. And we are operating within that system and in close dialogue with the national grid on a regular basis. So I think that's the general comment I can make to this article. It's an article. And of course, we have read it. And we are very much aware of what has been documented there. And I think it points to the fact that curtailment is an increasing activity in the U.K. because of increased wind production.
Hence, you also see higher curtailment numbers in the UK. As I said, we operate within the framework that is established.
Okay. Thank you. Just maybe a short follow-up on that. So just so I'm sure I understand, this forward modeling that is being done, is that been done by every company participating, i.e., for example, you? Or is that some kind of model that's established by the regulator? You're basically just following that one?
No, that is done. That is a requirement on each wind farm. And it's done routinely, as I said, every hour or half hour. And it's 48 and four days ahead forecasts. And then generally, this is done by service providers, third-party providers, who are then issuing this data continuously, 24 hours a day for the entire year. So it's part of the whole balancing mechanism in the U.K. And of course, for the national grid to be able to balance the network, they need to have forecasts to see, will we have overproduction or the other in any area? And then they are doing the necessary balancing to maintain a stable network.
Okay. Thank you on that. Then if I may, I also have one question on wind services. There has been some talk in the market about a potential cancellation of a contract in the U.S. Do you have any comments on that?
Alexandra?
Yes. It's well known in the market that there have been some massive impairments. Those impairments are based on that they've ceased development of the Ocean Wind projects. What I can confirm is that FOWIC has not had any contracts cancelled or terminated. On a general basis, we have very good protection towards cancellation for convenience. I think that's what I'll say on that one.
Okay. Thank you. And then my last one is on cruise. So in the report, you say that the bookings for 2024 is good. Maybe would you be able to maybe say how they are versus the same time last year? Or maybe say if it's supportive of similar utilization levels that we have seen in 2023? Thank you.
A comment on that, Ivar?
Yeah. No, thank you for the question. We, in general, are quite careful of guiding. But when we say that the booking numbers are good, we obviously meant that they should be better than last year. But how much better? I think it's early days in the wave season. And we will not guide that precisely. But we would have not said good if they were not stronger. Yeah.
Yeah. And the wave season, when we explained the wave season, it's main booking season.
Yeah. That's the month we are in now after Christmas when people are really in the buying mood for cruise. A lot of the bookings happen in the month of January, February, and into March up to Easter. A lot of people are searching for cruise, booking cruises for this year, but also for 2025.
Great. Thank you. I'll leave the floor to someone else. Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Anders Rosenlund with SEB. Your line is open.
Thank you. I have a couple of questions on Fred. Olsen Seawind. My first question is on Codling. You have the consent application this year. Previously, you've indicated that you aim for FID in 2025/2026. Does that still hold? Is that still your target?
Lars?
Yes. I think it's a good question, first of all. Thanks for that. We have an aim to submit the consent application. We've been very focused on the de-risking milestones, which were predictable around MAC, around grid, around CFD, and now the consent. I think the regime in Ireland is still new. We have to be a bit careful on saying when we will get the consent determination, which is the response from the authorities. That, in the end, also leads to FID timing. I'll be a bit careful telling you that it's going to be precisely that date. During 2024, we will know more when we interact with the government on the precise timing of FID. What I can say is that it's the last milestone we need in order to progress the project towards FID.
I think he had more questions for you. So you better.
Yeah. Okay. Because you used this 2025/2026 in the Q2 presentation. So I presume that was your best assessment in connection with Q2. And 2025/2026 is still your best assessment. Is that fair to say?
I think our best assessment.
Or later.
Yeah. I think right now, and that was also part of my presentation, during Q3, we did see a lot of turbulence on the supply chain side in the market. We have now, on Codling, looked at that turbulence in relation to commitments towards the supply chain. And it's clear right now our strategy will be to de-risk the project towards consent. But we will not pre-commit to the supply chain before we have a visible path on consent. And that might, worst case, lead to a small delay on our FID, but rather have security that we do not overcommit early and be sure we have a secure path to consent before we commit and then run the risk of basically later having to take impairments on the project. We don't want to run that risk. So yes, I'm not going to guide more than that.
Then we are focused on consent. We have a strong application. We have strong data supporting that. We have one of the projects with the lowest environmental footprint in Ireland. So we have strong belief that we will get a very robust consent. But we want the visible path for that before we start guiding on the delivery of the project.
