NextEra Energy Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
July 24, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: NextEra Energy reported a strong second quarter, with adjusted EPS of $1.15 and 9.8% year-over-year adjusted EPS growth through the first half of 2026, while keeping its full-year EPS outlook unchanged at $3.92-$4.02 and targeting the high end of that range.
  • Positive Sentiment: FPL is benefiting from Florida’s rapid growth, adding more than 90,000 customers in the quarter and raising its large-load expectation to 8 GW by 2032 from 6 GW. Management said it expects at least one large-load transaction by year-end and that these projects should earn regulated returns like other FPL investments.
  • Positive Sentiment: Energy Resources continues to see strong renewables and storage demand, adding 3.6 GW to backlog in the quarter and bringing total backlog to about 35.1 GW. The company also recontracted more than 1.1 GW year to date at attractive pricing and long contract terms, supporting future earnings visibility.
  • Positive Sentiment: Management highlighted a broad set of growth drivers beyond renewables, including transmission projects, gas-fired generation, battery storage, and nuclear options. It said Duane Arnold remains on track for restart by Q1 2029, and the company is advancing up to 9.5 GW of gas projects in Texas and Pennsylvania.
  • Neutral Sentiment: NextEra continues to advance its proposed combination with Dominion Energy, with regulatory filings completed and shareholder meetings expected in early September. Management reiterated the deal’s long-term growth and affordability rationale, but noted the transaction is still expected to close in 2H 2027.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
NextEra Energy Q2 2026
00:00 / 00:00

Transcript Sections

Skip to Participants
Operator

Good day, and welcome to the NextEra Energy, Inc. second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on a touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Michael Dowling, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Michael Dowling
Michael Dowling
Director of Investor Relations at NextEra Energy, Inc

Good morning, everyone, thank you for joining our second quarter 2026 financial results conference call for NextEra Energy. With me this morning are John Ketchum, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of NextEra Energy; Mike Dunne, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NextEra Energy; Armando Pimentel, Vice Chairman of NextEra Energy; Scott Bores, President and Chief Executive Officer of Florida Power & Light Company; Brian Bolster, President and Chief Executive Officer of NextEra Energy Resources; and Mark Hickson, Executive Vice President of NextEra Energy. John will start with opening remarks, and then Mike will provide an overview of our results. Our executive team will then be available to answer your questions. We will be making forward-looking statements during this call based on current expectations and assumptions, which are subject to risks and uncertainties.

Michael Dowling
Michael Dowling
Director of Investor Relations at NextEra Energy, Inc

Actual results could differ materially from our forward-looking statements if any of our key assumptions are incorrect or because of other factors discussed in today's earnings news release, in the comments made during this conference call, in the Risk Factors section of the accompanying presentation, or in our latest reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, each of which can be found on our website, www.nexteraenergy.com. We do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements. Today's presentation also includes references to non-GAAP financial measures. You should refer to the information contained in the slides accompanying today's presentation for definitional information and reconciliations of historical non-GAAP measures to the closest GAAP financial measure. With that, I will turn the call over to John.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Thanks, Michael, good morning, everyone. NextEra Energy delivered a strong second quarter with adjusted earnings per share of $1.15, reflecting continued operational and financial execution across both FPL and Energy Resources. Through the first six months of the year, our adjusted earnings per share increased 9.8% year-over-year. NextEra Energy continues to be well-positioned to deliver on its growth opportunities and its regulated and long-term contracted businesses in 2026 and beyond. Power demand continues to accelerate. NextEra Energy is uniquely positioned to meet the power demand needs of our customers because we have the scale, financial strength, supply chain, development expertise, and technology to build all forms of energy. Customers can't afford to wait for an energy partner to secure equipment, land, or financing. States shouldn't have to choose between economic growth and affordable electric bills. Today, energy partners must deliver both.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

This is exactly what FPL and Energy Resources consistently do as we execute against our 12 ways to grow. Our deeply experienced teams are focused on serving our customers and delivering them the solutions they need when and where they need it. We believe FPL continues to be one of the best examples of how to serve rapid growth while keeping customer bills low and reliability high. The state remains one of the fastest-growing in the nation, supported by a large and increasingly diverse economy, continued net in-migration, job creation, and business investment. In fact, Florida's $1.8 trillion annual economy is now the 14th largest in the world, recently surpassing Australia and Mexico. That growth translates directly into electricity demand across our service area, including the Space Coast, and FPL is uniquely positioned to meet it.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

FPL added more than 90,000 customers in the second quarter compared to the prior year comparable quarter. What differentiates FPL is that we don't choose between affordability, reliability, and serving growth. We consistently deliver all three at the same time. Today, FPL's typical residential bill remains approximately 30% below the national average and is only projected to increase 2% annually on average through the end of the decade. We drive consistently low bills through exceptional operational efficiency. FPL's non-fuel O&M is more than 70% better than the industry average on a dollar per megawatt-hour basis. Customers also continue to benefit from top decile reliability that's more than 60% better than the national average. This performance is a direct result of a proven long-term strategy centered on sustained, disciplined capital investment, scale, a strong balance sheet and credit rating, a highly efficient operating model, and a diverse generation fleet.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

