JUNO BEACH, Fla., Nov. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- NextEra Energy, Inc.
(NYSE: NEE) today announced that a subsidiary of NextEra Energy
Resources, LLC has entered into agreements to sell a 90% interest
in a 1,000 megawatt (MW) portfolio of long-term contracted
renewables assets (the portfolio) and a 100% interest in a 100-MW
solar-plus-storage project for approximately $1.3 billion in total proceeds, including tax
equity, and subject to working capital and other adjustments. The
portfolio is being acquired by NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE:
NEP) and a consortium of private infrastructure investors led by
KKR (the investors) in two separate transactions.
The sale proceeds are expected to be redeployed into new wind,
solar and battery storage growth opportunities, including NextEra
Energy Resources' more than 15,000-MW renewables backlog. The
attractive capital recycling opportunity provides significant value
to NextEra Energy Resources and highlights the value of its
renewables development platform. Over the operating life of
the assets, NextEra Energy Resources is also expected to receive
ongoing annual fee income of approximately $7 million in year one and escalating thereafter,
from the investors for operations, maintenance and management
services, and the transaction is expected to be immediately
accretive to earnings.
"These transactions are expected to generate significant value
for NextEra Energy shareholders," said Jim
Robo, NextEra Energy chairman and CEO. "In addition to
generating attractive ongoing fee income, the sale provides an
opportunity to take advantage of the robust demand for
high-quality, long-term contracted renewable energy assets and
efficiently recycle approximately $1.3
billion in total capital that can be redeployed into new
renewables growth opportunities. The transactions highlight the
value of NextEra Energy Resources' best-in-class development
platform and position us well to continue to capitalize on what we
believe to be the best renewables development environment in our
history."
Portfolio details
The portfolio, in which NextEra Energy Resources will retain a 10%
equity interest, includes:
- Blue Summit III Wind Energy Center, a project company that
owns a 200.2-MW wind generation facility located in Texas.
- Ponderosa Wind Energy Center, a project company that owns a
200-MW wind generation facility located in Oklahoma.
- Harmony Florida Solar Energy Center, a project company that
owns a 74.5-MW solar generation facility located in Florida.
- Taylor Creek Solar Energy Center, a project company that
owns a 74.5-MW solar generation facility located in Florida.
- Saint Solar Energy Center, a project company that owns a
100-MW solar generation facility located in Arizona.
- Sanford Airport Solar Energy Center, a project company that
owns a 49.4-MW solar generation facility located in Maine.
- Soldier Creek Wind Energy Center, a project company that
owns a 300.4-MW wind generation facility in Kansas.
The investors are purchasing a 50% equity interest in the
portfolio and NextEra Energy Partners is purchasing a 40% equity
interest. NextEra Energy Partners' acquisition will also include
100% of the membership interests in Wilmot Solar Energy Center, a
project company that owns a 100-MW solar and 30-MW storage
generation facility located in Arizona. NextEra Energy Resources will have a
right of first offer on the investors' 50% equity interest in the
portfolio.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth
quarter of 2020, subject to customary closing conditions and the
receipt of certain regulatory approvals.
NextEra Energy, Inc.
NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE) is a leading clean energy company
headquartered in Juno Beach,
Florida. NextEra Energy owns two electric companies in
Florida: Florida Power & Light Company, which serves
more than 5.1 million customer accounts in Florida and is the largest rate-regulated
electric utility in the United
States as measured by retail electricity produced and sold;
and Gulf Power Company, which serves approximately 470,000
customers in eight counties throughout northwest Florida. NextEra
Energy also owns a competitive clean energy business, NextEra
Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated
entities, is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from
the wind and sun and a world leader in battery storage. Through its
subsidiaries, NextEra Energy generates clean, emissions-free
electricity from seven commercial nuclear power units in
Florida, New Hampshire and Wisconsin. A Fortune 200 company and included
in the S&P 100 index, NextEra Energy has been recognized often
by third parties for its efforts in sustainability, corporate
responsibility, ethics and compliance, and diversity. NextEra
Energy is ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry
on Fortune's 2020 list of "World's Most Admired Companies" and
ranked among the top 25 on Fortune's 2018 list of companies that
"Change the World." For more information about NextEra Energy
companies, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com,
www.FPL.com, www.GulfPower.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
Cautionary Statements and Risk Factors That
May Affect Future Results
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are
not statements of historical facts, but instead represent the
current expectations of NextEra Energy, Inc. (together with its
subsidiaries, NextEra Energy) regarding future operating results
and other future events, many of which, by their nature, are
inherently uncertain and outside of NextEra Energy's control.
