TerraForm Power Holds Steady During First Year With Brookfield Backing
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Formerly the crown jewel in the SunEdison renewable energy portfolio, yieldco-turned-renewable power company TerraForm Power has reported steady financial results in its first year with backing from Brookfield Asset Management.
TerraForm Power published its Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2017 financial results late last week, and while no one was blown away by its accomplishments, the company is nevertheless finding its feet after what was, by any definition, a rocky start to life. Set up as a yieldco by renewable energy industry darling SunEdison during the “yieldco craze” of 2014 and 2015, TerraForm Power (and its sister yieldco, TerraForm Global) soon found themselves caught up in the bankruptcy crisis that hit SunEdison in late-2015 and early-2016.
To cut a long story short, Brookfield Asset Management stepped into the picture in late-2016/early-2017 and acquired controlling interest of TerraForm Power and acquired outright TerraForm Global, providing a much-needed opportunity for Power to right its ship.
“Since the close of the Brookfield transaction, we have made significant progress transforming TerraForm Power into a fully-integrated, renewable power company,” explained John Stinebaugh, CEO of TerraForm Power. “Going forward, our strategy is to make value-oriented acquisitions, leverage our operating platform to increase cash flow of our assets, and maintain a strong balance sheet in order to deliver an attractive total return to our shareholders.”
TerraForm Power reported 2017 operating revenues of $610 million, down only slightly (6.7%) year-over-year, and a net loss per share of $1.65 (or $233 million overall). EBITDA for 2017 was $443 million, down $36 million due primarily to the absence of support from SunEdison throughout the year. The company reported total generation for the year across its portfolio of wind and solar assets of 7,167 gigawatt-hours (GWh), down slightly from 7,373 year-over-year.
The company also highlighted its recent move to acquire controlling interest in leading European renewable energy asset manager Saeta Yield, with an offer approximately worth $1.2 billion. The move, made early last month, seeks to acquire what TerraForm Power describes as “a portfolio of high quality solar and wind projects located primarily in Spain.”
TerraForm Power provided little forward-looking guidance except to say that recent changes in the company’s financial reporting will result in less seasonality. In the earnings call, John Stinebaugh also noted that its “tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of Saeta is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2018 subject to certain closing conditions, including obtaining regulatory approvals.” He also predicted an approximate $0.10 per watt increase to module pricing in 2018 due to the recent imposition of a tariff on imported solar modules and cells in the United States.
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