In fact, during the quarter, FPL placed into service four new cost-effective solar sites to support Florida's growth. We remain on track to meet our full-year expectations to install approximately 900 MW of solar and over 1.4 GW of battery storage. It's why FPL continues to own and operate more solar and storage than any utility in America. Importantly, FPL is positioned to develop new cost-effective solar and storage for the benefit of its customers, because approximately 90% of our generation mix is anchored in baseload gas-fired and nuclear generation, the result of sustained investments over the last 25 years to modernize our power plant fleet while meeting power demand from significant population growth. We continue to see very strong interest from hyperscalers and other large load customers that value speed to market, reliability, and competitive power pricing.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

That is why in May, we updated our expectations from 6 GW to 8 GW of large load by 2032. As part of FPL's new four-year rate agreement, we designed our large load tariff to protect our existing customers. We believe our large load tariff is industry-leading. In fact, in May, Florida's governor signed a bill that codified many aspects of FPL's large load tariff into law. Yesterday, along with Dominion Energy and certain other utilities, we announced our support for the White House's Ratepayer Protection Pledge, which reinforces this principle of large load customers paying their fair share. Importantly, it's aligned with how we already approach our infrastructure projects to serve large load customers. We have roughly 21 GW of large load interest at FPL.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Of that, we are in advanced discussions on 12 GW, a portion of which we believe we could begin serving as soon as 2028. FPL is advancing negotiations with large load customers and continues to expect to announce at least one large load transaction under FPL's tariff by the end of the year. Initially, we expect every gigawatt of large load under FPL's approved tariff to be equivalent to roughly $2 billion of CapEx and to earn the same return on equity as other FPL investments. Bottom line, we believe FPL's opportunity set has never been clearer. A rapidly growing service area, a disciplined and constructive regulatory framework, scale complemented by a best-in-class operating model, a long runway of investment opportunities, all while continuing to do what matters most, which is delivering reliable, affordable electricity for our customers every single day. Turning to NextEra Energy Transmission.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

During the quarter, it energized a new transmission line in New Mexico to strengthen the grid in a growing part of the state, demonstrating why it is one of America's leading independent electric transmission companies. The team delivered the 137-mile, 345 kV line ahead of schedule and on budget. This project is projected to reduce typical residential electric bills in 2031 by approximately $13 per month based on an independent study performed by the Southwest Power Pool, providing a clear and tangible example of how smart transmission investments can directly improve affordability for customers. The project took just 31 months from being awarded to being placed in service, one of the fastest transmission development and construction projects anywhere in the industry.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

This reinforces what we believe is a core differentiator for Energy Resources, our ability to consistently execute and bring critical infrastructure online at a time when speed matters most for customers. NextEra Energy Transmission also continues to win new competitive transmission projects across the U.S. During the quarter, MISO selected NextEra Energy Transmission as part of a consortium to develop two large-scale 765 kV transmission projects in Illinois. NextEra Energy Transmission would have 43% ownership of the approximately $1.6 billion project, which aims to serve as a backbone system to deliver reliable, cost-competitive energy across the Midwest. As I've said many times, power generation alone can't and won't meet this unique moment. This country also needs new transmission infrastructure to reliably deliver electricity to our communities. It's why NextEra Energy Transmission is focused on delivering the solutions for customers.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Including both transmission and generation, Energy Resources has one of the strongest and differentiated energy infrastructure platforms in the country. At a time when customers need tailored solutions, more capacity, and speed to market, Energy Resources is uniquely positioned to deliver. For the quarter, Energy Resources added 3.6 GW of renewables and storage projects to its backlog, its second-largest quarter of additions coming on the heels of last quarter's record 4 GW. Battery storage represented 2 GW of additions this quarter. Battery storage remains an important growth driver, and we believe we are exceptionally well-positioned to deliver this capacity solution for customers. That's because we have several ways to develop storage. We can build it as a standalone project. We can co-locate storage across our existing renewable sites. We can develop batteries as grid solutions, and we could expand four-hour batteries to eight hours at our existing storage sites.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Put simply, the opportunity set for battery storage is significant. Because of the size and diversity of our asset portfolio, co-located storage is a meaningful differentiator for us. Our standalone and co-located battery storage pipeline sits at over 110 GW without including our expansion opportunities. Broadly, our backlog provides meaningful visibility into future growth and underscores the value of our long-term contracted business. We also continue to execute on recontracting projects within our operating portfolio that are coming off contract. Since the last earnings call, we recontracted over 500 MW of existing projects. This brings our year-to-date recontracting total to over 1,100 MW of renewables.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

This quarter's recontractings have been priced on average at a premium of roughly $20 per megawatt-hour above recent realized pricing for these projects. We have also locked in contracts for approximately 15 years on average, reflecting the strong electricity demand environment we're seeing today. As a reminder, NextEra Energy Resources has up to 6 GW of renewables and 1.5 GW of nuclear recontracting opportunities through 2032. Major area of opportunity is large load demand and our data center hub strategy. Hyperscalers and other large load customers are increasingly focused on speed, certainty, and scalability. That plays directly to our strengths. We believe Energy Resources is one of the few companies in the country that can support these customers with a full suite of solutions, from renewables and battery storage in the near term, to gas-fired generation and potentially nuclear over time.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

