Avangrid Inc. AGR and Portland General Electric POR have signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for Tower Solar, a new 120 MWac (166 MWdc) solar energy project now under construction in Morrow County, OR, in collaboration with QTS and Meta.
Tower Solar will be situated across around 900 acres of Port of Morrow-owned industrially zoned land next to the Boardman Airport, west of Boardman. Over 200,000 solar panels will be used in the project.
The facility will deliver clean, renewable energy to POR’s grid through Green Future Impact (“GFI”), a voluntary program designed to help large commercial, industrial, and municipal customers meet their ambitious sustainability and carbon reduction goals by developing new clean energy facilities.
To help Meta reach its sustainability and 100% renewable energy targets, QTS is building a data center campus under POR's GFI program. This campus will be powered by Tower Solar's renewable energy.
AGR’s Focus on Renewable Energy
Avangrid is the top provider of renewable energy to POR's GFI program, including the Daybreak and Bakeoven solar farms (currently being built) and Pachwáywit Fields, the largest solar facility in Oregon. The GFI program facilities' current aggregate capacity, including that of Tower Solar, will be 482 MWac.
When completed in 2026, Tower Solar will be Avangrid's sixth solar facility in Oregon and its 17th power project overall. Avangrid currently operates 1.6 gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar projects in the state. It is the third largest solar and wind generator in the United States, with $47 billion of assets.
The company’s Renewables segment reached 9 GW of installed capacity. With a portfolio of more than 75 projects in 22 states, Avangrid now has more than 8 GW of installed wind capacity and around 1 GW of installed solar, including projects currently under construction. This includes 472 MW of renegotiated PPA and 526 MW of new PPA signed in 2023.
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 U.S. solar generation to grow 34% in 2024 and 31% in 2025.
Along with AGR, some other electric power industry companies, such as Dominion Energy, Inc. D and Duke Energy DUK, are also set to take advantage of the expanding solar energy market.
Dominion Energy’s long-term objective is to add more battery storage, solar, hydro and wind (offshore and onshore) projects by 2036 and increase the renewable energy capacity by more than 15% per year, on average, over the next 15 years. Organic projects and acquired assets should further expand the company’s clean energy portfolio.
D’s long-term (three-to-five-year) earnings growth rate is 13.64%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 earnings per share (EPS) indicates a year-over-year increase of 38.7%.
Duke Energy currently operates 1.2 GW of solar in Florida, with plans to continue adding approximately 300 MW in 2024. With this, the company remains on track to bring 1.5 GW of utility-owned solar in service by 2024-end. It has filed a multi-year rate plan for 1.05 GW of new solar additions during 2025-2027.
DUK’s long-term earnings growth rate is 6.35%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 EPS indicates a year-over-year increase of 7.2%.
AGR’s Stock Price Performance
In the past three months, shares of AGR have risen 0.2% compared with the industry’s 1.9% growth.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
AGR’s Zacks Rank
AGR currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
