Brookfield Renewable NYSE: BEPC reported a “very strong start to the year” in first-quarter 2026, posting record financial results while advancing its development pipeline, scaling its capital recycling program, and executing new financings to bolster liquidity and extend debt maturities.
Record first-quarter results and operating momentum
CEO Connor Teskey said the company generated funds from operations (FFO) of $375 million, up 19% year-over-year and 15% on a per-unit basis, equating to $0.55 per unit. CFO Patrick Taylor added that over the last 12 months, Brookfield Renewable delivered $1.394 billion of FFO, or $2.08 per unit, up 13% year-over-year and 12% per unit.
Teskey said Brookfield Renewable deployed or committed $2.2 billion into growth in the quarter, or $550 million net to BEP, and highlighted the company’s recently announced agreement to acquire Boralex. He also pointed to development progress, including commissioning 1.8 gigawatts of new capacity and contracting 1.7 gigawatts of projects from its “advanced development pipeline.”
On segment performance, Taylor said hydroelectric FFO totaled $210 million, up “almost 30%” year-over-year, supported by strong generation in Canada and Colombia and a realized gain from selling a 25% interest in a non-core U.S. hydro portfolio, partially offset by weaker hydrology in U.S. operations. Wind and solar delivered a combined $245 million of FFO, up “over 60%,” driven by development, acquisitions, and capital recycling. Distributed energy, storage, and sustainable solutions contributed $58 million, reflecting development activity and growth at Westinghouse, including “new reactor design and engineering work” and organic growth in fuel and maintenance services.
Energy market backdrop: security, demand, and nuclear progress
Teskey addressed the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East, saying employee and customer safety in the region was the company’s “highest priority.” He said Brookfield Renewable’s “limited investments in the region today have not been directly impacted” and continued to perform. While some markets are experiencing higher energy prices, he said Brookfield Renewable is “largely contracted” and does not expect a material near-term impact to cash flows.
According to Teskey, the conflict has renewed attention on “energy security,” reinforcing investment in renewables, which he described as the “lowest cost form of generation” that does not rely on imported fuel. He also highlighted nuclear as a source of “large-scale baseload generation” with fuel that can be stored on-site.
He said Brookfield Renewable commissioned more than 9 gigawatts of new capacity over the last 12 months—“nearly double” what it delivered two years earlier—and remains on track to raise its annual commissioning run rate to about 10 gigawatts per year in 2027.
On nuclear, Teskey referenced a partnership with the U.S. government involving Westinghouse large-scale reactors. He said the company made progress in the quarter advancing “key work streams,” including ordering long lead-time equipment for Westinghouse’s AP1000 technology. During Q&A, Teskey said discussions remain “very live,” and the company hopes to announce “significant progress” in 2026 and “in the near term,” describing demand as coming from “offtakers,” utilities, and the government.
Asked about what could be holding back announcements, Teskey said he would not characterize it as a bottleneck, but rather the need for alignment among stakeholders—government, utilities, offtakers, and financing parties—given the scale of what is being contemplated.
M&A: Brookfield’s approach and the Boralex transaction
Chief Investment Officer Jeh Vevaina said Brookfield Renewable continues to see compelling opportunities both in executing its “80 gigawatts advanced stage development pipeline” and through mergers and acquisitions, while emphasizing that the company’s “disciplined approach” to investing “has not changed.” He described Brookfield’s M&A edge as the ability to invest at scale across public and private markets globally, across stages of the development lifecycle, supported by commercial and operational capabilities.
Vevaina said the company’s recently announced privatization of Boralex alongside La Caisse follows prior acquisitions including Neoen, OnPath, and U.S. transactions involving Geronimo, Deriva, Scout, and Urban Grid. Under the Boralex terms described on the call, La Caisse will increase its ownership from 15% to 30%, while BEP and institutional partners will acquire the remaining 70% at an implied enterprise value of $6.5 billion. He said the transaction is subject to shareholder and customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close later in the year.
Vevaina said the acquisition is expected to contribute positively to financial results upon closing, and Brookfield sees opportunities to enhance value by accelerating development, expanding capabilities across technologies (including battery storage), driving efficiencies through shared best practices, and establishing an asset recycling program within the platform.