In fact, we now have 30 potential hubs we are discussing with the market. We continue to expect that number to rise to 40 by year-end. We also have four origination channels feeding into our base case goal of securing 15 GW of new generation to serve large load by 2035. These four origination channels won't just help us achieve our base case of 15 GW, they can also help us achieve our upside case of 30 GW or more by 2035. Our channels include working directly with hyperscalers, with investor-owned utilities, with cooperative and municipal utilities, and with federal partners. Importantly, we continue to position NextEra Energy Resources to where the market is moving. Our bring-your-own generation approach with hyperscalers resonates because it provides a way to meet incremental demand either in front of the meter or behind the meter, while helping protect affordability for existing retail customers.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

We believe FERC's Section 206 show cause orders that were announced in June will create yet another market shift and generate strong demand for the ability to match load with generation. We've spent the last 18 months preparing and positioning our business to deliver that solution for customers. The recommissioning of our Duane Arnold nuclear plant is a perfect example of matching electric load with power generation. We remain on track to bring the plant back online no later than Q1 2029. Since our last call, the Iowa Utilities Commission approved a generating certificate for the plant. We also successfully closed on the acquisition of the final 30% minority interest in the plant held by our two cooperative partners, making us the sole owner. We continue to advance development of up to 9.5 GW of gas-fired generation projects in Texas and Pennsylvania.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

In March, the president approved the projects, which are drawn from our existing inventory of data center hubs. While not yet complete, we continue to progress discussions on definitive agreements with the U.S. and Japanese governments. We also continue to evaluate advanced nuclear, closely evaluating the capabilities of various SMR OEMs. We have 6 GW of SMR co-location opportunities at our nuclear sites, and we are working to develop new greenfield sites. Of course, any new nuclear build would have to include the right commercial terms and conditions with appropriate risk-sharing mechanisms that limit our ultimate exposure. In short, we're off to a strong first half of the year, and I'm as confident and excited as ever about our prospects to deliver on our 12 ways to grow in the second half of 2026 and beyond. At the same time, we continue to advance our combination with Dominion Energy.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

On July 15th, we filed for merger approval with the Virginia State Corporation Commission, North Carolina Utilities Commission, and the Public Service Commission of South Carolina. The Virginia filing initiated the state's statutory six-month review process. The companies also filed for merger approval with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. We filed the S-4 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 9th, which became effective yesterday. We expect to distribute proxy materials to shareholders in the near future and expect Dominion to do the same. We are anticipating both shareholder meetings to be held in early September. We believe our proposed combination is a natural extension of our capabilities and experience.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

We're putting a larger NextEra Energy platform behind Dominion Energy at the exact time when scale matters more than ever to face a set of challenges unlike anything the utility industry has seen in decades. As I've said before, this is a merger of addition, not subtraction, the rare example of when one plus one equals three. Simply put, combining NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy would drive affordability, create local jobs, and deliver all forms of energy infrastructure, including battery storage, by leveraging the strengths of two industry leaders and sharing best practices in grid modernization, storm restoration, customer service, workforce tools, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and process improvement, just to name a few. Let's start with affordability. As we said in May, in the near term, we are offering $2.25 billion in shareholder-funded bill credits to Dominion Energy's customers in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

This is a meaningful, concrete, and substantial benefit, but the combination also adds capabilities that will benefit customers long after we've delivered these initial bill credits. The increased scale and enhanced operating platform of the two companies will help maintain affordability at a time when power demand requires more investment in generation and transmission. Buying, building, financing, and operating energy infrastructure more efficiently benefits customers over time. It's exactly what we've done at FPL, which is why our typical customer bill today is 20% lower than it was 20 years ago in real dollars. The proposed combination would also serve as an economic catalyst. We expect to more than double the size of our combined company by 2032, which would mean good jobs for many years to come for our talented teams across the four states we would serve and across America where we operate.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

As with NextEra Energy, Dominion Energy's employees are one of the company's greatest strengths, with an unmatched understanding of the customers and communities they serve. In addition, the fabric of a well-run utility is a company that's strongly embedded in the community it serves. That's exactly why the combined company will maintain dual headquarters in Richmond, Virginia, and Juno Beach, Florida, along with an operational headquarters in Cayce, South Carolina. We also have a retention commitment for Dominion Energy employees, but that just scratches the surface. Remember, building new energy infrastructure creates new jobs, and building that new infrastructure while maintaining affordable and reliable power attracts new residents and businesses, which then requires new infrastructure. The cycle repeats. Meeting this moment requires all forms of energy infrastructure. That's exactly what this combination would deliver. As I mentioned earlier, we are not dependent on a single piece of technology.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

NextEra Energy is the world's leader in renewables and storage. We're also a leader in gas-fired and nuclear generation, and we're a leader in transmission, and we build and operate energy infrastructure better than anyone in our industry. We'd be taking these capabilities and pairing them up with Dominion Energy's local operations, leadership, expertise, community presence, and history of outstanding service, better positioning the company over the long term. To be clear, this isn't about changing what's worked for Dominion Energy. Rather, this combination is about Dominion Energy adding the undeniable benefits of being part of a larger combined company with deep skill sets and experience across the energy value chain, providing access to scale and an industry-leading platform and balance sheet.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Scale matters because it creates efficiencies that compound over time into lower cost, better experience, and stronger outcomes for customers, which has never been more important given the challenges being faced today. As we discussed in May, the combined company is expected to support approximately 11% annual growth in regulatory capital employed through 2032 and 9%+ adjusted EPS growth through 2032, with a 9%+ target through 2035, all off a 2025 base. Just as importantly, the opportunity set becomes broader and more diversified. We expect the combination will close in the second half of 2027. With that, I'll turn the call over to Mike.

