Brookfield Renewable Corp (BEPC) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the BEP Third Quarter 2022 Results Conference Call and Webcast. (Operator Instructions) It is now my pleasure to introduce CEO, Connor Teskey.

您好，感謝您的支持。歡迎來到 BEP 2022 年第三季度業績電話會議和網絡廣播。 （操作員說明）現在我很高興介紹 CEO Connor Teskey。

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on our third quarter 2022 conference call. Before we begin, we would like to remind you that a copy of our news release, investor supplement and letter to unitholders can be found on our website. We also want to remind you that we may make forward-looking statements on this call. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, and future results may differ materially. For more information, you are encouraged to review our regulatory filings available on SEDAR, EDGAR and on our website.

謝謝你，接線員。大家早上好，感謝您加入我們的 2022 年第三季度電話會議。在我們開始之前，我們想提醒您，我們的新聞稿、投資者補充和致單位持有人的信函的副本可以在我們的網站上找到。我們還想提醒您，我們可能會就此次電話會議做出前瞻性陳述。這些陳述受到已知和未知風險的影響，未來的結果可能會大不相同。如需更多信息，我們鼓勵您查看 SEDAR、EDGAR 和我們網站上提供的監管文件。

On today's call, we will provide an update on the business and some of our recent growth initiatives. Esper Nemi, a Vice President in our investments team in North America, will discuss the growth of our renewables development business in the United States. I will then provide an overview of our recently announced acquisition of Westinghouse and Wyatt will finish off the call discussing our operating results and financial position.

在今天的電話會議上，我們將提供有關業務的最新信息以及我們最近的一些增長計劃。我們北美投資團隊的副總裁 Esper Nemi 將討論我們在美國的可再生能源開發業務的增長。然後，我將概述我們最近宣布收購西屋公司，而懷亞特將結束電話會議，討論我們的經營業績和財務狀況。

Following our remarks, we look forward to taking your questions. We had a great quarter, demonstrating both through our strong financial results and the execution of several large-scale growth initiatives. We generated funds from operations of $243 million or $0.38 per unit, a 15% increase from the same period last year as well as we advanced our key commercial priorities and development activities.

在我們的發言之後，我們期待著回答您的問題。我們有一個很棒的季度，通過我們強勁的財務業績和幾個大規模增長計劃的執行來證明。我們從運營中獲得了 2.43 億美元或每單位 0.38 美元的資金，比去年同期增長了 15%，並且我們推進了我們的關鍵商業優先事項和發展活動。

We continue to believe that our business is uniquely positioned, providing investors with one of the most attractive value propositions in the sector. We feel this way for a number of reasons. First, our business is supported by a highly diversified global platform of clean energy assets, providing deep operating knowledge and visibility and the flexibility to deliver decarbonization solutions for our customers around the world.

我們仍然相信我們的業務具有獨特的定位，為投資者提供了該行業最具吸引力的價值主張之一。我們有這種感覺有很多原因。首先，我們的業務得到高度多元化的全球清潔能源資產平台的支持，提供深厚的運營知識和可見性，以及為全球客戶提供脫碳解決方案的靈活性。

Second, our cash flows are contracted, long term and inflation-linked, meaning we will remain resilient throughout all economic environments. Third, our robust liquidity, strong balance sheet and access to deep and varied sources of capital, provide us the ability to execute on some of the largest and most attractive decarbonization investment opportunities.

其次，我們的現金流是收縮的、長期的且與通脹掛鉤，這意味著我們將在所有經濟環境中保持彈性。第三，我們強勁的流動性、強大的資產負債表和豐富多樣的資金來源，使我們有能力執行一些規模最大、最具吸引力的脫碳投資機會。

And lastly, we have a differentiated growth capability. With over 100 dedicated investment professionals around the world looking to deploy capital at attractive risk-adjusted returns, while delivering on our 12% to 15% return target. In this regard, we had a record quarter as we closed or secured investments of up to $6 billion of capital or $1.5 billion net to Brookfield Renewable across various transactions and regions. This includes the continued growth of our leading U.S. renewables development business, for which we will turn the call over to Esper to discuss.

最後，我們有差異化的增長能力。全球有超過 100 名敬業的投資專業人士希望以具有吸引力的風險調整回報率部署資本，同時實現我們 12% 至 15% 的回報率目標。在這方面，我們完成了一個創紀錄的季度，因為我們在各種交易和地區完成或獲得了高達 60 億美元的資本或 15 億美元的淨投資 Brookfield Renewable。這包括我們領先的美國可再生能源開發業務的持續增長，我們將把電話轉給 Esper 討論。

Thank you, Connor, and good morning, everyone. As Connor mentioned, our U.S. business continues to see significant growth. Following the close of our recently announced acquisitions, our development pipeline in the country will stand at over 60,000 megawatts and is well diversified across wind, utility-scale solar, distributed generation and energy storage. The significant pipeline alongside our existing scale operating business means that we are owners and operators are one of the largest diversified clean power businesses in the country.

謝謝你，康納，大家早上好。正如康納所說，我們的美國業務繼續顯著增長。在我們最近宣布的收購結束後，我們在該國的開發管道將超過 60,000 兆瓦，並且在風能、公用事業規模的太陽能、分佈式發電和儲能方面非常多樣化。我們現有規模經營業務的重要管道意味著我們是所有者，運營商是該國最大的多元化清潔能源企業之一。

Recently, we announced the acquisition of Scout Clean Energy and Standard Solar both of which will be highly complementary to our existing business. Scout Clean Energy is 1 of the largest utility scale, fully integrated renewable development platforms in the U.S. across wind, solar and storage. We will purchase the business for $1 billion with the potential to invest an additional $350 million to support the business development activities. In aggregate, this is $270 million net to Brookfield Renewable.