In response to questions about the broader M&A environment, Teskey said Brookfield Renewable continues to see public-market opportunities, noting some public companies are “more constrained for capital” and therefore less able to capitalize on strong demand. He said Brookfield Renewable sees “a pretty robust pipeline across both private and public for the remainder of the year.”
Capital recycling scales up, including Northview Energy
Teskey and Taylor both emphasized expanding capital recycling activity. Teskey described it as a “very natural expansion” tied to growing in-house development, where the company can sell assets to “lower cost of capital buyers,” capture development margin, and redeploy into growth. He said the company is not working toward a fixed annual target and will be “entirely driven by the values we see in the market.”
As a directional guide, Teskey referenced comments from the company’s Investor Day last year, where Brookfield Renewable discussed deploying $9 billion to $10 billion of equity into growth over five years, with “at least a third” expected to come from asset recycling, and potentially more if market values remain strong. He said the company is seeing returns “consistently” at the high end or above the high end of its target range.
Taylor said Brookfield Renewable closed or agreed to sell assets expected to generate about $2.8 billion of proceeds, or $820 million net to BEP. He cited a sale of the company’s remaining 50% interest in a portfolio of non-core U.S. hydro assets; the IPO of CleanMax in India, where Brookfield sold about half its interest and “returned all of our original invested capital” while maintaining exposure to future growth; and the sale of an operating solar portfolio in the U.S. from the Deriva platform. Taylor said CleanMax generated a 25% IRR to date.
A major element of the quarter’s activity was the launch of Northview Energy, a private renewable vehicle focused on operating renewables in North America, formed with BCI, Norges Bank Investment Management, and a Brookfield fund. Taylor said Brookfield seeded the vehicle by selling 22 operating onshore wind and utility-scale solar assets, generating $1.3 billion of proceeds, or $315 million net to BEP. He said the arrangement provides a framework to sell additional developed assets into the vehicle for up to $1.5 billion of incremental gross proceeds over time.
Asked about cadence, Teskey said Brookfield has the “option, but not the obligation” to sell qualifying assets into Northview, and expects the initial capital commitment to be utilized over a 2-3 to 2-4 year period.
Financing activity and a potential structure simplification
Taylor said Brookfield Renewable completed “almost $4 billion of financings” in the first three months of the year, extending maturities and optimizing its capital structure. The company ended the quarter with over $4.7 billion of available liquidity. He highlighted the issuance of CAD 500 million of 30-year notes at what he called the tightest spread the company has achieved, bringing average corporate-level debt maturity to about 14 years, the longest in its history.
He also said Brookfield is progressing recontracting initiatives on a “scale portfolio of hydro assets in Ontario,” which, once signed, are expected to support “significant up financings” planned over the course of the year.
During the quarter, the company also launched an at-the-market equity issuance program for BEPC, paired with repurchases of BEP LP units under its normal course issuer bid. Taylor said Brookfield issued 2.8 million BEPC shares, used proceeds to repurchase the same number of BEP units, and generated about $27 million of realized cash gains.
Brookfield Renewable also disclosed it is exploring whether to simplify its structure into a single listed corporate entity. Taylor said the company is assessing whether it can create “a single corporate security” on a tax-free basis to enhance liquidity, increase index inclusion, and create value for investors, with more details expected later in the year. In Q&A, he said the review has just begun and did not provide a timeline. Teskey added that the company would not expect a structural change to alter its dividend policy.
Looking ahead, Taylor reiterated Brookfield Renewable’s focus on delivering 12% to 15% long-term total returns, supported by its operating platform, disciplined capital allocation, and expanding capital recycling program. Teskey said the company believes it is positioned to exceed its long-term target of 10% annual FFO per unit growth in the short to medium term, driven by M&A, organic commissioning, and asset recycling, adding that underlying operating fundamentals and organic growth are “as strong as it’s ever been.”
About Brookfield Renewable NYSE: BEPC
Brookfield Renewable Corporation NYSE: BEPC is a leading global owner, operator and developer of renewable power assets. Through its preferred equity securities, BEPC provides investors with exposure to a diversified portfolio of hydropower, wind, solar and energy storage facilities that are underpinned by long-term contractual revenues. The company focuses on delivering clean energy to wholesale and retail markets across multiple jurisdictions, leveraging the experience and financial backing of its parent, Brookfield Asset Management.
The company's operations span North America, South America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, with more than 23,000 megawatts of operational capacity.
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