Constellation Energy Corp. President and CEO Joseph Dominguez said a package of nuclear tax incentives included in a climate bill introduced by U.S. Senate Democrats should increase the company's value and enable an aggressive M&A strategy.
"By extending the licenses out to 80 years, our existing fleet of clean energy nuclear plants would have an operating life that is longer than any new renewable energy source that is going to be put on the grid this decade," Dominguez said during an Aug. 4 second-quarter earnings conference call.
"It resets Constellation's value as a critical infrastructure company with strong and more predictable financial results, unique growth opportunities and long-term durability on par with anyone."
The Inflation Reduction Act contains a zero-emission production tax credit for existing nuclear plants of up to 0.3 cents per kWh, starting in 2024 and ending in 2032, for which the industry has long lobbied. Since Senate leadership announced the deal after the July 27 market close, Constellation's stock price has spiked 21.5% to settle at $67.46 per unit on Aug. 4.
If President Joe Biden signs the bill and investors have time to absorb the nuclear production tax incentives, Dominguez said Constellation expects to be "involved" in any industry discussions surrounding asset acquisition.
"I think what the [Inflation Reduction Act] does is narrows the bid-ask spread by effectively providing a strong price floor under the nuclear units at over $40 a megawatt hour, so that allows us to have conversations that we haven't had before," the CEO noted.
During the second quarter, Constellation "doubled" its contract renewal volume compared to the first quarter, which Dominguez attributed in part to higher commodity prices.
"I think the conversations we're having ... are that customers now understand we've had a transformation in energy pricing, and they're locking in deals," the CEO said.
According to James McHugh, executive vice president and chief commercial officer, Constellation has hedged 70% of its nuclear generation capacity for 2024.
When it comes to the U.S. Treasury's interpretation of the Inflation Reduction Act, Dominguez said he hopes that the agency considers using hedges as a strategy for determining production tax credits' value.
"That's the way we've always done business, and in point of fact, if the IRS was telling us that the only way to guarantee the [production tax credit] at its full value is not the hedge and take everything to spot, then we would have to effectively stop participating to a great degree in some of these utility procurements that go out multiple years," Dominguez explained. "With 33-plus-percent of the energy that's being sold in PJM Interconnection LLC, as an example, coming from nuclear without the participation of nuclear baseload in these actions, our customers at the end of the day ... won't be able to get the certainty through their hedges."
Constellation reported a GAAP net loss of $111 million for the second quarter, up from a $61 million loss in the second quarter of 2021. The company recorded a non-GAAP EPS of $1.66. The S&P Global Market Intelligence consensus normalized EPS estimate for the quarter was 64 cents.
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