Ameresco Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

  • Record awards and backlog: Ameresco added $1.8 billion of awards in Q2, including $1.2 billion tied to data centers, lifting awarded backlog 65% to $4.4 billion and total project backlog 32% to $6.7 billion.
  • Data-center expansion: Three new projects brought the company’s total to five data-center projects, representing more than 1 gigawatt of planned generation across Texas, Arizona, and other markets. Management said the broader pipeline could eventually exceed the currently awarded $1.2 billion, with potential recurring O&M revenue after construction.
  • Strong financial performance and raised EPS outlook: Q2 revenue increased 9% to $515 million, adjusted EBITDA rose 12% to $62.8 million, and gross margin improved to 17.7%. Ameresco reaffirmed its 2026 outlook while raising non-GAAP EPS guidance to $1.15–$1.35, partly due to an anticipated tax benefit from a new transferable-tax-credit accounting policy.
  • Cash conversion and execution risks: Cash from operations was pressured as project work preceded contractual billing milestones, making working-capital improvement a key second-half priority. Management also cautioned that data-center awards generally require 6–24 months to become contracted and may not materially affect results until 2028–2030, with permitting, procurement, financing, and construction risks remaining.
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Earnings Conference Call
Ameresco Q2 2026
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Thank you for standing by. My name is Tina, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Q2 2026 Ameresco, Inc. earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question, press star one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, press star one again. Please limit questions to one and one follow-up. We do ask that you limit questions to one and one follow-up and then rejoin the queue. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Leila Dillon, Chief Marketing Officer. Please go ahead.

Leila Dillon
Leila Dillon
CMO at Ameresco Inc

Thank you, Tina, and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for today's call. Our speakers on the call today will be George Sakellaris, Ameresco's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Nicole Bulgarino, Co-President of Ameresco, and Mark Chiplock, Chief Financial Officer. In addition, Josh Baribeau, our Chief Investment Officer, will also be available during Q&A to help answer questions. Before I turn the call over to George, I would like to make a brief statement regarding forward-looking remarks. Today's earnings materials contain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our expectations. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. Please refer to today's earnings materials, the safe harbor language on slide two of our supplemental information, and our SEC filings for a discussion of the major risk factors that could cause our actual results to differ from those in our forward-looking statements.

Leila Dillon
Leila Dillon
CMO at Ameresco Inc

In addition, we use several non-GAAP measures when presenting our financial results. We have included the reconciliations of these measures and additional information in our supplemental slides that were posted to our website. Please note that all comparisons that we will be discussing today are on a year-over-year basis, unless otherwise noted. I will now turn the call over to George. George?

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Thank you, Leila, and good afternoon, everyone. Q2 was a transformational quarter for Ameresco, highlighted by exceptional execution and strong financial performance. First, we had a record of $1.8 billion of new awards, driven by $1.2 billion for data centers and $600 million for our other key markets. Second, we closed our Neogenyx joint venture with HASI, providing us with significant external capital to accelerate growth in all of our business lines. We announced our first successful delivery of RNG into the European compliance markets. Third, we repositioned Ameresco into two core market pillars, and we are releasing a new rebranded corporate identity to reflect the updated position. Finally, we successfully brought online the 250 MW Napanee battery energy storage system, one of the largest energy storage projects in Canada. We energized the 560 MW solar project in Greece, one of the largest projects in Europe.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Many of you have been anticipating updates on our involvement in the data center market. There is a growing demand for reliable Power Infrastructure and increasingly favorable policy for on-site Power Infrastructure, encouraging hyperscale customers to secure dedicated on-site power solutions. Combined with Ameresco's integrated capabilities, we are well positioned to deliver solutions that provide speed, reliability, and the energy independence that these customers need. During the quarter, several opportunities advanced to the point where they met our criteria for inclusion in our awarded backlog. Importantly, the projects we added to our backlog represent only a portion of our broader pipeline. As we continue to advance additional data center opportunities, we will remain highly selective in our partnerships and disciplined in our approach. We expect the amount of backlog added from these opportunities to increase as development progresses, project scopes are finalized, and they convert to contracted backlog.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

As you will see in our updated corporate presentation, the company is well positioned to flourish in the current market environment. With our recent promotions of Nicole Bulgarino and Lou Maltezos to Co-Presidents, we have positioned the company to address two core market pillars: Power Infrastructure and Buildings & Public Infrastructure. This strategic positioning reinforces Ameresco's standing as one of the world's leading energy infrastructure companies, focused on delivering integrated solutions to provide reliable power and modernized infrastructure. With a powerful combination of market catalysts and a robust pipeline of opportunities, we are confident in our ability to drive exceptional long-term profitable growth. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Nicole to provide some additional details about the exciting data center activities, as well as other notable project wins and business opportunities. Nicole?

