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Clearway Energy (NYSE:CWENa), Inc. (NYSE:CWEN) presented its first quarter 2025 results on April 30, highlighting solid performance and reaffirming its full-year guidance while advancing multiple strategic growth initiatives. Despite positive operational results, the company’s stock declined 1.21% during regular trading hours to $29.34, with after-hours trading showing a further 3.05% drop to $28.45.
Quarterly Performance Highlights
Clearway Energy reported strong first quarter results with Adjusted EBITDA of $252 million and Cash Available for Distribution (CAFD) of $77 million. The company reaffirmed its 2025 CAFD guidance range of $400-440 million and announced a dividend increase of 1.7% to $0.4384 per share for the second quarter ($1.7536 per share annualized).
"CWEN performed with excellence in Q1 2025 and remains on track to meet its 2025 guidance range," noted the company in its presentation, highlighting that performance was driven by strong wind resources in California, timing of debt service payments, and timing of spring outage expenses.
As shown in the following financial results summary:
The company’s renewable portfolio demonstrated strong performance in the first quarter, with wind assets in California operating at 121% of production index and Texas wind at 98%. Solar assets performed at 100% of production index, with both wind and solar maintaining high availability factors of 93-99%.
As illustrated in this detailed breakdown of renewable performance:
Strategic Growth Initiatives
Clearway is pursuing multiple growth pathways, with a focus on three key areas: wind repowering projects, sponsor-enabled growth, and third-party acquisitions.
The company highlighted significant progress on wind repowering projects, including the Mt. Storm Repowering (construction to begin in 2025), Goat Mountain Repowering (targeting 2027), and San Juan Mesa Repowering (also targeting 2027). These projects aim to extend and enhance the value of Clearway’s existing fleet.
The following chart illustrates the company’s planned wind fleet optimizations through 2030:
Clearway’s sponsor-enabled growth pipeline remains robust, with committed 2025 drop-downs on track for completion and initial fundings completed for several projects. The company noted that its sponsor, Clearway Group, is advancing approximately 9.9 GW of late-stage projects, representing over $750 million of potential investment opportunity.
As shown in this overview of the sponsor-enabled growth pipeline:
The company also announced progress on third-party acquisitions, including the closed acquisition of Tuolumne Wind and a signed agreement to acquire a utility-scale solar project requiring approximately $120-125 million of corporate capital. This solar acquisition is expected to yield a 10-11% five-year average annual asset CAFD yield, increasing to approximately 13% over ten years.
The details of this strategic acquisition are outlined here:
Detailed Financial Analysis
Clearway Energy presented a clear pathway to achieving the top end of its 2027 CAFD per share target range of $2.40-2.60, with no need for external equity. The company expects to generate over $250 million of retained CAFD cumulatively between 2025-2027 and has over $400 million of potential excess debt capacity to fund growth.
As illustrated in this growth pathway chart:
The company has also taken steps to mitigate interest rate risk for its 2028 bond refinancing by hedging the base rate for a notional value of approximately $550 million with a forward starting term from March 2027 to March 2035.
The following slide details the company’s funding flexibility and risk management approach:
Clearway provided a detailed breakdown of its 2025 CAFD guidance range, showing the path from net income to CAFD:
Forward-Looking Statements
Looking beyond 2027, Clearway Energy reaffirmed its CAFD per share growth target of 5-8%+ and is targeting a payout ratio at the low end of the 70-80% range. The company emphasized its focus on accumulating growth investment opportunities and enhancing its capital allocation framework.
Environmental considerations remain central to Clearway’s strategy, with 96% of the company’s total generation in 2024 attributable to renewable energy and storage assets. For 2025, approximately 90% of both EBITDA and CAFD is expected to come from non-GHG emitting sources.
The company’s business update highlighted several key achievements and objectives:
CEO Craig Cornelius emphasized in the Q4 2024 earnings call that "We view the long-term outlook for Clearway as one positioned for secular growth," highlighting the company’s strategic focus on renewable energy and technological diversification.
With a balanced portfolio across wind (37% of CAFD), solar (40%), and flexible generation (23%), Clearway Energy appears well-positioned to execute its growth strategy while maintaining financial discipline. However, investors will be watching closely to see if the company can deliver on its ambitious targets amid ongoing market volatility and competitive pressures in the renewable energy sector.
Full presentation:
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