NextEra Energy NYSE: NEE CEO John Ketchum said the company has made significant progress on its growth plan in recent months, including securing federal hub opportunities, expanding gas and storage development prospects and advancing a proposed combination involving Dominion operations in Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina.
Speaking at an investor conference, Ketchum described 2026 as a year of execution for the company and said NextEra had delivered against the “12 ways to grow” framework it presented previously.
Federal hubs and gas development
Ketchum said NextEra has secured 16 gigawatts of federal hub opportunities since its second-quarter earnings call, including 10 GW associated with a Japanese fund and a newly announced 6.5-GW project known as Project Star involving Korea and the U.S. Department of Commerce.
According to Ketchum, $3.3 billion of capital had arrived for the first 10 GW of Japanese projects, while $2.4 billion was funded for Project Star. He said the projects are owned by the federal government and the governments of Japan or Korea rather than by NextEra.
“We do not have to put one cent into these projects,” Ketchum said. He said NextEra expects to receive development, milestone and operating fees, with the resulting fee income representing about 50% of the adjusted EPS contribution the company would earn if it built a comparable gas plant on its own balance sheet.
The company also announced a 4.6-GW opportunity at Paducah with the U.S. Department of Energy, split evenly between gas generation and storage, Ketchum said. Including its federal hub and Paducah prospects, he said NextEra has identified 18 GW of gas opportunities. For comparison, Florida Power & Light’s installed gas-fired generation fleet totals 24 GW, he said.
Ketchum said the company’s obligations on the federal hub projects are centered on execution, including meeting construction and operating milestones. He said NextEra does not expect to put its balance sheet at risk because capital commitments are tied to project funding received from the government partners.
- NextEra has 16 GW of federal hub opportunities, according to Ketchum.
- The company has identified a 6-GW to 11-GW incremental battery storage opportunity associated with the hubs.
- Ketchum said the storage opportunity is not included in the company’s existing development expectations.
He added that the company has rights to build battery storage serving the three federal hubs and expects batteries to play a larger role in backup generation and voltage-regulation applications for data centers.
Broader execution and large-load demand
Beyond the federal projects, Ketchum said NextEra recontracted Point Beach under what he characterized as an attractive agreement, obtained a $2 billion Department of Energy loan for recommissioning the Duane Arnold plant, and acquired a 49% interest in a Florida gas pipeline being built by Chesapeake. Google is the offtaker for Duane Arnold and will pay for 100% of its power generation, he said.
Florida Power & Light has recorded 9.3% growth in regulatory capital employed, Ketchum said, while NextEra increased its Florida large-load forecast to 8 GW from 6 GW. He said the company would be disappointed if it does not announce a large-load agreement in Florida by year-end.
Ketchum also cited roughly 7.5 GW of renewable and storage activity, progress toward recontracting 8 GW of power purchase agreements through 2032, and growth in its customer supply business following the Symmetry acquisition. He said the company is now the third-largest gas marketer and third-largest power marketer in the United States.
NextEra has equipment contracted through 2030 and has $46 billion of interest-rate hedges in place, Ketchum said. He put the company’s interest-rate sensitivity in the current environment at between $0.01 and $0.03 in 2028.
Affordability and the Dominion combination
Ketchum emphasized affordability as NextEra pursues growth. He said Florida Power & Light’s customer bill is 20% lower in real-dollar terms than it was 20 years ago, 37% below the national average, and supported by reliability that is 60% better than the national average. He also said the utility’s operations and maintenance costs per megawatt-hour are 70% below the industry average.
Discussing the proposed Dominion combination, Ketchum said NextEra has held hundreds of stakeholder meetings in Virginia and heard recurring priorities around jobs, affordability and clean energy.
He said NextEra has committed an additional $85 million toward residential customer credits, which he said would extend such credits from two years to four years. The company also committed $100 million for Virginia’s low-income bill assistance program through 2038 and $100 million for workforce development, according to Ketchum.
NextEra has committed to 1,000 jobs in Virginia, including 600 positions from NextEra and 400 supplier jobs, Ketchum said. He also said the company plans to spend $1 billion annually with Virginia suppliers and build a new office tower in Richmond.
Ketchum said the combined company is expected to grow from 110 GW to roughly 240 GW by 2032, with regulatory capital employed growth of about 11% and adjusted EPS growth above 9%, as outlined in its S-4 filing. He described the transaction as day-one accretive to shareholders.
About NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE)
NextEra Energy, Inc is an electric power and energy infrastructure company headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida. Through its principal subsidiary, Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), the company generates, transmits, distributes and sells electricity to customers across Florida. FPL serves residential, commercial and industrial customers and operates a diverse generation portfolio that includes natural gas, solar, nuclear and other resources.
NextEra Energy's other major business, NextEra Energy Resources, develops, owns and operates energy projects in the United States and Canada.
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