最近，我們宣布收購Scout Clean Energy 和Standard Solar，這兩家公司都將與我們現有的業務高度互補。 Scout Clean Energy 是美國最大的公用事業規模、完全集成的可再生能源開發平台之一，涵蓋風能、太陽能和儲能。我們將以 10 億美元的價格收購該業務，並有可能額外投資 3.5 億美元來支持業務發展活動。總的來說，這對布魯克菲爾德可再生能源公司來說是 2.7 億美元。

Scout has a sizable existing portfolio of over 800 megawatts of operating wind assets and an attractive pipeline of over 22,000 megawatts of wind, solar and storage projects across 24 states. This includes almost 2,500 megawatts of under construction and event stage projects with high visibility for commercialization and nearly 5,000 additional megawatts to have valuable interconnection acute positions. There's a strong management team in place with significant renewable power experience and a proven track record of successfully developing and financing over 20 gigawatts of clean energy assets. This team will be a great complementary capabilities and will benefit significantly from being part of our business, especially our commercial and procurement capabilities.

Scout 在 24 個州擁有超過 800 兆瓦的運營風能資產和超過 22,000 兆瓦的風能、太陽能和存儲項目的有吸引力的現有投資組合。這包括近 2,500 兆瓦的在建和活動階段項目，具有很高的商業化知名度，以及近 5,000 兆瓦的附加值，以具有寶貴的互連急需位置。擁有強大的管理團隊，擁有豐富的可再生能源經驗，以及成功開發和融資超過 20 吉瓦清潔能源資產的良好記錄。這個團隊將是一個很好的補充能力，並將從成為我們業務的一部分中受益匪淺，尤其是我們的商業和採購能力。

Standard Solar is a leading integrated distributor generation developer in the U.S. We announced the signing of this investment last quarter, and we have now closed the acquisition for a consideration of $540 million, with the potential to invest an additional $160 million to support the business' growth initiatives or $140 million in total net to o Brookfield Renewable. Standard Solar is the market-leading owner and operator of commercial and community distributor solar with end-to-end development capabilities and a strong track record of delivering high-quality assets.

Standard Solar 是美國領先的綜合分銷商發電開發商。我們在上個季度宣布簽署這項投資，我們現已完成收購，對價為 5.4 億美元，並有可能再投資 1.6 億美元來支持該業務。 o Brookfield Renewable 的增長計劃或淨額 1.4 億美元。 Standard Solar 是市場領先的商業和社區分銷太陽能的所有者和運營商，具有端到端的開發能力和提供優質資產的良好記錄。

The business has approximately 500 megawatts of operating and under construction contracted assets and an almost 2,000 megawatt identified pipeline. There's an experienced management team in place with a proven ability to execute on significant growth opportunities across several high-value solar markets in the U.S. that are highly complementary to our existing business.

該業務擁有約 500 兆瓦的運營和在建合同資產以及近 2,000 兆瓦的已確定管道。我們擁有一支經驗豐富的管理團隊，具備在美國多個與我們現有業務高度互補的高價值太陽能市場中把握重大增長機會的能力。

Finally, it is important to emphasize that when we underwrote these investments, as well as Urban Grid, our utility-scale solar development platform that we acquired in the first quarter. We did not factor in the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act. However, with Inflation Reduction Act firmly enacted it will provide meaningful upside to our sector, and in particular, these development platforms. These investments will benefit from the extension of tax credits for wind and solar projects as well as the expansion of tax credits to include storage, which should meaningfully accelerate and increase the build-out of the high-quality development pipelines within these businesses.

最後，重要的是要強調，當我們承銷這些投資以及我們在第一季度收購的公用事業規模太陽能開發平台 Urban Grid 時。我們沒有考慮《通貨膨脹減少法案》的影響。然而，隨著《通貨膨脹減少法案》的正式頒布，它將為我們的行業，特別是這些發展平台帶來有意義的好處。這些投資將受益於擴大風能和太陽能項目的稅收抵免以及擴大稅收抵免以包括存儲，這將有意義地加速和增加這些業務中高質量開發管道的建設。

Thank you for your time today. With that, I'll turn the call back over to Connor to discuss our investment in Westinghouse.

謝謝你今天的時間。有了這個，我將把電話轉回康納，討論我們對西屋的投資。

Thanks, Esper. Any credible net-zero plan must include a meaningful and growing amount of nuclear power generation. Not only that, the same industry tailwinds of decarbonization, electrification and energy security are a benefit to nuclear power generation, the same way that they are to wind, solar and hydro. Last month, we reached a definitive agreement to acquire Westinghouse alongside our strategic partner, Cameco, one of the largest global suppliers of uranium fuel for nuclear power generation.

謝謝，埃斯珀。任何可靠的淨零排放計劃都必須包括有意義且不斷增長的核能發電量。不僅如此，脫碳、電氣化和能源安全等行業順風對核能發電也有好處，就像對風能、太陽能和水電一樣。上個月，我們與我們的戰略合作夥伴 Cameco 達成了最終協議，收購 Westinghouse，Cameco 是全球最大的核電用鈾燃料供應商之一。

Westinghouse is a global leader in providing critical products and services to the nuclear power industry. The transaction represents a very attractive risk-adjusted return proposition as the business is underpinned by highly durable cash flows with approximately 85% of revenues coming from long-term inflation-linked contracted or highly recurring services, and the business that comes with nearly a 100% customer retention rate.