Forward-looking statements in this news release include, among
others, statements concerning adjusted earnings per share
expectations and future operating performance, statements
concerning future dividends, and results of acquisitions. In some
cases, you can identify the forward-looking statements by words or
phrases such as "will," "may result," "expect," "anticipate,"
"believe," "intend," "plan," "seek," "potential," "projection,"
"forecast," "predict," "goals," "target," "outlook," "should,"
"would" or similar words or expressions. You should not place
undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are not a
guarantee of future performance. The future results of
NextEra Energy and its business and financial condition are subject
to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those expressed or implied in the
forward-looking statements, or may require it to limit or eliminate
certain operations. These risks and uncertainties include,
but are not limited to, those discussed in this news release and
the following: effects of extensive regulation of NextEra
Energy's business operations; inability of NextEra Energy to
recover in a timely manner any significant amount of costs, a
return on certain assets or a reasonable return on invested capital
through base rates, cost recovery clauses, other regulatory
mechanisms or otherwise; impact of political, regulatory and
economic factors on regulatory decisions important to NextEra
Energy; disallowance of cost recovery based on a finding of
imprudent use of derivative instruments; effect of any reductions
or modifications to, or elimination of, governmental incentives or
policies that support utility scale renewable energy projects or
the imposition of additional tax laws, policies or assessments on
renewable energy; impact of new or revised laws, regulations,
interpretations or ballot or regulatory initiatives on NextEra
Energy; capital expenditures, increased operating costs and various
liabilities attributable to environmental laws, regulations and
other standards applicable to NextEra Energy; effects on NextEra
Energy of federal or state laws or regulations mandating new or
additional limits on the production of greenhouse gas emissions;
exposure of NextEra Energy to significant and increasing compliance
costs and substantial monetary penalties and other sanctions as a
result of extensive federal regulation of its operations and
businesses; effect on NextEra Energy of changes in tax laws,
guidance or policies as well as in judgments and estimates used to
determine tax-related asset and liability amounts; impact on
NextEra Energy of adverse results of litigation; effect on NextEra
Energy of failure to proceed with projects under development or
inability to complete the construction of (or capital improvements
to) electric generation, transmission and distribution facilities,
gas infrastructure facilities or other facilities on schedule or
within budget; impact on development and operating activities of
NextEra Energy resulting from risks related to project siting,
financing, construction, permitting, governmental approvals and the
negotiation of project development agreements; risks involved in
the operation and maintenance of electric generation, transmission
and distribution facilities, gas infrastructure facilities, retail
gas distribution system in Florida
and other facilities; effect on NextEra Energy of a lack of growth
or slower growth in the number of customers or in customer usage;
impact on NextEra Energy of severe weather and other weather
conditions; threats of terrorism and catastrophic events that could
result from terrorism, cyberattacks or other attempts to disrupt
NextEra Energy's business or the businesses of third parties;
inability to obtain adequate insurance coverage for protection of
NextEra Energy against significant losses and risk that insurance
coverage does not provide protection against all significant
losses; a prolonged period of low gas and oil prices could impact
NextEra Energy's gas infrastructure business and cause NextEra
Energy to delay or cancel certain gas infrastructure projects and
could result in certain projects becoming impaired; risk of
increased operating costs resulting from unfavorable supply costs
necessary to provide full energy and capacity requirement services;
inability or failure to manage properly or hedge effectively the
commodity risk within its portfolio; effect of reductions in the
liquidity of energy markets on NextEra Energy's ability to manage
operational risks; effectiveness of NextEra Energy's risk
management tools associated with its hedging and trading procedures
to protect against significant losses, including the effect of
unforeseen price variances from historical behavior; impact of
unavailability or disruption of power transmission or commodity
transportation facilities on sale and delivery of power or natural
gas; exposure of NextEra Energy to credit and performance risk from
customers, hedging counterparties and vendors; failure of
counterparties to perform under derivative contracts or of
requirement for NextEra Energy to post margin cash collateral under
derivative contracts; failure or breach of NextEra Energy's
information technology systems; risks to NextEra Energy's retail
businesses from compromise of sensitive customer data; losses from
volatility in the market values of derivative instruments and
limited liquidity in OTC markets; impact of negative publicity;
inability to maintain, negotiate or renegotiate acceptable
franchise agreements; occurrence of work strikes or stoppages and
increasing personnel costs; NextEra Energy's ability to
successfully identify, complete and integrate acquisitions,
including the effect of increased competition for acquisitions;
environmental, health and financial risks associated with ownership
and operation of nuclear generation facilities; liability of
NextEra Energy for significant retrospective assessments and/or
retrospective insurance premiums in the event of an incident at
certain nuclear generation facilities; increased operating and
capital expenditures and/or reduced revenues at nuclear generation
facilities resulting from orders or new regulations of the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission; inability to operate any of NextEra Energy's
owned nuclear generation units through the end of their respective
operating licenses; effect of disruptions, uncertainty or
volatility in the credit and capital markets or actions by third
parties in connection with project-specific or other financing
arrangements on NextEra Energy's ability to fund its liquidity and
capital needs and meet its growth objectives; inability to maintain
current credit ratings; impairment of liquidity from inability of
credit providers to fund their credit commitments or to maintain
their current credit ratings; poor market performance and other
economic factors that could affect NextEra Energy's defined benefit
pension plan's funded status; poor market performance and other
risks to the asset values of nuclear decommissioning funds; changes
in market value and other risks to certain of NextEra Energy's
investments; effect of inability of NextEra Energy subsidiaries to
pay upstream dividends or repay funds to NextEra Energy or of
NextEra Energy's performance under guarantees of subsidiary
obligations on NextEra Energy's ability to meet its financial
obligations and to pay dividends on its common stock; the fact that
the amount and timing of dividends payable on NextEra Energy's
common stock, as well as the dividend policy approved by NextEra
Energy's board of directors from time to time, and changes to that
policy, are within the sole discretion of NextEra Energy's board of
directors and, if declared and paid, dividends may be in amounts
that are less than might be expected by shareholders; NEP's
inability to access sources of capital on commercially reasonable
terms could have an effect on its ability to consummate future
acquisitions and on the value of NextEra Energy's limited partner
interest in NextEra Energy Operating Partners, LP; effects of
disruptions, uncertainty or volatility in the credit and capital
markets on the market price of NextEra Energy's common stock; and
the ultimate severity and duration of the coronavirus pandemic and
its effects on NextEra Energy's or FPL's businesses. NextEra Energy
discusses these and other risks and uncertainties in its annual
report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and other SEC filings, and this
news release should be read in conjunction with such SEC
filings. The forward-looking statements made in this news
release are made only as of the date of this news release and
NextEra Energy undertakes no obligation to update any
forward-looking statements.
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SOURCE NextEra Energy, Inc.