Mike Dunne
Mike Dunne
EVP and CFO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Thanks, John. Let's begin with FPL's detailed results. For the second quarter of 2026, FPL's earnings per share increased $0.05 year-over-year. Regulatory capital employed growth of approximately 9.3% was a significant driver of FPL's earnings per share growth versus the prior year comparable quarter. FPL's capital expenditures were approximately $2.8 billion for the quarter, and we expect FPL's full-year capital investments to be between $12 billion and $13 billion. For the 12 months ending June 2026, FPL's reported return on equity for regulatory purposes will be approximately 11.7%. During the second quarter, we reversed approximately $110 million of the rate stabilization mechanism, leaving FPL with an after-tax balance of approximately $1.3 billion. Key indicators show that Florida's economy remains healthy.

Mike Dunne
Mike Dunne
EVP and CFO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Florida continues to be one of the fastest-growing states in the nation and is currently ranked number one in GDP growth and number one in net migration by U.S. News. As John mentioned, FPL had a strong quarter of customer growth, with the average number of customers increasing by over 90,000 from the comparable prior year period. FPL's second quarter retail sales increased by approximately 0.4% year-over-year. After taking weather into account, second quarter retail sales increased by roughly 0.6% on a weather-normalized basis from the comparable prior year period, driven primarily by continued favorable underlying population growth. Now let's turn to Energy Resources, which reported adjusted earnings growth of approximately 18% year-over-year. Contributions from new investments increased $0.09 per share year-over-year, primarily reflecting continued growth in our power generation portfolio.

Mike Dunne
Mike Dunne
EVP and CFO at NextEra Energy, Inc

On a net basis, the remaining drivers for Energy Resources were roughly flat as various one-time items and timing impacts offset each other. We remain well-positioned to navigate the current interest rate environment through our over $46 billion interest rate hedging program. We have also planned for potential trade impacts and positioned ourselves to deliver and execute for our customers. That's why we've proactively secured supply to support both FPL and Energy Resources development plans, including the development of our national data center hub footprint. For solar, we've secured panels through 2029. We're also well-protected for battery storage, with competitively priced domestic supply also secured through 2029. We have sufficient wind sites with expected federal permits to meet development expectations through 2029, and we have sufficient transformer capacity to support our build forecast through the end of the decade.

Mike Dunne
Mike Dunne
EVP and CFO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Energy Resources had a strong quarter of new renewables and storage origination, with 3.6 GW added to the backlog. With these additions, our backlog now totals approximately 35.1 GW after taking into account 1.1 GW of new projects placed into service since our last earnings call. This highlights the continued strong demand for renewables and storage. Energy Resources 2026 to 2029 backlog represents approximately two-thirds of its development expectations midpoint through 2029. Overall, we are well-positioned with approximately two years to add 18.6 GW to our backlog to be at the midpoint of those expectations. Turning now to our second quarter 2026 consolidated results. Adjusted earnings from corporate and other decreased by $0.04 per share year-over-year. Our 2026 adjusted earnings per share expectations range of $3.92-$4.02 remains unchanged, and we are targeting the high end of that range.

Mike Dunne
Mike Dunne
EVP and CFO at NextEra Energy, Inc

We expect to grow adjusted earnings per share at a compound annual growth rate of 8%+ through 2032 and are targeting the same from 2032 through 2035, all off the 2025 base of $3.71 of adjusted earnings per share. From 2025 to 2032, we expect that our average annual growth in operating cash flow will be at or above our adjusted earnings per share compound annual growth rate range. We also continue to expect to grow our dividends per share at roughly 10% per year through 2026 off a 2024 base, and 6% per year from year-end 2026 through 2028. As always, our expectations assume our caveats. That concludes our prepared remarks. With that, we will open the line for questions.

Operator

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touch-tone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star then two. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. The first question today comes from Steve Fleishman with Wolfe Research. Please go ahead.

Steve Fleishman
Steve Fleishman
Analyst at Wolfe Research

Yeah. Hi, good morning. Thanks for the updates today. Just, I guess two questions. First, on the S-4 filing. Obviously, as always, they have in there an internal forecast for the company, and based on share count they use, it looked like it might imply earnings growth for the standalone company, 9% or better. The near EBITDA looks like it might be even $5 billion higher, 2032, than the Analyst Day numbers. Maybe you could just give us some color on, are you just conservative with your guidance? Is there certain things assumed in there that were different than assumed in the guidance? Just how should we think about that forecast in the S-4? Thanks.