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

Thank you, George, and good afternoon, everyone. As George highlighted, Ameresco made significant progress with our Power Infrastructure business during the quarter. The backlog additions we announced today are the results of months of working to secure, develop, and advance opportunities with leading partners across the data center ecosystem. Our strategy remains highly focused and selective, partnering with experienced developers, operators, hyperscalers, and capital providers while concentrating exclusively on on-site power data solutions. This landscape is dynamic and often requires persistence and flexibility with solutions due to permitting, gas supply, and specific tenant needs. This is where Ameresco's decades of experience developing, delivering, owning, and operating critical energy infrastructure provides us with a clear competitive advantage. During this quarter, we added three new data center projects to our awarded backlog, bringing our total to five data center projects in addition to the Lemoore Data Center in our energy assets portfolio.

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

These projects further expand our presence in the nation's most active data center markets, adding both Texas and Arizona to our existing footprint of data center projects. Collectively, they will represent more than one gigawatt of power generation and showcase the breadth of Ameresco's capabilities. The solutions we are providing include a combination of reciprocating engines, gas turbines, fuel cells, battery energy storage systems, and integrated microgrids, designed to deliver the reliability required by today's most demanding data center customers. These awarded projects also only represent a portion of the opportunities we are actively developing. We continue to see exceptional demand for on-site power solutions and are encouraged by both the scale and the quality of our growing pipeline. We are engaged with many of the industry's leading data center partners, and we believe our differentiated capabilities position us extremely well to capitalize on the significant opportunities ahead.

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

We look forward to sharing additional developments as we continue to convert this momentum into backlog and long-term profitable growth. While the data center activity was certainly a highlight of the quarter, it is also important to note that our momentum extends well beyond this market. We also secured a significant amount of new project awards across a broad range of geographies, customers, and end markets, underscoring the strength and diversity of our business. These wins reflect continued demand for Ameresco's comprehensive energy infrastructure solutions and demonstrate our ability to capitalize on the opportunities across multiple verticals while maintaining a balanced and resilient growth profile. I'll now turn the call over to Mark to cover our strong Q2 financial performance. Mark?

Mark Chiplock
Mark Chiplock
CFO at Ameresco Inc

Thank you, Nicole, and good afternoon, everyone. Q2 was a strong quarter across the board. We delivered revenue of $515 million and made meaningful progress on the priorities that matter most: executing well, expanding our growth visibility through record awards, and strengthening our capital position to support the opportunities ahead. Q2 demonstrated the strength of our current operating model and the increasing visibility we are building as we work to execute the next phase of our growth strategy. Our total revenues grew by 9%, while project revenue increased 6% to $381 million. This reflects solid execution across our core project business, with strength in federal and North America, and continued strong performance from our European JV. This was not just a strong quarter financially, it was also an outstanding business development quarter.

Mark Chiplock
Mark Chiplock
CFO at Ameresco Inc

As George highlighted, awarded project backlog increased 65% to a record level of $4.4 billion, increasing our total project backlog by 32% to $6.7 billion. As always, the timing and extent of conversion of our backlog will depend on commercial, permitting, procurement, financing, and execution milestones. This backlog provides tremendous long-term visibility as we expect to convert over the next three to four years. Q2 energy asset revenue was a clear highlight, increasing 21% to $76 million as we continue to expand the operating portfolio. During the quarter, we placed an additional 32 MW into operation. Our operating energy asset base now stands at 822 MW, with another 513 MW in development for construction. These figures reflect Ameresco's 70% ownership interest in the Neogenyx JV. O&M also had a very strong quarter, with revenue up 29%.