I appreciate the answer. On Scotland, I have a similar question. Consent application 2024. You previously indicated CFD auction in 2026. I don't know if that's the government has indicated that or whether that's your best assessment. And then an FID in 2027/2028. Does this timeline still hold?
Yeah. I think it's going to be a bit of a similar answer, actually. I think what is it that's happened over the last half year to a year in the industry is that the interest rates have gone up, inflation has gone up, technology development on floating, investments into that have probably gone a bit down. So of course, as a developer, we are carefully looking at when would the technology be mature in order to deliver the project. And we are currently looking very much into that. We have a project which is ahead of the queue on a lot of the other Scotland projects in relation to submitting a consent. So I think it's fair to say we have a competitive advantage when it comes to time. We are leading the pack together with others.
But whether we will utilize that to submit an early CFD or wait a bit, that's an important strategic question which we, of course, have to discuss with our partner, Vattenfall, as well. And I cannot answer that today.
Lars, maybe should say the auction.
Yeah. Just before I think what you will ask about. But maybe Lars should comment that the UK government already now gives CFDs on floating. Yes. Correct. That was what I also said in my presentation, which has been very important for us in order to have confidence in floating in Scotland, is that there now is a separate floating pot for the projects in floating, meaning that our project will only compete against other floating projects and not bottom-fixed. Second point, which was very important in Q4, was that they announced a cap on floating of GBP 176 per megawatt-hour in 2012 prices, which, of course, for us shows the UK government commitment to really supporting the floating industry in early phase in order to drive competitiveness later on. But it's a relatively high price level with the cap.
Okay. Not surprisingly, I have the same question on S ø rlige Nordsj ø II Aside from everything you've already come to down, what's the realistic FID year given the complete lack of credible progress from the authorities this year?
I'm going to be very honest. Since we are not in the Sørlige Nordsjø II competition, I do not, together with the team, spend too much time looking into Sørlige Nordsjø II since we looked at it initially. So what the timeline is for that project now and how that looks economically and so forth, I wouldn't be able to tell you. I think it's probably more up to the ones that are pre-qualified and in that competition to give you an indication of that.
Your next question comes from the line of James Fleming with S&P Global Markets. Your line is open.
I'm not sure if that's me, but can you hear me?
Yes.
Yes. Okay. Perfect. Perfect. Yes. Thank you for taking my questions. And good morning, everyone. So the first question is to Alexandra. So the reservation agreement for 2025, is that a contract that can only be made a firm contract if the ocean wind contract is cancelled?
As I said, we don't have any contracts in our backlog that are cancelled or terminated. We expect this reservation agreement to turn into a firm contract by the end of the quarter. A reservation agreement entails that the client has committed to us, and we have committed to the client. So no, it is not dependent on any other developments in the market. That's entirely up to us and the client.
Okay. When it comes to offshore wind, what's the status there? Because the project is cancelled, but the contract is not cancelled. Would that suggest that you will actually use the vessel as a backup capacity or reuse the vessel for another project or something else?
I can't comment on that specifically. I think you need to turn to us in terms of what they're doing with the ocean wind project.
Okay. And could you give more visibility on the cancellation fees? Obviously, you say they are good. That's good to hear. But I mean, we don't know what you define as good. Could you give a more specific number or something else?
I think in terms of the IPO two years ago, we commented this. In general basis, we make sure we have cancellation fees on contracts because when we commit a vessel to a client, we pull it from the market, which means we would let other possibilities go. These cancellation fees, they start out at a level depending on how long before the project starts. Then they escalate up until projects start, contracts start. Of course, the percentage reflects the possibility and ability to get other work. So the closer you get to the project, the higher the fees are. They should make sure that if clients cancel for convenience, EA, not for cause. So at their discretion, FOVIC should not have significant harm coming out of that.
Okay. Thank you. And last question on the net finance for the quarter. So you had some unrealized losses on various things, including swap contracts. So could you add some light on that? Is it unrealized losses related to you as a group, or is it minorities included? Or do you own these contracts 100% yourself? How should I think about it?
Yeah. You should think about it that the main part of the unrealized losses this quarter and also the unrealized accumulate gain on the interest rate swaps in the U.K. are shared with our partners in the U.K. So it's within the renewable energy segment, and it's within the joint ventures in the renewable energy segment.
Okay. Thank you. That's all from me.
Your next question comes from the line of Helem Br ø mb ø with DNB. Your line is open.
