NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) leadership said Friday that “powerful tailwinds” continue to support strong demand for renewables, repeating a message from last month’s investor conference.
“High power prices and high gas prices … are helping to make renewables the most economic form of generation,” CFO Kirk Crews said during the company’s quarterly conference call with financial analysts.
Crews said NextEra’s renewable developer, NextEra Energy Resources, added slightly more than 2 GW to a backlog that now totals more than 19.6 GW. That included about 1.2 GW of solar projects, the second largest quarter of solar origination in our history.
The Juno Beach, Fla.-based company said it was pleased with the government’s recent decision to waive additional duties for two years on solar panels imported from Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The U.S. Department of Commerce has opened an investigation into claims that panels imported from those countries contain Chinese components subject to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration and continued under President Biden. (See Biden Waives Tariffs on Key Solar Imports for 2 Years.)
Crews said NextEra expects its suppliers will be making ingots and wafers outside of China at the end of those two years. The Commerce Department staff have “publicly stated that panels with wafers made outside of China are not subject to its investigation,” he said.
NextEra reported earnings of $1.38 billion ($0.70/share), compared to last year’s second quarter of $256 million ($0.13/share). Earnings adjusted for one-time gains and costs came in at $1.59 billion ($0.81/share), exceeding Zacks Investment Research’s consensus of 75 cents/share.
During the quarter, NextEra commissioned the 1.2-GW natural gas-fired Dania Beach Clean Energy Center and placed into service the 176-mile North Florida Resiliency Connection transmission line. The line physically connects NextEra’s Florida Power & Light and Gulf Power grids and is projected to yield $1.5 billion in system benefits through consolidated operations.
“Smart capital investments such as these help lower costs and improve reliability for customers, NextEra CEO John Ketchum said.
The company’s share price gained $1.55 on Friday and closed at $80.25.