Mark Chiplock
Mark Chiplock
CFO at Ameresco Inc

This remains an important part of the model for us because it builds naturally from successful project execution and creates long-term recurring revenue. We continue to see solid growth in our third-party O&M business, which expands the opportunity set beyond just Ameresco-executed projects. We now provide service for over 2.5 GW Of third-party solar and battery storage. With long-term O&M backlog now exceeding $1.5 billion, this business continues to provide strong visibility, recurring revenue, and durability across cycles. Gross margin was 17.7%, a meaningful improvement both sequentially and year-over-year, reflecting a favorable business mix and strong execution. Net income attributable to common shareholders was $9.7 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, while non-GAAP EPS was $0.20. Adjusted EBITDA increased 12% to $62.8 million, outpacing revenue growth and reflecting strong operating execution, improved business mix, and the continued expansion of our higher-margin recurring businesses.

Mark Chiplock
Mark Chiplock
CFO at Ameresco Inc

EPS reflected higher depreciation and interest expense associated with the continued growth in our energy asset portfolio, along with a lower tax benefit and the non-controlling interest impact from the Neogenyx transaction. Turning to our balance sheet, unrestricted cash increased to $138 million, with total corporate debt of $385 million. Our corporate leverage was 3.2x, comfortably below our 3.5x covenant. We also strengthened our capital position in Q2, securing $471 million of new financing commitments, including the $400 million related to the Neogenyx transaction. That capital gives us added flexibility to fund growth, support our working capital needs, and continue scaling the energy assets portfolio in a disciplined way. Adjusted cash from operations was impacted in Q2 by the timing of project execution, billings, and collections.

Mark Chiplock
Mark Chiplock
CFO at Ameresco Inc

The strong revenue quarter included significant work performed ahead of contractual billing milestones, resulting in more cash being temporarily absorbed in working capital. Cash conversion remains a key priority for the second half. Given our strong first half performance, the visibility provided by our backlog, and the financing progress achieved in Q2, we remain confident in our 2026 outlook. As a result, we are reaffirming our full year guidance across all metrics and increasing our non-GAAP EPS guidance. We are increasing our non-GAAP EPS guidance range to be $1.15-$1.35, as we now expect a tax benefit rate in the range of 25%-40%. The additional expected tax benefit is supported by our planned transition to a new accounting policy for transferable tax credits in the second half of the year.

Mark Chiplock
Mark Chiplock
CFO at Ameresco Inc

This methodology better aligns earnings recognition with the period in which the investment tax credits are generated rather than allocating the benefit over the life of the related assets. Prior period results will be recast to enhance comparability once we make this change. Looking ahead, we expect the second half to follow our normal seasonal cadence, with activity weighted somewhat more towards Q4, supported by continued project execution, backlog conversion, and disciplined cost management. Now I'd like to turn the call back to George for closing comments.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Thank you, Mark. This is a transformative time for Ameresco as we continue to execute our growth strategy, positioning ourselves in some of the fastest growing and most attractive energy infrastructure markets. Our twin market pillars of Power Infrastructure and Buildings & Public Infrastructure not only continue to drive our growth, but also provide greater diversification of the company's customers and solutions. Our decades of experience delivering reliable on-site power solutions uniquely position us to capitalize on the significant opportunities ahead. We look forward to connecting with many of you at upcoming meetings and conferences. In closing, I want to once again thank our employees, customers, and stakeholders for their continued support and confidence in Ameresco. Operator, we would like to open the call to questions now.

Operator

Once again, to ask a question, simply press star one on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, we do ask that you limit questions to one and one follow-up, then return to the queue if you have further questions. Our first question is from the line of George Gianarikas with Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.

George Gianarikas
George Gianarikas
Analyst at Canaccord Genuity

Hi, everyone. Thank you for taking my questions, and congratulations on the data center wins.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Thank you.

George Gianarikas
George Gianarikas
Analyst at Canaccord Genuity

Regarding those wins, how are project delivery commitments structured from a risk-sharing perspective? Specifically, what's the financial exposure or liquidated damages, excuse me, does Ameresco bear if completion timelines slip due to equipment supply chain bottlenecks or to connection queues or local permitting delays? Thank you.

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

Yeah. That's a great question, George. We won't get into any project specifics because all of that, as you can imagine, is very sensitive to our customers and to the agreements that we're in. Be assured, as Ameresco, in all of our projects, we'll be very mindful and diligent about what commitments we're being signed up to or that we're signing up to.

George Gianarikas
George Gianarikas
Analyst at Canaccord Genuity

Thank you. Maybe a question for Mark. Any update on what's happening with Neogenyx, project updates, et cetera? Thank you.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Mark is not here. Since we did the partially sale or the partnership with HASI, the relationship is going very good. The development opportunities are increasing, and we're actually seeing more opportunities now, not only organic, but maybe some project acquisitions that they are coming to us. The relationship is very good. It gives us a lot of flexibility, great capital contribution into the company, and of course, we can use the capital to grow not only that unit, but as well as the other lines of our business.

