NextEra Energy Inc. the Florida-based company looking to buy Hawaiian Electric Industries, said Wednesday its first-quarter profit jumped 51.2 percent to $650 million primarily due to growth in renewable projects.
The company reported earnings per share of $1.45 compared with 98 cents a share in the year-earlier period, when it made $430 million.
Jim Robo, chief executive officer of NextEra, said the company expects to see more opportunities for renewable energy projects in the near future.
"NextEra Energy Resources (the renewable energy branch of the company) delivered excellent adjusted earnings growth and had an excellent quarter in terms of new contracted renewables origination, adding approximately 500 megawatts to its backlog," Robo said. "We continue to be well positioned to add further projects in the coming months."
NextEra Energy Resources posted a profit of $278 million, up from $86 million.
NextEra’s Florida utility, Florida Power & Light, reported a profit of $359 million in the quarter, up from $347 million the year before.
NextEra is waiting on the state Public Utilities Commission and HEI shareholders to approve its $4.3 billion purchase of Hawaii’s major electric utilities. Robo said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call he was hopeful the sale would be approved by the end of 2015.
"We’re still hopeful that we’re going to be able to get all regulatory approvals by the end of the year and that’s the target that we’re working towards," Robo said.
The review of the sale is still in the beginning stages, with Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism submitting its first information requests late last week.
Robo said the company has received more than 300 information requests from interested parties but expects the discovery process to be complete by the summer.
"We can expect to have a lot more over the coming months," Robo said. "We’re very early in the process right now. And discovery will be ongoing through the summer. And we expect all of the filings to be done by the end of August."
Robo said he expects the federal tax credit given to residential and commercial properties that install solar will be cut from 30 percent to 10 percent before the end of the year.
"We fully expect at the end of 2015 that the solar ITC (Investment Tax Credit) will step down from 30 percent to 10 percent. We support that step down and I think solar is going to be cost competitive without an ITC in the back half of this decade. And so I don’t think you need it to continue to drive solar demand going forward," Robo said.
Under current law the credit will remain in effect through Dec. 31, 2016.