Yes. Hello. I can start out with a question for Alexandra. I was just wondering if you could shed some more light on your new vessel reservation agreement, for instance, in terms of geography, etc.
No. I think this is an undisclosed contract. So what we said in the present or I don't think I mentioned it, but it says in the slide, it's for next-generation turbines. And it's a significant duration, covers most of 2025. So I think you need to make your own conclusions after that.
Yes. Okay. I also have one question on the renewable energy side with respect to these REGOs and guarantees of origin. I'm just wondering where you have seen these prices recently, if you could comment on that?
Ivar, do you want to check it, or?
Yeah. I think that I wouldn't make any specific comments to the market levels on the GOs and on the REGOs. I think that that is available through other sources. But what I can say is that there is an active GO market in the EU, and we are participating within that market. And of course, then it's possible also to sell GEOs going forward. Whereas in the UK, we had the REGO market, and that is a market for production or generation that they have actually undertaken over these last two years. So I think that is the general comment I should make. And I shouldn't go into any specifics, I think, on the market conditions.
But what maybe you could say, Eduard, that we have strengthened our commercial capabilities within Fred. Olsen Renewables the last years. So we have come better of utilizing.
That is correct. Yeah. This is, but on a general note, this is a market where we have seen both GO prices and the REGO prices increasing over these last years, particularly through 2021, 2022, and now in 2023. And so we have responded to this. So we have specialist competence now internally in terms of following up on this market. And I think that's also partially what you see reflected in the numbers and the comments that Richard has made.
Okay. Thank you.
Your next question is a follow-up from Anders Rosenlund of SEB. Your line is open.
Yeah. Since you didn't want to answer the Baltica 2, maybe I'll just rephrase the question and ask about the realistic FID year for Utsira Nord.
Okay. Large?
Thank you for the question. I think for Utsira Nord, right now, we don't even have visibility on the deadline for the application. Whether that will come during 2024 is a good question. We definitely hope so. In our company, we have a strong team that has prepared a really solid application, but it remains to be seen. And since we don't have the deadline for the application, it's difficult to guide on when the project could be finished. Overall, it's definitely later than we perceived a year or two years ago. So I think you can add the delays that the government have the delays we've seen to the original timelines that we saw.
Probably should stand up.
Next question. Your next question comes from the line of Sindre Søberye of Arctic Asset Management. Your line is open.
Yes. Hi. Good morning. Very strong results. Congratulations. But on the renewables side, looking at the production seems very low, even allowing for wind speeds. So my first question is whether there is any compensation for curtailment in the numbers.
Yeah. Of course, there is compensation for curtailment in these numbers as they are in every quarter. Like Ivar said, it's a system in the UK where we pay for access 24/7 to the grid. And when the government needs to balance the grid and shut us down so we cannot produce despite that the wind is blowing, of course, we need a compensation for that. So there are curtailment compensations in this quarter. Yeah.
I think last quarter, you gave us a number that you were compensated for 60 GWh. What's the number this quarter?
Yeah. We haven't specified it this quarter, Cindre. But it's compensation every quarter, more or less.
Okay. So yeah. So it makes it very hard to model the results. My next question is more accounting-wise. If my spreadsheet is correct, net debt in renewables is up more than NOK 500 million quarterly. Is that purely due to dividend payment to the holding company, or?
Yeah. That's the main effect that, like we said, on the third-quarter result, given the strong results in renewable, they had accumulated quite a bit of cash. But that needs to be declared out of the joint venture on a six-month basis after you have complied with all the covenants reporting and so on to the banks. So that was done then in the second half last year. And we dividended up NOK 650 million in the Q4 from Fred. Olsen Renewables to Bonheur. And of course, that reduces or reverses the net debt situation in Fred. Olsen Renewables with correspondingly NOK 650 million.
Okay. Yeah. Thanks. Finally, EGL reversal, I think you said NOK 56 million in the Q4. What's the full year number in EGL?
Yeah. We haven't reported that. But given the development in the energy prices, the number is not material for Bonheur on a full-year basis.
Okay. Then I'm looking; there has been no change. So it's looking at, let's say, assume that forward proper price curve is correct. There will be no material payments in 2024 either.
Yeah. If they stay at this level, we will not hit any thresholds for EGL.
Okay. Okay. Thank you, Richard.
There are no further questions. I will turn it back to the speakers.
Okay. Thank you very much. This ends the presentation.