George Gianarikas
George Gianarikas
Analyst at Canaccord Genuity

I appreciate it. Thank you.

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

Thanks, Mark.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Stephen Gengaro with Stifel. Please go ahead.

Stephen Gengaro
Stephen Gengaro
Analyst at Stifel

Thanks. Good afternoon, everybody.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Hi, Steve.

Stephen Gengaro
Stephen Gengaro
Analyst at Stifel

Hi. I think maybe following up on George's question a little bit. When you think about the data center awards and what it means for backlog, is sort of the cadence of backlog conversion to revenue, how should we think about that with awards of this size? Is it any different than kind of what we've become accustomed to?

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Yeah. No, it's a great question, Steve. It's not different than the other projects that we have in the backlog, especially the federal government projects. You will see that, A, by putting these projects into the award, we have done a great diligence to make sure they meet the criteria that we put a particular project into the award category, and they've been some kind of customer RFP. There's some kind of exclusivity agreement between us and that base, and they have achieved certain milestones in their development process. If you look at it, how we move from the award to the contracts, in the data centers, we're probably seeing between 6-24 months. These awards will move to contracted. Then, of course, once they move to contracted, you're talking two up to three years will actually implement the implementation schedule.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

The awards are solid and sooner or later, the time schedule, they will move into the contracted category, then, of course, in implementation.

Stephen Gengaro
Stephen Gengaro
Analyst at Stifel

Great. Thank you. Just as a quick follow-up to that is, if I assume the margin profile is similar to a legacy activity

Stephen Gengaro
Stephen Gengaro
Analyst at Stifel

Is that a fair place to start?

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Excellent questions. The margin of this particular project is basically what we get for the EPC project for the federal government, which is in the high teens.

Stephen Gengaro
Stephen Gengaro
Analyst at Stifel

Okay, great. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question is from Eric Stine with Craig-Hallum. Please go ahead.

Eric Stine
Eric Stine
Analyst at Craig-Hallum

Everyone, thanks for taking the questions.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Thanks.

Eric Stine
Eric Stine
Analyst at Craig-Hallum

Yeah.

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

Hey, Eric.

Eric Stine
Eric Stine
Analyst at Craig-Hallum

Hey. Obviously, a big highlight on the awards, the $1.2 billion, but it sounds pretty optimistic in terms of the pipeline. Wondering if, maybe not specifics, but just talk in more detail of the size of that pipeline versus the awards that you have now pulled in, that $1.2 billion. If there's a way to think about where those are in their various life cycle in terms of getting to the point where you could think about pulling those into awarded backlog.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Look, Nicole basically said it, that what we put on the award category right now is part of what the ultimate size of those particular awards will be. We'll see that will probably increase. I wouldn't be surprised that we will get up to $2 billion associated with these particular awards that we have right now. Do you want to add any more?

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

Sure. We're continuing, we're in this business hourly, daily, and continuing to vet opportunities every day, and being very strategic and diligent about how we are partnering with new opportunities. We looked at hopefully adding additional projects as we continue to develop in this market.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

A little bit more clarity is that Nicole pointed out in her script, there are five opportunities, excluding the Lemoore, which is an asset base. We're looking at least that many more.

Eric Stine
Eric Stine
Analyst at Craig-Hallum

Got it. Then maybe for my follow-up, just obviously Neogenyx, a very successful setup and structure there. Maybe not exact, but as you think about these data center opportunities and that they are very sizable, is there some structure kind of more along those lines that could help maybe speed up or just increase the amount that you can handle from a financing perspective?

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

You're right on track. We're very successful with Neogenyx, and we learned a lot, too, in the process of doing them. The data center opportunity is very large, and it will require a substantial amount of capital. We will be looking into the opportunity, and if the multiples are right, the right partner comes along, and so on, we will do it. There's nothing specific to announce at this point in time, but it could be a great opportunity for us doing another vehicle like Neogenyx.

Eric Stine
Eric Stine
Analyst at Craig-Hallum

Okay. Thank you.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Thanks Eric.

Operator

Thank you. Your next question is from the line of Noah Kaye with Oppenheimer & Co.. Please go ahead.

