Yahoo Finance Avangrid to Deliver 791 MW of Offshore Wind Power to Massachusetts
Avangrid Inc. AGR announced that it has been awarded 791 megawatts (MW) by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the multi-state regional offshore wind solicitation.
Details of AGR’s New Project
New England Wind 1 is an offshore wind development located in the federal lease area OCS-A-0534, roughly 30 miles south of Barnstable, MA, and making landfall under the Craigville Beach parking lot in Barnstable. The project is well-positioned to deliver an urgent energy, climate and economic solution to Massachusetts.
In addition to producing enough electricity to power around 400,000 households, New England Wind 1 will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the same amount as removing 300,000 gasoline-powered cars from the road each year.
The construction work for the project may begin in 2025 and go into commercial operation in 2029. However, it is contingent on the signing and approval of a power purchase agreement (PPA).
AGR’s Focus on Renewable Energy
The project will be located close to Vineyard Wind 1 (VW1), which is presently being built 15 miles south of Martha's Vineyard and is the country's first large-scale offshore wind project.
VW1 will join the worldwide network of offshore wind projects in France, Germany and the United Kingdom as a member of the Iberdrola group. Currently operating more than 2.3 gigawatt (GW) of offshore wind capacity worldwide, Iberdrola plans to add roughly 5 GW by 2026. Iberdrola was able to obtain a contract in the first week of September 2024 for its 963-MW East Anglia Two offshore wind farm project in the United Kingdom.
Avangrid is the third largest solar and wind generator in the United States, with $44 billion of assets. Currently, Avangrid has more than 9 GW of installed wind and solar capacity. In addition, a total of 990 MW are currently under construction. This includes 472 MW of renegotiated PPAs and 526 MW of new PPAs signed in 2023. Nearly 700 MW of these projects are to support data centers with clean energy from onshore wind and solar.
Renewable Energy Generation is on the Rise
Per the U.S. Energy Information Administration (“EIA”), the annual share of U.S. electricity generation from renewable energy sources should be 23% and 25% in 2024 and 2025, respectively. EIA also expects wind power capacity to increase 13 GW (9%) over the next two years.
Along with AGR, some other electric power industry companies like NextEra Energy, Inc. NEE, Duke Energy DUK and Dominion Energy, Inc. D are also set to take advantage of the expanding wind energy market.
NEE is the world’s largest generator of clean, renewable wind energy. Over the last decade, its wind energy capacity has almost tripled. The company has the largest market share of wind capacity in North America. It has planned to add nearly 12,000-14,600 MW of wind projects during 2023-2026.
NEE’s long-term (three to five-year) earnings growth rate is 8.12%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 EPS indicates a year-over-year increase of 6.9%.
Duke Energy aims to bring 2,700 MW of battery storage in service by 2031 and 1,200 MW of onshore wind in service by 2033. Such solid renewable capacity maximization plans should enable the company to further bolster its footprint in the expanding renewable energy market.
DUK’s long-term earnings growth rate is 6.1%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 EPS indicates a year-over-year increase of 7.4%.
D is focused on offshore wind, battery storage and hydropower projects to lower emissions. Its long-term objective is to add 24 GW of battery storage, solar, hydro and wind (offshore as well as onshore) projects by 2036 and increase the renewable energy capacity by more than 15% per year, on average, over the next 15 years.
D’s long-term earnings growth rate is 13.6%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 EPS indicates a year-over-year increase of 38.2%.
AGR’s Stock Price Performance
In the past three months, shares of AGR have risen 0.1% compared with the industry’s 6% growth.
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Zacks Rank
AGR currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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NextEra Energy, Inc. (NEE) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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