Mike Dunne
Mike Dunne
EVP and CFO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Thanks, Steve. Mike Dunne here. Let me address those. As we look, you obviously know that we are continuously revising our forecast internally, and that's one of the things that we do well in providing new forecasts 8-10 times per year. When you look at our S-4, key pieces that you will see. One is that our adjusted EBITDA at Energy Resources is roughly $4 billion higher in 2032 than we had in our December investor conference. The key driver of that $4 billion increase is the performance that we are seeing in our originations on the renewables and storage side is better than what we had anticipated and what we had forecasted in December. Our overall expectations in terms of development is the same development expectations. We have not made material changes to our forecast.

Mike Dunne
Mike Dunne
EVP and CFO at NextEra Energy, Inc

One thing you will see is that, as we've talked, FPL has increased its large load expectations from 6 GW to 8 GW. The key driver of the increased performance is really the returns and earnings profile that we are seeing in our renewables and storage development and in our originations as we move forward. I think as you mentioned, Steve, people can do the math in terms of what that forecast looks like. We're obviously not changing our current earnings expectations. They remain at 8%+ through 2032 with a target of 8%+ through 2035. We also stand by the projections that those are our best forecast of what this business can achieve at the current time.

Steve Fleishman
Steve Fleishman
Analyst at Wolfe Research

Okay, that was very clear and helpful. Thanks, Mike. The other question is just on the Federal hub projects. John, I think you said on the last call, two to three months, hopefully have them done, and that's kind of now. Maybe you could just talk to what's caused any delay. Is it just more logistical timing things, or is there some issues in terms of just actually getting them to the goal line? Thanks.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Yeah, thanks for the question, Steve. Let me just start by talking about the Federal hub program. Well, just the hub program in general, then I'll turn to the Federal hub. First of all, we feel really good about where we are on our hub strategy, in addition to the execution we've seen on the renewable origination side. I would characterize it as we feel like we're ahead of schedule, and when I look at the second half of the year and beyond, shaping up very well. We're making a lot of progress. You can't always time these things around these calls, but I think the takeaway for investors should be ahead of schedule. Let me turn quickly to your question at hand, which is talking about the 9.5 GW we're working with the United States government and the Japanese government on.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

It continues to progress. As I said in our prepared remarks, continuing to make progress, it's just when you bring two large nation-states together, things don't always go according to schedule in terms of getting things done as fast as you might want, I wouldn't read too much into that. When I look at our overall origination program, Mike hit on this, but you look at where we are, some of this is reflected in the S-4, just continuing to make a lot of progress there. If you take kind of our four-year program and you look through 2029 on the renewables and storage side, we're ahead of schedule. You basically have to do 9 GW a year over the next two years to hit the midpoint of our expectations over that four-year period through 2029.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

We're taking our Federal hubs up from 30 to 40, which is going to give us even more opportunities in the market, I think a lot of those hubs are located in the right areas because we have terrific data sets and technology and a lot of lessons learned on where hyperscalers want to be. The bottom line is things are continuing to track well and feel good about where we are. Also at FPL. That's why we took our forecast up from 6 to 8 GW. Continue to see a lot of interest in Florida and feel good about our ability to announce a large load transaction there by the end of the year, which is the expectation we continue to express to investors.

Steve Fleishman
Steve Fleishman
Analyst at Wolfe Research

Great. Thank you.

Operator

The next question comes from Julien Dumoulin-Smith with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Julien Dumoulin-Smith
Julien Dumoulin-Smith
Analyst at Jefferies

Hey, good morning, team. Nicely done. Thank you for the time. Maybe to pick up where Steve left off, really. Why don't we pick it up, the 6 to 8, can you talk a little bit about what you're seeing on the ground, in terms of Florida and the additional data center development? This has really been a nice blossoming here. Can you speak to what you're seeing on the ground? Also, just a nuance in what you responded to a second ago, would you expect to announce these on the quarterly calls? Just given the material nature, would this sort of necessitate some sort of 8-K intra-quarter?

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Yeah. Let me just start with the first one. I'll turn it over to Scott here in a minute. I think a lot of what we're seeing in Florida, Julien, is just a testament to a lot of what I spent my time talking about in the prepared remarks. We've just done a really solid job in execution across Florida. I think that's recognized across the hyperscale space. I think the fact that we can build at a low cost is appealing to folks. When you think about where the market is heading and what's happened over the last couple of years, a lot of low-hanging fruit from utilities that might've been in an excess generation position, that surplus generation's been sold off, right?

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Now, if you look at FERC show cause order, matching load with gen, and making sure large load pays their own way, it's really going to, I think, shift the scales to creating a level playing field where people are going to have to compete on cost. I think that makes Florida very compelling because of the execution track record that we have been able to demonstrate at FPL over a number of years. With that, Scott, I'll turn it over to you to add any additional points you want to make.

Scott Bores
President and CEO at Florida Power & Light Company

Yeah. Thanks, John. I think the only other points I would add to this, Julien, is number one, having that legislation come in place in May allows for a lot of certainty for these customers that are going to make multi-billion dollar investments in the state of Florida. I think that gives us a good foundation to build upon. I think the other thing that's important is what John mentioned in his prepared remarks. Having 90% of our fleet in baseload gas generation and nuclear really allows us to quickly and easily integrate additional generation to provide the speed to market that all these customers are looking at. We feel really good about the 12 GW that we have in advanced discussions. As John said, we feel really confident about making a large load announcement before the end of the year.