西屋公司是為核電行業提供關鍵產品和服務的全球領導者。該交易代表了一個非常有吸引力的風險調整回報提議，因為該業務以高度持久的現金流為基礎，大約 85% 的收入來自與長期通脹掛鉤的合同或高度經常性服務，而該業務的收入接近 100 % 客戶保留率。

Westinghouse act as a service provider, and therefore, it does not take on any commodity construction or significant fixed price contract risk, nor does it have any exposure to nuclear liabilities as it operates in countries where those liabilities for nuclear accidents lies with the plant operators. The total equity invested for the transaction will be approximately $4.5 billion or $750 million net to Brookfield Renewable, where we, along with our institutional partners, will own 51% of the company and Cameco will own the remaining 49%.

西屋公司作為服務提供商，因此不承擔任何商品建設或重大固定價格合同風險，也不承擔任何核責任，因為它在核事故責任由工廠運營商承擔的國家運營.為交易投資的總股本約為 45 億美元或淨 7.5 億美元給 Brookfield Renewable，我們和我們的機構合作夥伴將擁有該公司 51% 的股份，而 Cameco 將擁有剩餘的 49%。

Our investment in Westinghouse is an attractive entry point into nuclear power generation, which we believe, along with hydro to be one of the key technologies facilitating the rapid build-out of intermittent renewables. Wind and solar must be complemented by clean dispatchable baseload power generation. As the owner of one of the largest hydro businesses globally, we have visibility to the increasing value of clean, reliable and economic sources of power to the grid. Westinghouse is exceedingly well positioned to benefit from these secular trends. It is the leading original equipment manufacturer and scale provider of mission-critical technologies, products and services to half the global nuclear power generation fleet.

我們對西屋公司的投資是進入核能發電的一個有吸引力的切入點，我們相信核能與水電一樣是促進間歇性可再生能源快速發展的關鍵技術之一。風能和太陽能必須輔以清潔可調度的基荷發電。作為全球最大的水電企業之一的所有者，我們清楚地看到清潔、可靠和經濟的電力來源對電網的價值不斷增加。西屋公司非常有能力從這些長期趨勢中受益。它是領先的原始設備製造商和關鍵任務技術、產品和服務的規模供應商，為全球一半的核能發電船隊提供服務。

Westinghouse serves as a key enabler of the energy transition around the world providing products and services essential to both the continued operation and growth of the global nuclear fleet. Given the need for clean, dispatchable energy, as well as its compelling economic proposition, we believe that nuclear power is posed for significant growth. And as long as nuclear power exists, Westinghouse will perform well.

西屋公司是全球能源轉型的關鍵推動者，提供對全球核船隊的持續運營和增長至關重要的產品和服務。鑑於對清潔、可調度能源的需求及其引人注目的經濟主張，我們認為核電有望實現顯著增長。只要核電存在，西屋公司就會表現良好。

Westinghouse is well positioned to benefit from the significant volume of plant extensions that have been announced 50 gigawatts and growing, and more than 60 gigawatts of new build reactors expected between 2020 and 2040 across more than 20 countries around the world. Recently, the Polish government announced that it had chosen Westinghouse to support a first project of 3 units with an option for another 3 using Westinghouse's AP1000 nuclear reactor technology. This was a key step towards the country achieving its decarbonization targets and greater energy independence.

西屋公司處於有利地位，可以從已宣布的 50 吉瓦和不斷增長的大量工廠擴建中受益，以及預計在 2020 年至 2040 年間在全球 20 多個國家/地區建造超過 60 吉瓦的新建反應堆。最近，波蘭政府宣布已選擇西屋公司來支持第一個 3 台機組的項目，並可選擇另外 3 台機組使用西屋公司的 AP1000 核反應堆技術。這是該國實現脫碳目標和提高能源獨立性的關鍵一步。

Lastly, there are multi-decade growth opportunities in the rollout of next-generation advanced nuclear technology such as Westinghouse's s eVinci micro-reactor technology, which can play a growing role in an increasingly decentralized and decarbonized energy system.

最後，下一代先進核技術的推出存在數十年的增長機會，例如西屋的 eVinci 微反應堆技術，該技術可以在日益分散和脫碳的能源系統中發揮越來越大的作用。

With that, we will turn the call over to Wyatt to discuss our operating results and financial position.

有了這個，我們將把電話轉給懷亞特，討論我們的經營業績和財務狀況。

Thank you, Connor. As mentioned in earlier remarks, we had strong results in the quarter as our operations benefited from strong global power prices and continued growth, both through development and acquisitions. Our balance sheet is in excellent shape with our credit rating recently affirmed at BBB positive with a stable outlook. We remain resilient to the rising interest rates globally with over 90% of our borrowings being project level nonrecourse debt with an average remaining term of 12 years, no material near-term maturities and only 3% exposure to floating rate debt.