Noah Kaye
Noah Kaye
Analyst at Oppenheimer & Co

Hi, folks. Good afternoon.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Hi, Noah.

Noah Kaye
Noah Kaye
Analyst at Oppenheimer & Co

George, know all this transformational, I just need to take a step back for a bit and recognize that the I believe this quarterly award is almost double any of your previous quarters in your history. It's remarkable, congratulations.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Thank you.

Noah Kaye
Noah Kaye
Analyst at Oppenheimer & Co

I want to ask a high-level question, which is obviously behind the meter, in time the power becoming a key consideration for a lot of developers. I can see that's really the solution that you're architecting here. Can you just take us through how you won these awards? Who the customers are? Obviously, we're not expecting you to name them, but are they hypers? Are they neos? Are they government? With the understanding that as you build these critical relationships, there's opportunity for a lot of future business.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Nicole worked very hard in order to get them. I will let Nicole.

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

No, thanks. As we've shared in the previous earnings calls, our reputation with the federal government has served us well as a great entry point into this market, because we've been basically serving as the utility in the federal government space for decades now. Now getting in there and we're working with not only data center operators, but also hyperscalers, neo clouds, and also just getting in through commercial real estate developers that have played in this market before, just now having the added power side to this, which is different than what maybe they had done before. We like what our delivery model is, and that we are bringing integrated energy solutions to it. We're integrating different types of assets together and being able to have the ability to microgrid these. That's been a unique offering for us.

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

That's a little bit more into what we're doing, and just think that the opportunity with our experience and our flexibility in what we're offering has served us well with the different players in this ecosystem.

Noah Kaye
Noah Kaye
Analyst at Oppenheimer & Co

Thanks, Nicole. Just to confirm that I heard you correctly, so the customers for these data center projects, they now include hypers and neo clouds. Is that correct?

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

They are part of the deals, yes.

Noah Kaye
Noah Kaye
Analyst at Oppenheimer & Co

All right. Just last follow-up, I guess maybe help us understand where you're at in the process of securing supply for some of those long lead items. Have you already placed orders for the recips and some of the key equipment?

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

We have not been placing orders yet for these projects because they're still in our awarded pipeline, that's not been the model that we've chosen to do for this market. We are working in finalizing the equipment selection with our partners, that's just where we are. They're at different phases in that development, but far enough along that we move them into the awarded pipeline, then we'll continue to develop these to convert them into the contracts and then placing equipment.

Noah Kaye
Noah Kaye
Analyst at Oppenheimer & Co

Yeah, that timing makes a lot of sense. Thank you.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Thanks, Noah.

Operator

Your next question is from Ryan Pfingst with B. Riley Securities. Please go ahead.

Ryan Pfingst
Ryan Pfingst
Analyst at B. Riley Securities

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Go ahead.

Ryan Pfingst
Ryan Pfingst
Analyst at B. Riley Securities

Congratulations on progress here. Hey, George. George, you touched on it a little earlier, but could you talk more about the potential revenue cadence for Ameresco for a project that comes online in 2028, 2029, or 2030?

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Yeah. Let's say a difficult project, a federal government project. Once we get the award, some selection by the federal government, we do the detail engineering and audits and so on, negotiate the scope with the government. Usually it takes about 24 months. I mean, 12-24 months to get the award to contracts. Once it gets contracted, some of the projects, they have one-year timeline, but if it's a turbine or a reciprocation engine power plant, very complex, it might take up to two years. So it moves along. Can I add anything to that?

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

No, I think you've got it. It really just depends on which project it is and what we're doing.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Yeah. On the data centers, why I did say they indicated 6 months-24 months to move the award because we know where the development is on some of them and the milestones that they have achieved. The hyperscalers and the developers, they move a little bit faster than the federal government. Plus, they need this stuff. There is a sense of urgency that they get this power up as soon as possible.

Ryan Pfingst
Ryan Pfingst
Analyst at B. Riley Securities

Got it. Appreciate that. Then somewhat related, can you just remind us where the CyrusOne project fits in with regards to awarded or contracted backlog for you guys? Is there anything to share on how that's progressing at the Naval Air Station?

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

For sure. Lemoore is still in our awarded backlog, and it's like any of the projects we've been talking about. It has the development timeline of 12-24 months. We're just moving along in that development right now.

Ryan Pfingst
Ryan Pfingst
Analyst at B. Riley Securities

Great. I appreciate it, guys. I'll turn it back.