Julien Dumoulin-Smith
Julien Dumoulin-Smith
Analyst at Jefferies

Got it. Even intra-year.

Mike Dunne
Mike Dunne
EVP and CFO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Yeah. Last thing I'd just note there is when things are important to our business, we're going to tell the market. We won't wait until the quarter just to have a story for our quarterly call.

Julien Dumoulin-Smith
Julien Dumoulin-Smith
Analyst at Jefferies

Excellent. Thanks for clarifying that. I know people love to debate that. Just if you can elaborate briefly here, how do you think about potentially looking at the strategic nature of your business, and expanding a footprint? I know you guys have looked at, for instance, linear infrastructure at times. Obviously, Dominion Energy now pending here, but how do you think about leaning further into this data center opportunity and sort of the adjacencies that you guys have been dabbling with, shall we say, prior to this latest deal?

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Yeah. Great question, Julien. When I think strategically about the business, we have put a big priority on vertical integration. If I think you look at the vertical integration that we have at NextEra across the board, which really translates into our operating platform, we have all the pieces. When you're not only trying to solve just what I'll call more rudimentary or customary energy solutions for customers, we certainly have the capability to do that.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

When you start to think about large load and all the capabilities that have to come together, not only renewable expertise, storage, gas-fired generation, potentially nuclear under the right structure, the ability to bring transmission, the ability to build gas pipelines and laterals, the ability to have a retail energy business to help with the large load queue process, the ability to manage molecules and power flows across the country. The Symmetry acquisition is a good example of improving vertical integration, being the third largest gas marketer now in the country. We have a very good understanding of where those gas flows occur and how they translate into valuable solutions for customers. We have similar expertise on the power marketing side as well.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

When I look across the board and you think about that vertical integration skill set, you couple that with who is really out there building. There really aren't that many folks out there building, right? New generation solutions. Because it takes experience and it takes the ability to have all those vertically integrated skill sets come together. That is what puts us in a unique position. That goes back to my answer to Steve, which is I feel like we're ahead of schedule. A lot of the opportunities that we've put forward and a lot of the work we've done over the 18 months as we anticipated the shift to BYG being the right answer rather than recontracting existing assets, I think we have a definite first-mover advantage and very excited about the market potential that we see across the board.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Obviously, all of those vertically integrated skill sets will I think help in the Dominion merger immensely, right? Because we have those vertically integrated skill sets, and we have net scale, and it really translates in the ability to deliver on affordability, to create jobs, to create economic development in those states, and to be able to deliver the right growth solutions that are right for each of those jurisdictions and do it in a way that results in good outcomes for customers. But it's complicated, too, when you think about everything that's going on with PJM and the FERC show cause order. It requires an energy thought leader that has experience across the United States. We've seen what every ISO does.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

We've had 20 years of experience working across this country. I think we'll also be a valuable thought leader being able to bring constructive ideas forward in a very economic and affordable way that will translate into affordable solution for customers over time and reliable solutions for customers over time.

Julien Dumoulin-Smith
Julien Dumoulin-Smith
Analyst at Jefferies

Excellent. Thank you for the thorough response.

Operator

The next question comes from Nick Campanella with Barclays. Please go ahead.

Nick Campanella
Nick Campanella
Analyst at Barclays

Hey, good morning. Thanks for all the details. I just wanted to maybe ask first on, you brought up renewables recontracting, average premium of $20 to realize pricing with a 15-year term. I know you have more on the recontracting side to go. I guess just in the context of the 8%+ and the standalone plan that you recently updated, is that included and trending better to plan? I guess, could you maybe, if the performance and origination is trending better on the storage and renewable side, maybe an update on where you're seeing returns? Thanks.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Yeah. I'll go ahead and start and then turn things over to Brian. First of all, when you think about renewables and contracting, we've always said that there's immense option value that translates into terminal value on all the investments that we make. When you look at the investment footprint we have across the board on renewables, it translates into a couple, two or three different opportunities. One is recontracting. Obviously we benefit from the fact that we have substantial energy demand that's trying to be met by generation solutions, but supply is not matching demand today, which is resulting in higher pricing across the board. That's creating significant opportunities that is really improving the terminal value of our entire portfolio.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

You think about the option value embedded in everything that we've been built, and I talked a lot about storage as being a co-location opportunity around our solar and wind portfolio. Basically, every asset that we build comes with an immense storage opportunity. Think about one of the things I don't think we probably spend enough time talking about is the hubs as well on that option value creation opportunity. When you think about building a hub that's rooted in gas-fired generation, for example, to meet NERC requirements, it's going to have to also come with a behind-the-meter reliability solution around storage. Every hub we build is a massive enabler for battery storage, which we don't really spend enough time talking about.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

When you think about bringing these hubs together and you think about speed to power and you think about long-term solutions as you ramp with your hyperscale customer as they grow into their compute capacity at a site, that speed to power solution, many times we're finding is starting with a renewable solution. We can get that on the market in 12-18 months quickly, then we're moving to gas, then we're moving to more battery storage to provide that redundancy behind the meter. There's just immense option value in what we've built. On the return side, continuing to see returns trend up across the board.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

I think as we move forward with these scale solutions around hubs, those command because of the ability to provide a comprehensive solution across generation types and to bring other benefits to bear through our vertical integration strategy and our operating platform. There's a premium to be paid because it's a unique skill set that nobody has, and the markets willing to pay you for that. That's kind of how I look at it, Nick. Brian, I don't know if you want to add to that.

