Clearway Energy (NYSE:CWEN) outlined what management called a “strong execution year” in 2025, pairing results at the high end of original guidance with an expanding set of contracted growth opportunities tied to repowerings, sponsor drop-downs, third-party acquisitions, and increasing demand for power from data centers.
2025 performance and 2026 outlook
President and CEO Craig Cornelius said the company delivered full-year cash available for distribution (CAFD) at the top end of its initial guidance range while adding 1.3 gigawatts (GW) of projects to its fleet through newly commissioned assets and acquisitions. Cornelius said these additions support growth in 2026 and underpinned Clearway’s decision to reaffirm its 2026 CAFD guidance as well as its longer-term targets.
For the full year, Rubenstein said Clearway generated CAFD of $430 million, above the midpoint of the company’s original $400 million to $440 million guidance range. She attributed the outperformance to on-time commercial operations, strong performance from recent growth investments, and solid annual fleet performance. Clearway reiterated 2026 CAFD guidance of $470 million to $510 million, with the midpoint based on P50 production expectations and the range reflecting variability in resource performance, energy pricing, and timing of growth investments.
Reaffirmed CAFD per share targets through 2030
Management reiterated its 2027 CAFD per share target of $2.70 “or better” and said it remains on track toward its 2030 CAFD per share target of $2.90 to $3.10, which Cornelius described as representing 7% to 8% compound annual growth from 2025. Cornelius said the company plans to provide a formal long-term guidance update later in the year, consistent with past practice.
On the call, Cornelius detailed several building blocks management sees supporting the 2030 goal, including:
- More than 900 megawatts (MW) of wind repowerings expected to reach commercial operations in 2027, with expected CAFD yields “in excess of 11%.”
- Commercialization progress across new-build and repowering projects, with management stating that 100% of planned repowering and new construction projects in the 2026 and 2027 vintages have been commercialized.
- “Sponsor-enabled” drop-down opportunities through the Seawind vehicle, including projects under construction and additional potential investments identified for 2027 and beyond.
Cornelius said the company has identified approximately $1.3 billion of corporate capital investment opportunities tied to commercialized projects in the 2027 and 2028 timeframe, and that Clearway intends to deploy that capital at a 10.5% CAFD yield or better.
Contracting tailwinds and data center-related demand
A central theme of the call was the effect of data center and hyperscaler demand on contracting. Cornelius said that in 2025, the company signed approximately 2 GW of new power purchase agreements (PPAs) with hyperscalers and utilities serving data centers, with “gigawatts more” in contracting opportunities under discussion.
In response to analyst questions on pricing, Cornelius said the PPA pricing environment has been supportive across geographies for development assets that can interconnect and be constructed over the next three years. As a “rough rule of thumb,” he said pricing on PPAs signed this year in comparable markets versus three years ago is “about double.” He added that pricing had not escalated materially versus three to four months earlier, but described conditions as “solid and sustained.”
Clearway also highlighted revenue enhancement activity in ERCOT. Cornelius said the company has been awarded two offtake contracts in Texas, including one with a “prominent hyperscaler,” which could extend contracted life by as much as 11 years with higher power prices and a more favorable settlement structure than the status quo outlook. In the Q&A, he said the contracts would be effective in 2026 and described the impact as primarily improving the “quality of earnings” by de-risking revenues and reducing merchant exposure. He characterized the near-term CAFD benefit as “single-digit millions,” but said the long-term benefit could be substantial.
Separately, management discussed the potential to supply power to co-located digital infrastructure “complexes” being developed by Clearway Group. Cornelius said investments by Clearway Energy would be structured as project-level opportunities similar to the company’s typical long-term contracted assets, with contract tenors measured in “multiple decades” and return profiles consistent with other comparable contracted investments. He said ownership of any gas component at these sites would be determined on a case-by-case basis, and indicated that if Clearway Energy invests in gas assets, it would do so through long-term tolling structures similar to Carlsbad Energy Center.
Funding, leverage, and capital markets activity
Rubenstein said Clearway remains positioned to fund growth while targeting a payout ratio below 70% after 2030 and maintaining its commitment to a double-B credit rating. She noted the company closed an upsized $600 million offering of senior unsecured notes due 2034 in January, and described the spread to Treasuries as the “second tightest” high-yield issuance spread in the broader power sector since 2020.
She also said Clearway expects to continue using equity issuance as a tool when accretive to CAFD growth, highlighting $50 million of “opportunistic” equity issuance since the prior earnings call. During Q&A, management noted that since late August it issued $100 million of equity in fewer than two months of trading days, which Rubenstein said occurred while the stock price rose more than 30%.
On M&A, Cornelius said the environment looks similar to last year and emphasized that the company’s organic growth outlook allows it to remain disciplined, evaluating only transactions that are “demonstrably accretive” versus its existing plans. Clearway also provided an update on the pending Deriva acquisition, with Cornelius stating the company expects to close “imminently” and well before the end of the first half of the year.
Finally, Cornelius addressed permitting, saying the company feels confident in its ability to execute in the current permitting environment and characterized permitting execution as a differentiator relative to peers.
About Clearway Energy (NYSE:CWEN)
Clearway Energy Group (NYSE: CWEN) is a U.S.-based energy company specializing in the ownership, operation and development of clean and conventional power generation assets. The company’s portfolio spans utility-scale wind and solar farms, biogas and natural gas-fired thermal facilities, as well as distributed generation projects such as rooftop solar and energy storage. Clearway’s generation assets are largely underpinned by long-term power purchase agreements and service contracts with creditworthy counterparties, enabling stable, predictable cash flows.
Originally launched in 2013 as NRG Yield and rebranded to Clearway Energy in 2018 following a strategic sponsorship change, the business has grown into one of the largest independent renewable energy platforms in the United States.