謝謝你，康納。如前所述，我們在本季度取得了強勁的業績，因為我們的業務受益於強勁的全球電價和通過開發和收購實現的持續增長。我們的資產負債表狀況良好，我們的信用評級最近被確認為 BBB 正面，前景穩定。我們對全球不斷上升的利率保持彈性，我們 90% 以上的借款是項目級別的無追索權債務，平均剩餘期限為 12 年，短期內沒有重大到期，只有 3% 的浮動利率債務敞口。

In increasingly volatile markets, our access to diverse pools of capital becomes even more differentiated. We have over $3.5 billion of available liquidity, giving us significant financial flexibility during periods of capital scarcity. During the quarter, we secured over $3.7 billion of nonrecourse financings across the business that will close this year, resulting in over $400 million in upfinancing proceeds to us.

在日益動蕩的市場中，我們對不同資本池的訪問變得更加差異化。我們擁有超過 35 億美元的可用流動性，在資金短缺期間為我們提供了巨大的財務靈活性。在本季度，我們在今年將關閉的業務中獲得了超過 37 億美元的無追索權融資，從而為我們帶來了超過 4 億美元的追加融資收益。

As both Connor and Esper illustrated, we had an impressive quarter for growth and are confident we can maintain this pace of deployment going forward. Importantly, we are very well positioned to fund this growth. As I mentioned, we have access to deep and various sources of capital, which is increasingly valuable in the current market. A significant portion of our recent growth is already funded or is structured to have capital deployed over a prolonged period and in almost all cases at our option.

正如 Connor 和 Esper 所說明的那樣，我們有一個令人印象深刻的季度增長，並且有信心我們可以保持這種部署步伐向前發展。重要的是，我們非常有能力為這種增長提供資金。正如我所提到的，我們可以獲得深度和各種資金來源，這在當前市場上越來越有價值。我們近期增長的很大一部分已經獲得資金，或者在結構上可以在很長一段時間內部署資本，並且幾乎在所有情況下都由我們選擇。

Further, we intend to more actively take advantage of the strong bids we are seeing for a number of our mature assets where we have successfully executed our business plan. Recycling proceeds from mature assets into new growth opportunities remains one of the most value-accretive levers within our business. We also have initiated capital recycling activities that in total when closed, expected to generate approximately $830 million of total proceeds. We have also launched numerous sales processes for some of our mature assets in select markets, which are garnering significant interest at very attractive valuations, providing significant visibility to our capital recycling program for the coming quarters.

此外，我們打算更積極地利用我們看到的一些成熟資產的強勁出價，我們已經成功執行了我們的業務計劃。將成熟資產的收益回收到新的增長機會中仍然是我們業務中最具價值增值的槓桿之一。我們還發起了資本回收活動，這些活動在關閉後總計預計將產生約 8.3 億美元的總收益。我們還為我們在特定市場的一些成熟資產啟動了許多銷售流程，這些資產以極具吸引力的估值引起了極大的興趣，為我們未來幾個季度的資本回收計劃提供了重要的可見性。

In closing, we believe the future opportunities for investing in clean power and the energy transition will be even greater than they are today. And our scale, track record and global capabilities position us as a partner of choice in decarbonization. On behalf of the Board and management, we thank all our unitholders and shareholders for their ongoing support.

最後，我們相信未來投資清潔能源和能源轉型的機會將比現在更大。我們的規模、業績記錄和全球能力使我們成為脫碳的首選合作夥伴。我們代表董事會和管理層感謝所有單位持有人和股東的持續支持。

That concludes our formal remarks for today's call. Thank you for joining us this morning. And with that, I'll pass it back to our operator for questions.

我們今天電話會議的正式發言到此結束。感謝您今天早上加入我們。有了這個，我會把它傳回給我們的接線員提問。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from the line of Robert Hope with Scotiabank.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自豐業銀行的 Robert Hope。

Good morning, everyone. Just the first question is on the development pipeline. You've been quite successful year-to-date on expanding that pipeline. However, with 10,000 megawatts potentially entering service here in the next couple of years that could meaningfully draw down that pipeline. It does seem like there's a little bit of a gold rush for development companies right now. How do you envision longer term replacing this development pipeline?

大家，早安。第一個問題是關於開發管道的。年初至今，您在擴展該管道方面取得了相當大的成功。然而，在接下來的幾年裡，有 10,000 兆瓦的電力可能會在這裡投入使用，這可能會大大減少這條管道。現在似乎確實有一些開發公司的淘金熱。您如何設想長期取代這個開發管道？

Thanks, Rob. Maybe a couple of comments there. First and foremost, it's absolutely true that over the past 12 months, we've made a number of acquisitions of businesses that come with large in-place development pipelines. And that has dramatically increased our businesses total development capacity to approximately 100,000 megawatts. But what's important to recognize is when we buy those businesses, we're not buying static operations. They come with management teams that have incredible greenfield development capabilities such that they can continue to organically grow those development pipelines themselves. And I would perhaps take a slightly different view, I would expect that while we do intend to build well north of 10 gigawatts of that pipeline out over the next 3 years, I would expect 3 years from now, when we look to the next 3 years, we'll be looking to build far more than 10 gigawatts out in that period as well.

謝謝，羅伯。也許那裡有幾條評論。首先，在過去的 12 個月裡，我們已經完成了許多具有大型就地開發管道的企業的收購，這是絕對正確的。這極大地提高了我們企業的總開發能力，達到約 100,000 兆瓦。但重要的是要認識到，當我們購買這些業務時，我們並不是在購買靜態業務。他們的管理團隊擁有令人難以置信的綠地開發能力，因此他們可以繼續自己有機地發展這些開發管道。我可能會採取稍微不同的觀點，我預計雖然我們確實打算在未來 3 年內建造超過 10 吉瓦的管道，但我預計從現在開始的 3 年，當我們展望下一個 3幾年內，我們還將尋求在此期間建造超過 10 吉瓦的電力。

So we expect to see that pipeline continue to be pulled forward and continue to grow given the development capabilities we have within our business and no doubt, some of the support for things like -- some of the support that comes from policies such as the IRA are significantly going to help that dynamic.