Operator

Okay. Once again, as a reminder, press star one to ask a question. Again, that is star one. Your next question comes from Joseph Osha with Guggenheim Partners. Please go ahead.

Joseph Osha
Analyst at Guggenheim Partners

Thank you, and congratulations, everyone, on such a strong result. I have two related questions. First.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Sure.

Joseph Osha
Analyst at Guggenheim Partners

This came up once already, but how should we think about this six-project pipeline? Is most of this ultimately just going to show up as gain on sale? Could some of this end up being at least partially capitalized to your own balance sheet? The second question, Nicole, this is kind of a geeky one for you. Are you seeing on the storage side, are most of the deployments you're seeing short duration power quality types of deployments, or are you seeing longer multi-hour deployments focused on more resilience? Thank you.

Josh Baribeau
Josh Baribeau
Chief Investment Officer at Ameresco Inc

Joe, this is Josh. I'll answer your first question. The data center opportunities are expected to be our normal EPC revenue recognition, percent complete in accordance with our spend. It's not an asset sale or there's no different balance sheet treatment than any of our other project business. Nicole, on the duration and whatnot.

Joseph Osha
Analyst at Guggenheim Partners

This will be straight EPC revenue.

Josh Baribeau
Josh Baribeau
Chief Investment Officer at Ameresco Inc

Correct. Yep.

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

Yeah. That's a great question. Not too geeky on the other one, because it's an important one. The battery storage in these pays for these will probably. It really depends on the site, but for both. One is for the resiliency for when you're doing maintenance or upsets. The other side of that is really just to stabilize the load shift from the varying, especially with the AI load profile. It would be combination.

Joseph Osha
Analyst at Guggenheim Partners

Can you just, with that in mind, as a follow-up, what's the typical duration that you're seeing on storage? Is it an hour, two hours, four hours? Where-

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

Two hours.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Two hours.

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

Two hours.

Joseph Osha
Analyst at Guggenheim Partners

All right. Got it. Thank you very much, Nicole.

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

Yeah.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Craig Shere with Tuohy Brothers. Please go ahead.

Craig Shere
Analyst at Tuohy Brothers

Good afternoon. Congratulations on the expanding awarded pipeline. In response to Eric's question, the comment was made, George, that you had maybe another five potential counterparties projects on top of the five that are already in the awarded backlog. Are all of these roughly about the same size in terms of revenue and the size of the projects on average, or are you seeing them increase over time? How would you look at the pipeline outside of the awarded projects so far?

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

I'll let Nicole answer that.

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

We're seeing similar. Some are, depending on which ones we're looking at, but some are smaller phases. Others are phased out campuses, and we're maybe playing a part of one of those phases, or we may be playing all of the phases. It really depends on the project. I'd say that they'll all be similar technologies that we mentioned before. A combination of reciprocating engines, fuel cells for some of the earlier deployment ones, just for C to power, and then some of the longer out there phases using combined cycle gas turbines and just simple cycle gas turbines.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

One other thing that I want to add, it gives you a little bit better perspective, guys, the opportunity with these data centers. These five ones that we are talking about does not include the federal government bases that they are going out, and we have the enhanced lease uses, and we have five of them, including-- Well, not five, though. It's Lemoore, which announced before, and the other one is Pearl Harbor. There's considerable potential. The fact is because people are beginning to realize that in order for them to be successful and win the AI race, they have to develop their own power plants, on-site generation. That's why we came into the picture, and our track record with the federal government building these resiliency power plants with microgrids and so on, it's helping us a lot and we're getting great traction in the marketplace.

Craig Shere
Analyst at Tuohy Brothers

Got you. Last clarification, I believe both Stephen and Ryan asked about the timeline of awards. I think, George, you mentioned, the time maybe to lock into, whether it's 6-24+ months to firm contracts. Then you said it could take three years for bulky projects to be completed thereafter. When you think?

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

Up to three years. Let's say we have to build a 500 MW or 1 GW data power plant on a particular data center that might have three or four phases. That's what's happened in some of them. That's why we said we think that the ones that we have, they will become larger because they have several phases. Phase 1 might take 6 months to one year, phase 2, another year or so, and so on. That's why I gave the perspective up to three years. The other one, I think it's important to give you a little bit more color, guys. We said 6 months-24 months. Most likely, we will not see a big impact coming from the data centers till 2028 and beyond. Between 2028-2030.

