NextEra: wind+solar+storage the “next phase” with 21 GW available

NextEra headlines that you might have gotten to see in the past:

• Jim Robo in 2015 – “Post-2020, there may never be another peaker built in the United States — very likely you’ll be just building energy storage instead”
• NextEra world’s second largest solar owner
• Jim Robo: Solar and wind plus storage will be cheaper than coal, oil or nuclear, that this will be “massively disruptive to the conventional fleet”.
• NextEra expects storage to add half a cent to solar in mid-2020’s

Building on that, in today’s Q1 results NextEra reported an increase in its solar power pipeline of 485 MWac, plus a 110 MW solar plus storage facility, while subsidiary Florida Power & Light (FPL) delivered 300 MWac of solar power projects during the quarter. The company states that it has 2,700 MWac of solar power projects in its pipeline beyond 2021, and that there are more than 21 GW of renewable projects within its long term pipeline that it could sell in the correct market conditions. The energy storage pipeline, beyond 2020, grew to 582 MW of projects (excluding projects owned by FPL).

When FPL completes its 30 by 30 program it expects to be the largest utility owner and operator of solar power in the United States. As part of this objective, 20 sites have been submitted to host 7 GWac of solar projects in the company’s recently submitted 10-year integrated resource plan.

On the call, NextEra reminded listeners that it is moving forward on its 409 MW / 900 MWh Manatee Energy Storage Center.

The company also foreshadowed the United States’ first utility scale wind+solar+storage facility:

further advances the next phase of renewables deployment that pairs low-cost wind and solar energy with a low-cost battery storage solution to provide a product that can be dispatched with enough certainty to meet customer needs for a nearly firm generation resource

Still pending is a $900 MM convertible equity portfolio financing with KKR to buy 1.2 GW of wind and solar power. And broadly speaking, the company continues to report strong returns across its broader business outside of solar, wind and storage.