因此，鑑於我們在業務中擁有的開發能力，毫無疑問，我們希望看到管道繼續向前推進並繼續增長，毫無疑問，一些支持來自諸如 IRA 等政策的一些支持將極大地幫助這種動態。

The other comment I would make is just around our success, particularly in the United States around acquiring development platform. If you go back 12 to 18 months, there were a lot of development businesses sold in the United States. And candidly, we looked at almost all of them. And we put a lot of work into them and we bid at what we thought were attractive returns, and we weren't very competitive in 2021.

我要發表的另一條評論是關於我們的成功，特別是在美國圍繞收購開發平台。如果你回到 12 到 18 個月，有很多開發業務在美國出售。坦率地說，我們幾乎查看了所有這些。我們在其中投入了大量工作，我們以我們認為有吸引力的回報進行競標，而我們在 2021 年的競爭力並不強。

And then 2022, we've used the same investment discipline and we've been successful on bidding on a number of those acquisitions. And I do think that demonstrates perhaps what is happening in the market where less sophisticated investors that maybe don't have the access to capital that we do in more uncertain markets and maybe investors that aren't as quite well positioned to manage through things like supply chain disruptions or bring power marketing capabilities to bear, haven't had the ability to acquire for value in 2022, like we have.

然後到 2022 年，我們使用了相同的投資紀律，並且我們已經成功競標了其中的一些收購。而且我確實認為這可能表明市場上正在發生的事情，其中不太成熟的投資者可能無法獲得我們在更加不確定的市場中所做的資本，並且可能是那些無法很好地通過諸如此類的事情進行管理的投資者供應鏈中斷或帶來強大的營銷能力，在 2022 年還沒有能力像我們一樣獲得價值。

I appreciate that. And then maybe the second question is just on your other growth initiatives. So it does appear like the net is being cast a little bit wider into the transition arena. That being said, on a -- it looks like a disciplined manner. When you're evaluating these new opportunities, Westinghouse look like, we'll characterize it as long-duration cash flows. But maybe the next phase of growth, the pure-play recycling business, what are kind of the key tenets of risk return, contract duration and asset investment are you looking for?

我很感激。然後也許第二個問題只是關於您的其他增長計劃。因此，看起來網在過渡舞台上的範圍似乎更廣了。話雖這麼說，但它看起來像是一種自律的方式。當您評估這些新機會時，西屋公司看起來像，我們將其描述為長期現金流。但也許下一階段的增長，純粹的回收業務，你在尋找什麼樣的風險回報、合同期限和資產投資的關鍵原則？

Rob, great question. And you're absolutely right. Part of the reason why we love Westinghouse is it's a large-scale operating business directly tied to the clean energy transition that if you look at the underlying cash flows, they actually have a lot of parallels to the wind and solar and hydro businesses that we've been investing in for decades.

羅布，好問題。你是絕對正確的。我們喜歡西屋公司的部分原因是它是一項與清潔能源轉型直接相關的大規模運營業務，如果你看一下潛在的現金流，它們實際上與我們的風能、太陽能和水電業務有很多相似之處幾十年來一直在投資。

But you're also correct that a smaller but growing part of our business is more of the energy transition and sustainable solution initiatives. And what we look for when we expand into those asset classes are really 3 things: one, there needs to be a clear decarbonization objective, and the acquisition needs to be motivated by the ability to offer something to our customers that we don't offer them today.

但是您也說得對，我們業務中較小但不斷增長的部分更多是能源轉型和可持續解決方案計劃。當我們擴展到這些資產類別時，我們真正尋找的是三件事：第一，需要有一個明確的脫碳目標，並且收購需要以向我們的客戶提供我們不提供的東西的能力為動力他們今天。

Secondly, the approach we've taken when investing in those businesses so far is to make very small initial upfront investments that have a strong level of downside protection but allow us to; one, partner with a leader in the space; and two, put us in the priority position to invest more capital at our discretion if those asset classes in sustainable solutions grow in the future, whether it's the recycling business or some of the carbon capture investments we've made, these are small downside protected upfront investments where we have the right to deploy more capital if we see opportunities to build out those sustainable solutions when they're backed by long-term contracts, the same way we approach wind and solar.

其次，到目前為止，我們在投資這些業務時採取的方法是進行非常小的初始前期投資，這些投資具有很強的下行保護水平，但允許我們這樣做；一、與該領域的領導者合作；第二，如果可持續解決方案中的這些資產類別在未來增長，無論是回收業務還是我們所做的一些碳捕獲投資，這些都是小幅下行保護如果我們在長期合同的支持下看到構建這些可持續解決方案的機會，我們有權部署更多資金的前期投資，就像我們處理風能和太陽能的方式一樣。

The last point I would make is while we have made a number of investments in that space in recent quarters, it is important to recognize that we do still feel the single largest growth opportunity for our business is in the build-out and acquisition of traditional renewable power asset classes. And that's really been demonstrated by the activity we've seen in the United States over the last 12 months.