George Sakellaris
George Sakellaris
Chairman and CEO at Ameresco Inc

You might see a small impact next year, the major impact will be 2028 -2030. Why we're so excited, though, about it, because the awarded projects give you the early indication of where we're going to be two to three years down the road.

Craig Shere
Analyst at Tuohy Brothers

Got you. When we're in the 2028 and beyond, you've got these mega projects that are lasting two to three years in several phases, is it reasonable to think that they're evenly distributed in terms of revenue and margin across the years that they're live?

Josh Baribeau
Josh Baribeau
Chief Investment Officer at Ameresco Inc

Yeah. It's probably a little too soon. Yeah. The shape of any construction project tends to be a little bit front-end loaded as we're placing equipment orders and doing some of the heavy mobilization.

Craig Shere
Analyst at Tuohy Brothers

Right.

Josh Baribeau
Josh Baribeau
Chief Investment Officer at Ameresco Inc

Since we now have six of these projects going on, you sort of get maybe a potential smoothing. It's a little early for that to give you an.

Craig Shere
Analyst at Tuohy Brothers

Got you.

Josh Baribeau
Josh Baribeau
Chief Investment Officer at Ameresco Inc

Rule of thumb of what the revenue would look like.

Craig Shere
Analyst at Tuohy Brothers

All right. Fair enough. Thank you very much.

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

Yeah.

Craig Shere
Analyst at Tuohy Brothers

Oh, go ahead.

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

I was just going to add too, we're also excited that after the construction, with all of these, there's a significant operation and maintenance stream associated with it. As Mark pointed out in our earnings script.

Craig Shere
Analyst at Tuohy Brothers

Excellent point.

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

That's one place that we've always been focused on building that recurring revenue, which these would certainly present that opportunity.

Craig Shere
Analyst at Tuohy Brothers

Perfect. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Shweta Rakhecha with Cantor Fitzgerald. Please go ahead.

Shweta Rakhecha
Shweta Rakhecha
Analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald

Hi, Shweta here on behalf of Manish. Congrats to you, Nicole, and the entire team on the new order win. Couple of more follow-ups on DC wins. I guess you'll be getting a few of those. First, are the three new wins affiliated to the two that were already booked? Nicole, I know you also walked us through the process of winning these bids earlier, but to the extent possible, can you help us qualify if these underlying customers are hyperscalers, co-location operators, or non-hyperscale users? I think one more question on DC, which is kind of very topical, and it will also really help us understand, is how you're thinking about risk when it comes to project delays, especially when you think about local data center bans, zoning restrictions. What are you guys thinking about that? I think that'd be really helpful for us.

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

Sure. Those are good questions. As I mentioned before, the customer types, I mean, with all of these projects, there are multiple customers in there. There's the landowner, there's the data center operator, and certainly the end use tenants, the hyperscalers, Neo cloud tenants as well. We're working with a large set of those that are all playing in this market. As far as the risk, I would say, we've been working for federal governments and for utilities for quite so many years, so similar risk for build. Anytime when you're taking on building and developing these large infrastructure projects, it's a similar risk type of profile. What we're trying to do to mitigate some of the risk in development is making sure that we've been strategic about who we're partnering with up front and the work that they've done already.

Nicole Bulgarino
Nicole Bulgarino
Co-President at Ameresco Inc

Picking partners that have had local strong relations in that community, customers that have been in this market before, and certainly, our strategy by working on federal government lands where it has a lot less of that outside community risk as well. Those are all things that we've been doing, and why we've been working on this for the past months on this to make sure that we have qualified these.

Shweta Rakhecha
Shweta Rakhecha
Analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald

Thank you. That's certainly very helpful. Second, if I may. Given the robust pipeline, how should we think about guidance? As in, what would it take for us to now raise the guidance from here?

Josh Baribeau
Josh Baribeau
Chief Investment Officer at Ameresco Inc

Yeah. For 2026, what we have visibility to from the data centers, we've already baked in, and obviously we've reaffirmed that. We're feeling pretty good about that. We don't expect it to have too significant an impact, but what we do feel comfortable with, we've already baked into guidance for 2026.

Shweta Rakhecha
Shweta Rakhecha
Analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald

Thank you, guys. That's helpful. Thanks.

Operator

With no further questions in queue, this does conclude today's conference call. Thank you very much for joining us today. You may now disconnect.

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