NextEra Expands Renewables Portfolio, Looks to Green Hydrogen

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--NextEra Energy Incorporated (NYSE:NEE) (Juno Beach, Florida) added thousands of megawatts (MW) of renewable and energy-storage projects to its portfolio in the second quarter and continues to explore green hydrogen as another clean-energy option for its customers.

In the company's second-quarter earnings press release and on a related conference call, executives touched on the portfolio of two of its primary subsidiaries, Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), its Florida utility, and NextEra Energy Resources, its U.S. renewable energy arm.

FPL added about 225 MW of solar in the second quarter, the company said, bringing its 2023 solar additions to almost 1,200 MW. Meanwhile, NextEra Energy Resources has added about 1,215 MW of solar, 150 MW of wind and 300 MW of storage since the first-quarter 2023 earnings results in April. But the company isn't sitting on its laurels. NextEra Energy Resources' renewables and storage backlog now stands at about 20 gigawatts (GW).

In the press release, Chief Executive Officer John Ketchum said FPL's capital investment plan is focused on solar power and its transmission and distribution system. Meanwhile, on the conference call, Chief Financial Officer Kirk Crews said capital expenditures were about $2.5 billion for the quarter and he expects full-year 2023 capital spend to be between $8.5 billion and $9.5 billion.

FPL is adding solar facilities with generation capacities of about 75 MW throughout Florida. This includes the White Tail Solar Plant in Martin County, in the southeastern part of the state, and the Silver Palm Solar Energy Center in Palm Beach County. Both plants will utilize photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, and construction is expected to wrap up in January and March 2024, respectively. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database can see detailed information on the White Tail and Silver Palm projects.

Meanwhile, NextEra Energy Resources is at work on wind and solar projects throughout the U.S. One of the company's largest solar-generation projects under construction is the 260-MW, $285 million Wadley Solar plant in Louisville, Georgia, southwest of Augusta. Construction kicked off in late 2022, and construction firm Blattner Energy (Avon, Minnesota) is expected to wrap up the project toward the end of this year. Subscribers can read a detailed project report.

Also under construction is the $1.1 billion High Banks Windfarm in Republic, Kansas, in the north-central part of the state, bordering Nebraska. The facility will use more than 200 wind turbines from General Electric (NYSE:GE) (Boston, Massachusetts) to generate about 600 MW. The project is expected to be completed in late 2024. Subscribers can click here for more details.

Industrial Info is tracking $21 billion worth of renewable energy-generation projects across the U.S. from NextEra and its subsidiaries that Industrial Info's researchers have assessed with a medium-to-high likelihood (70% or more) of moving forward as planned. Subscribers can click here for a full list of project reports.

Green Hydrogen
After placing thousands of megawatts of power generation into service in the second quarter, NextEra is looking toward green hydrogen generation. On the earnings conference call, Crews said, "With an opportunity set of $20 billion of capital investment requiring more than 15 gigawatts of new renewables, Energy Resources is well positioned to be the green hydrogen partner of choice." He added, "We also remain excited about the opportunity to serve hydrogen customers by leveraging our best-in-class renewables development expertise and early-stage development position."

NextEra aims to use its own solar facilities to produce green hydrogen, a term for hydrogen made using renewable energy. The company is developing a green hydrogen pilot production unit addition at the operational Okeechobee Clean Energy Center in Florida, which would use solar power from the nearby 74.5-MW Cavendish Solar Energy Center. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the green hydrogen project report.

For more information on U.S. companies' efforts to build power plants that utilize hydrogen in their fuel mix, see Industrial Info's March 8, 2023, article - U.S. Takes Steps Toward Purpose-Built Hydrogen-Fueled Power Plants.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI project and plant databases can click here for a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and click here for a full list of related plant profiles.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).