我要說的最後一點是，儘管我們在最近幾個季度在該領域進行了許多投資，但重要的是要認識到，我們仍然認為我們業務最大的增長機會是擴建和收購傳統可再生能源資產類別。過去 12 個月我們在美國看到的活動確實證明了這一點。

And our next question comes from the line of Sean Steuart with TD Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自道明證券的 Sean Steuart。

I want to follow up on the accelerating capital recycling initiatives of mature assets to bolster the liquidity position and crystallized returns. Can you give us additional comments on any focus with respect to technology or region, what you're concentrating on, where you see the better relative opportunities right now?

我想跟進加速成熟資產的資本回收計劃，以增強流動性頭寸和明確的回報。您能否就技術或地區方面的任何關注點，您正在關注的內容，您現在看到更好的相對機會的地方給我們額外的評論？

Certainly. Perhaps the simplest answer is we see the greatest opportunity largely in the sale of wind and solar assets. We certainly have a very rapidly growing platform. And whether it's through M&A or through organic development, we're constantly adding more of those assets to our platform, which provides us tremendous flexibility to recycle those assets where we've executed our business plan, and they're more mature within our portfolio.

當然。也許最簡單的答案是，我們看到最大的機會主要是出售風能和太陽能資產。我們當然有一個發展非常迅速的平台。無論是通過併購還是通過有機發展，我們都在不斷將更多這些資產添加到我們的平台中，這為我們提供了極大的靈活性來回收我們執行業務計劃的那些資產，並且它們在我們的投資組合中更加成熟.

The other characterization we would make is when we look at some of the assets that we're receiving inbounds or interest for that are prime candidates for capital recycling, there is a nice mix right now of mature operating assets. We're also getting interest in portfolios that include some of our development pipeline or under construction assets. And the point that we would reemphasize is whether we're selling an operating asset or selling a portfolio that still has some development and organic growth runway, we're only going to look to sell assets where we've completed our business plan and the initial operating objectives that we set out to do when we acquired the business.

我們要做的另一個特徵是，當我們看到一些我們收到的入站或感興趣的資產是資本回收的主要候選者時，現在有一個很好的成熟運營資產組合。我們也對包括我們的一些開發管道或在建資產的投資組合感興趣。我們要再次強調的一點是，無論我們是出售運營資產還是出售仍然有一些發展和有機增長跑道的投資組合，我們只會考慮出售我們已經完成業務計劃和我們在收購業務時設定的初始運營目標。

Perhaps a last comment, we do expect to be recycling capital on a global basis. In the near term, we largely see most of the opportunities within the Americas. And we would expect some of our capital recycling to be focused there in the next, call it, 6 to 9 months. But we're also seeing opportunities in other parts of the world.

也許最後的評論是，我們確實希望在全球範圍內循環利用資本。在短期內，我們在很大程度上看到了美洲的大部分機會。我們預計我們的一些資本回收將在接下來的 6 到 9 個月內集中在那裡。但我們也看到了世界其他地區的機會。

Okay. And on the M&A opportunity that you focused more recently on private opportunities. Can you give any updated broader thoughts on valuation trends for private opportunities versus public opportunities given the extent of volatility in the latter group any particular focus that you're concentrating on?

好的。以及您最近關注私人機會的併購機會。鑑於後一組的波動程度，您能否就私人機會與公共機會的估值趨勢提供任何更新的更廣泛的想法？

Definitely. Great question. So no doubt, there -- the opportunity set in the public market space for us around potential M&A is higher today than it was 6 months ago or it was 12 months ago. So we're actively monitoring that space. But the point you've highlighted also illustrates another dynamic that we're seeing, which is, in recent quarters, we've acquired a number of platforms for value that had a development focus where we thought we could really enhance growth and drive value with our procurement capabilities and our power marketing capabilities. And that's led to a more recent focus on development.

確實。好問題。因此，毫無疑問，我們在公共市場空間中圍繞潛在併購的機會今天高於 6 個月前或 12 個月前。因此，我們正在積極監控該空間。但是您強調的一點也說明了我們看到的另一種動態，即在最近幾個季度，我們已經收購了許多價值平台，這些平台以發展為重點，我們認為我們可以真正促進增長並推動價值憑藉我們的採購能力和電力營銷能力。這導致了最近對發展的關注。

I think what we're seeing, given the more uncertain and slightly more volatile public markets and capital markets is we are seeing more opportunities to buy operating assets in the current environment than perhaps we've seen in the last 6 or 9 months. And that's just a very natural ebb and flow of our business. And it would be great to see more opportunities in that space going forward.

我認為，鑑於公共市場和資本市場的不確定性和波動性更大，我們看到的是在當前環境下購買運營資產的機會可能比過去 6 個月或 9 個月更多。這只是我們業務的一個非常自然的潮起潮落。很高興看到該領域未來有更多機會。

Our next question comes from the line of Rupert Merer with National Bank.

我們的下一個問題來自國家銀行的 Rupert Merer。

On the development activity, you're looking to build out 10 gigawatts over the next 3 years. Can you comment on how the supply chain interconnection queues and offtakes are evolving to support those growth targets?

在開發活動中，您希望在未來 3 年內增加 10 吉瓦。您能否評論供應鏈互連隊列和承購如何演變以支持這些增長目標？

Certainly. S,o, great question, Rupert. And this is something that's been topical for a number of quarters now. And we will remain consistent. Managing through supply chain disruptions, we are not immune to that. It is something that has impacted the entire industry. But the way we would classify it for our business is, it is something we have had to dedicate increased resources and increased focus to manage through, but we feel we've managed through it very successfully. And any disruptions have not had a material impact on our business either in terms of CapEx costs or in terms of the time line on delivering projects.