Brian Bolster
Brian Bolster
President and CEO at NextEra Energy Resources

No, I think the experience we're seeing in the market is that projects are getting bigger, they're getting more complex, and they require, as you said earlier, builders. What we're seeing is obviously a need for power, a need for a skill set, and I think that's being reflected in the returns that we're seeing in our projects.

Mike Dunne
Mike Dunne
EVP and CFO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Nick, just to bring this back to the financial questions that you asked, these recontractings and these increased returns that we are seeing are all reflected in the numbers as we discussed in the S-4.

Nick Campanella
Nick Campanella
Analyst at Barclays

Thanks for all that information. Really appreciate it. Then maybe just moving to the transaction with Dominion. You announced it in May. You've had a lot of time to interact with state-level leadership and stakeholders. Just anything you can share from your conversations and reactions from local constituents. As you've made these filings, given the complexity, is there anywhere that you're skewing within the 12-18 months to get this deal closed? Thank you.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Yeah. I would characterize the conversations as going well. Our whole philosophy and approach is much like the approach we've taken at Florida Power & Light and the track record that we have in Florida Power & Light. It's a customer-first approach. What we've been able to explain local leadership is, when we look at this opportunity, we really look at an opportunity to help the customer, and help the customer at a time when there is accelerated power demand. The ability to meet the growth to provide the generation solutions at scale at a lower cost is extremely important to be able to drive affordability over time. Then the ability to bring a suite of generation solutions to really help drive reliability, I think is extremely attractive. Our track record on customer service as well.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

When you really look at being able to demonstrate or the most tangible example we can bring forward for state leadership is, again, Florida Power & Light. When you have a bill that's more than 30% lower than national average, 20% lower than it was in 2006, and in real dollars, O&M on a dollar per megawatt-hour basis, that's 70% better than the industry average. Top decile reliability, that's 60% better than the industry average, so on and so forth. Storm response in three states where storm response is very important, our track record there, very compelling, right? The ability to do what these three states are facing because we've done it for 20 years in Florida. We've faced significant growth in Florida for 20 straight years and have been able to do it by investing in new generation while keeping bills affordable.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

That track record speaks volumes for what the potential could be here. Being able to do that in a way that preserves what those states are accustomed to seeing, which is that local feel, all that experience that Dominion brings at the local level, being able to interact with the same folks that are wearing the same shirts, the same name on the bucket trucks. The interaction at the local level is not going to change. We're going to leverage what Dominion does best locally, and its strong track record of operations, the cross-learnings that we'll be able to have, but be able to support that local leadership with the scale and the operating platform that comes with the NextEra business, which just translates into affordability for customers across the board. That message, I think, has been very well received.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

I look at it even broader than that, which is the ability to create jobs by a company that's doubling its generation fleet by 2032, which is our expectation. The economic development partnership that comes for all three states. When you think about a company that's number one in gas, the combined company, number two in nuclear, world's leader in renewables, world's leader in battery storage, and a leader in transmission, we have the ability to bring economic growth to those states through OEMs, through EPC contractors, and whatnot, that have to be there to serve our needs. Also, given the scale and the buying power that we have are going to be encouraged to help support economic development in the states where we're located. I think when you put that whole package together, so far it's been well received.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Look, ultimately be up to the states to decide, so far the conversations at the local level have gone well. In terms of your question on timing, look, we still are looking at, I think, the second half of 2027, but would obviously look for opportunities to move that up wherever we can.

Nick Campanella
Nick Campanella
Analyst at Barclays

Thanks for the answers. Appreciate it.

Operator

The next question comes from Jeremy Tonet with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Jeremy Tonet
Jeremy Tonet
Analyst at JPMorgan

Hi, good morning.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Good morning.

Jeremy Tonet
Jeremy Tonet
Analyst at JPMorgan

Just wanted to shift gears a little bit, if I could, towards nuclear, and just wondering, there's a lot of talk out there, but wanted to see your updated thoughts on, I guess, what the possible timeline could be for this coming to fruition in your view?

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Well, when I think about nuclear, Jeremy, first of all, we are doing a lot on the nuclear front. Not only are we recommissioning Duane, which is going very well. Very happy with the execution that I've seen out of the team there, which I think benefits a lot from many of the things we've spent time talking about on this call. The focus also that we've had on SMRs and all the work we've done around the OEMs, the commercial, the technical viability assessment that we've had there. Encouraging, I think again, I'll come back to anything we do on the nuclear side has to be done under the right commercial structure. It's finding a way, how do we advance from first of a kind to Nth of a kind in a way where we're not taking on customer overrun risk, right?

