(Adds background in paragraphs 2-4, 6; details on results in paragraphs 6 and 7)
July 25 (Reuters) – NextEra Energy Inc second-quarter profit beat Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, helped by strength in the company’s renewable energy unit.
NextEra, which generates more wind and solar power than any other company in the world, has benefited from a clean energy investment push that has received major policy support after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act last year.
It has also gained amid volatility in energy prices, with natural gas skyrocketing in 2022 as Russia reduced supplies to Europe and now down 63% from last year’s peak due to milder temperatures and increased inventories. NextEra Energy Partners, a limited-partnership formed by NextEra Energy, had said in May it would sell its natural gas pipeline assets to focus solely on renewables and achieve real zero carbon emissions in 2025.
The company’s regulated utilities business, Florida Power & Light, added 66,000 more customers year-on-year, while its clean energy unit, NextEra Energy Resources, added 1,665 megawatts of new renewables and storage projects in the second quarter.
Its new renewables and storage backlog now stands at nearly 20 gigawatts (GW) after it placed about 1.8 GW of power into service in the reported quarter.
The company’s revenue rose to $7.35 billion from $5.18 billion a year earlier, beating estimates of $6.23 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
On an adjusted basis, the Juno Beach, Florida-based company earned 88 cents per share in the quarter, compared with analysts’ average estimate of 82 cents, according to Refinitiv data.
(Reporting by Arshreet Singh; Editing by Savio D’Souza and Vinay Dwivedi)