當然。 S，o，好問題，魯珀特。這是幾個季度以來的話題。我們將保持一致。通過供應鏈中斷進行管理，我們也不能倖免。這是影響整個行業的事情。但是我們將其分類為我們的業務的方式是，我們必須投入更多的資源和更多的精力來管理它，但我們覺得我們已經非常成功地管理了它。就資本支出成本或交付項目的時間表而言，任何中斷都沒有對我們的業務產生重大影響。

We're quite proud to state that we've not walked away from any projects during this period of supply chain disruptions. However, perhaps this quarter, there is a more positive spin that we are beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel around the ability to more easily pick procure CapEx in many markets around the world.

我們很自豪地說，在這段供應鏈中斷期間，我們沒有放棄任何項目。然而，也許在本季度，我們開始看到隧道盡頭的曙光，圍繞著在全球許多市場更容易選擇採購資本支出的能力出現了更積極的變化。

There is more capacity coming online, some of the logistical issues around shipping those components around the world do appear to be easing. And therefore, we feel we've done a great job managing up to this point, but we do expect 2023 to be better than 2022, and that's a nice upside for our business. Another perhaps shorter answer to your question. we don't see supply chain disruptions as a risk to delivery on that 10,000-plus megawatts that we expect to bring online.

有更多的產能上線，圍繞在世界各地運送這些組件的一些後勤問題似乎正在緩解。因此，我們覺得到目前為止我們的管理工作做得很好，但我們確實預計 2023 年會好於 2022 年，這對我們的業務來說是一個不錯的好處。您的問題的另一個可能較短的答案。我們認為供應鏈中斷不會對我們預計上線的 10,000 多兆瓦的交付構成風險。

And with the competitive environment, do you see adequate access to interconnection and fair price offtakes as well?

在競爭激烈的環境中，您是否也看到了充分的互連和公平的價格承購？

It's a great question, and we're glad you asked it. Interconnection is something that we feel -- an interconnection queue position is something that we feel has been dramatically undervalued within our sector for years. And when we make investments, particularly on the development side, we always take into account where are those development projects in terms of their life cycle.

這是一個很好的問題，我們很高興你提出這個問題。互連是我們的感覺——互連隊列位置是我們認為多年來在我們的行業內被嚴重低估的東西。當我們進行投資時，特別是在開發方面，我們總是考慮到這些開發項目在其生命週期方面的位置。

Do they have land secured, do they have permits secured and do they have interconnection grid secured? And this is something we've taken into account whenever we've made an investment in development platforms. I'll actually give an example from earlier this year, Urban Grid. We bought this business and we cleared the market, and we were thrilled to make that acquisition. And 1 of the underappreciated benefits of that business is it had a very strong interconnection queue position in the high-value market of PJM and already in our early stages of ownership of that business, we've seen the ability to capitalize on that highly valuable and highly scarce interconnection position.

他們是否獲得了土地、是否獲得了許可證以及是否獲得了互連電網？每當我們對開發平台進行投資時，我們都會考慮到這一點。我實際上會舉一個今年早些時候的例子，Urban Grid。我們買下了這家公司，清理了市場，我們很高興能進行這次收購。該業務被低估的好處之一是它在 PJM 的高價值市場中具有非常強大的互連隊列地位，並且已經在我們擁有該業務的早期階段，我們已經看到了利用該高價值的能力和高度稀缺的互連位置。

So to answer your question, yes, we think interconnection is a very important component of the value of a development project, and it's something that's increasingly coming into focus across our industry today. But we feel quite proud that it's something we've been focused on for a number of years now across all the development acquisitions we've made.

因此，要回答您的問題，是的，我們認為互連是開發項目價值的一個非常重要的組成部分，並且它是當今我們整個行業越來越關注的問題。但我們感到非常自豪的是，這是我們多年來一直專注於我們所做的所有開發收購的事情。

And our next question comes from the line of David Castagna with Raymond James.

我們的下一個問題來自 David Castagna 和 Raymond James。

My first question, maybe just kind of a broader question around your renewable deployment strategy in Europe. I think it was a couple of quarters ago, you talked about accelerating investments in places like Germany. Just curious what you've seen recently in terms of advancement of projects there and momentum you're seeing in that market today?

我的第一個問題，可能只是圍繞您在歐洲的可再生能源部署戰略的一個更廣泛的問題。我想是在幾個季度前，您談到了在德國等地加速投資。只是好奇您最近看到的項目進展情況以及您今天在該市場看到的勢頭？

Certainly. One dynamic we are seeing in Europe, and this will come as a shock to no one is the increased importance and heightened focused on energy security. And while right now, the delivery of gas dominates a lot of the headlines as it pertains to European power markets. Something that is happening in a very, very large way is European regions and European authorities are working very hard to accelerate the permitting across Europe to allow for the more rapid build-out of renewables.

當然。我們在歐洲看到的一個動態，這不會讓任何人感到震驚，那就是對能源安全的重要性和關注度的提高。雖然目前，天然氣輸送佔據了許多與歐洲電力市場有關的頭條新聞。正在以非常非常大的方式發生的事情是歐洲地區和歐洲當局正在努力加速整個歐洲的許可，以允許更快地建設可再生能源。

Renewables really are the long-term solution to low-cost energy and energy security and net-zero, which is probably the 3 highest priorities in Europe right now. Where we're seeing that most actively across 3 of our European businesses is in Synovus, our solar developer in Germany, where we've accelerated the build-out of our development pipeline. Within X-ELIO, which is a large global solar development platform with a significant presence in Europe that is seeing an acceleration of its build-out in Spain and also within Polenergia that is pulling forward some of its wind and solar build-out in the country.