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Which we would not do. There are a lot of, I'll call them the four or five wallets that come to the table. It's not only us as a developer. We would put a little bit of capital at risk. Would have to be sensible, would have to be capped. You have the hyperscaler or the customer, whoever that might be. The U.S. government, you have the OEM, you have potentially an EPC contractor that's working as part of that. I do remain encouraged that we'll be able to figure out a financial structure, build what I call an insurance tower, that equitably allocates risk to the right places. Again, the end result is we're not taking cost overrun risk, and we're doing this in a measured way that makes sense for all of our stakeholders, including our shareholders.

Jeremy Tonet
Jeremy Tonet
Analyst at JPMorgan

Got it. That's helpful. Thank you for that. Just wanted to shift back towards natural gas pipeline for a second. We haven't really seen meaningful new greenfield development since Mountain Valley, your JV, completed a few years back. There seems to be a lot of need for moving molecules across the country. It seems like the regulatory backdrop is more favorable than it has been in the past, there's a lot of need for new logistic solutions. How do you see this moving forward at this point in time, and what would NextEra hope to be involved?

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Well, we're encouraged. I think you all know we brought a senior executive over from Energy Transfer now, leads our gas pipeline effort. We have a substantial gas pipeline opportunity set already put together. Obviously, there's a lot of expansion needs around the southeast as you start thinking about accommodating a lot of the large load demand here and the need that the states in the southeast are going to have, the expansion opportunities off of MVP. As we look at our hub strategy, the need for additional gas supply, whether it come from laterals or actual gas pipeline development connected with that build, that's encouraging in terms of what the investment opportunity might look like there.

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

I'm very happy with the way things are trending, and I think we'll have some nice opportunities as we look to the future and have a renewed focus on gas pipeline development.

Brian Bolster
Brian Bolster
President and CEO at NextEra Energy Resources

No, John, I agree with that. We're seeing when our expectations, we talked about our transmission business jointly with electric and gas moving from mid-single digits into the 20s. I think that reflects some of our optimism. You've seen what we're doing around MVP and some of the opportunities for extensions or expansions on that. I think John ran through it. We're participating on a number of different fronts. Our outlook is, it feels good over the next several years to deliver against those expectations we laid out back in December.

Jeremy Tonet
Jeremy Tonet
Analyst at JPMorgan

Just a quick one there. Would Texas development, specifically Permian egress and servicing LNG, any of those factors be of interest to NextEra?

John Ketchum
John Ketchum
Chairman, President, and CEO at NextEra Energy, Inc

You're not going to see us participating in LNG, if that's your question.

Mike Dunne
Mike Dunne
EVP and CFO at NextEra Energy, Inc

Jeremy, I think the key piece here is that as we're building through, we're putting together capabilities that allow us to provide solutions for our customers. As we look at our customers, that's our customers in Florida, that's our customers as we combine with Dominion in South Carolina, Virginia, and North Carolina, to our hyperscalers and to our customers across the country. We don't see things like LNG as being part of that. This is all about how do we provide solutions that allow us to grow our company and to help our customers.

Jeremy Tonet
Jeremy Tonet
Analyst at JPMorgan

Understood. Thank you.

Operator

Next question comes from Carly Davenport with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Carly Davenport
Carly Davenport
Analyst at Goldman Sachs

Hey, good morning. Thanks so much for taking my question. Maybe just a couple of follow-ups. One on the FPL large load opportunity. It certainly seems like the customer interest is strong. Just curious what appetite you've seen from local communities in Florida to hosting data centers. Do you see any risks around local level pushback to kind of realizing that opportunity set?

Scott Bores
President and CEO at Florida Power & Light Company

Carly, it's Scott. I think the important points here are finding the right locations that are going to welcome that and transparency in the process, right? I think we all saw Project Tango in West Palm Beach. I want to reiterate, that was never part of our development expectations and shows the importance of site selection and transparency. I think there are a lot of spots in the state of Florida, and we are working with those communities that are really interested and have good locations that'll be the perfect host for data centers. I think as we've said a few times on this call, we're very confident, and that's why we increased our development expectations to 8 GW by 2032.

Carly Davenport
Carly Davenport
Analyst at Goldman Sachs

Great. Okay. That's really clear. Thank you. Just one other follow-up on the federal hubs. I think you'd previously indicated that the Texas project could start up on the earlier side, maybe late 2027, early 2028. I guess just with the timing of the definitive agreements maybe taking a bit longer, any shifts to the earlier start potential of that particular project? Perhaps, asked another way, is there a time that you would need to see movement in order to hit those targets?

Brian Bolster
Brian Bolster
President and CEO at NextEra Energy Resources

Yeah, our timing hasn't changed, Carly, from where the negotiations are to where we're looking for those projects to come online. We're continuing to move the development in the background while we work out the T's and C's with the government entities. Our expectation around when those projects will come online remains the same.

Carly Davenport
Carly Davenport
Analyst at Goldman Sachs

Great. Okay. Appreciate the time. Thank you.

Operator

This concludes our question and answer session and concludes our conference call today. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Executives
    • Michael Dowling
      Michael Dowling
      Director of Investor Relations
    • John Ketchum
      John Ketchum
      Chairman, President, and CEO
    • Mike Dunne
      Mike Dunne
      EVP and CFO
    • Brian Bolster
      Brian Bolster
      President and CEO
Analysts
Powered by Quartr