可再生能源確實是低成本能源和能源安全以及淨零排放的長期解決方案，這可能是目前歐洲的三大優先事項。我們在三個歐洲業務中看到最活躍的地方是我們在德國的太陽能開發商 Synovus，我們在那裡加快了開發管道的建設。 X-ELIO 是一個大型的全球太陽能開發平台，在歐洲擁有重要影響力，正在加速其在西班牙的建設，在 Polenergia 內部也在推進其在歐洲的一些風能和太陽能建設。國家。

So we're seeing it very much within our operating businesses, and we're taking that into account as we review new growth opportunities and M&A opportunities as well.

所以我們在我們的運營業務中看到了很多，我們在審查新的增長機會和併購機會時也考慮到了這一點。

Excellent. Appreciate it. Maybe just 1 more for me on the Westinghouse acquisition. I'm just curious what kind of time line and I guess, a magnitude of opportunity you see with the micro reactor technology? And if you have any thoughts around, which jurisdictions would initially make sense for that technology?

出色的。欣賞它。收購西屋公司對我來說可能只有 1 個。我只是好奇是什麼樣的時間線，我猜，你看到微型反應堆技術的機會是多少？如果您有任何想法，哪些司法管轄區最初對這項技術有意義？

Certainly. So 1 of the reasons we love Westinghouse is no matter where nuclear grows, Westinghouse is poised to benefit. If the growth comes from uprates or life extensions of existing power generation plants, Westinghouse is well positioned to benefit from that. If the growth comes from new build-out of large-scale nuclear reactors, Westinghouse is exceedingly well positioned to benefit from that as the supplier of engineering and products to those build-outs.

當然。因此，我們喜歡西屋的原因之一是無論核能在哪裡發展，西屋都準備好從中受益。如果增長來自現有發電廠的升級或壽命延長，那麼西屋公司完全可以從中受益。如果增長來自大型核反應堆的新擴建，西屋作為這些擴建項目的工程和產品供應商，完全可以從中受益。

And then more in the future, as we see more advanced stage nuclear technology focus on SMRs and micro reactors, Westinghouse has the leading microreactor technology, and we view them as being in the pole position to capture that market as costs come down and as demand for that technology grows as well.

在未來，隨著我們看到更先進的核技術專注於 SMR 和微型反應堆，西屋公司擁有領先的微型反應堆技術，我們認為它們處於領先地位，可以隨著成本下降和需求而佔領該市場因為這項技術也在發展。

I would highlight that we view that last bucket as being slightly deferred to the other 2, maybe 3 to 5 years away but that doesn't mean we aren't tremendously excited about it and excited about Westinghouse's pull position in that space. One parallel that I would draw is as Westinghouse moves to more smaller scale reactors and potentially micro reactors to service that growing demand, it really lends itself to a lot of the same capabilities that we have within our renewables business, providing power plants that can be contracted directly to an end customer that needs clean energy in a certain region around the world.

我要強調的是，我們認為最後一個桶稍微推遲到另外兩個桶，可能需要 3 到 5 年，但這並不意味著我們對此並不感到非常興奮，也對西屋在該領域的拉動地位感到興奮。我想得出的一個相似之處是，隨著西屋公司轉向更小規模的反應堆和潛在的微型反應堆來滿足不斷增長的需求，它確實有助於我們在可再生能源業務中擁有的許多相同的能力，提供可以直接與全球某個地區需要清潔能源的最終客戶簽訂合同。

It has many of the same decentralizations and customer-focused dynamics as our distributed generation business, which is obviously something where we've seen lots of upside and lots of growth in recent years.

它與我們的分佈式發電業務具有許多相同的去中心化和以客戶為中心的動態，這顯然是我們近年來看到的大量上升和大量增長的領域。

Our next question comes from the line of William Grippin with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自 UBS 的 William Grippin。

All right. Great. So just my first question, touched on this earlier, but I was hoping you could provide maybe a bit more color on the investment in the U.S. recycling business. What made that an investment there attractive to Brookfield? And then maybe you could discuss the timing of that transaction, just given the recent sharp decline in recycled commodity values that we've seen?

好的。偉大的。所以只是我的第一個問題，之前提到過，但我希望你能為美國回收業務的投資提供更多的色彩。是什麼讓那裡的投資對布魯克菲爾德有吸引力？然後也許你可以討論一下交易的時間，只是考慮到我們最近看到的可回收商品價值的急劇下降？

Certainly. So maybe just to take a step back on that investment in particular. Why we like it as it has many similar dynamics to development of wind and solar. Obviously, there's a clear decarbonization angle. But really what the opportunity there is not dissimilar to when we buy a renewables developer. This business has an existing asset base, but a very large development pipeline of modular recycling facilities -- material recycling facilities, sorry, that they have the potential to build out. Now they will only build out those facilities if they can secure a long-term contract that really derisks the construction and the long-term cash flows of those assets once we build them out.

當然。所以也許只是為了特別退後一步投資。為什麼我們喜歡它，因為它與風能和太陽能的發展有許多相似的動力。顯然，有一個明確的脫碳角度。但實際上，當我們購買可再生能源開發商時，那裡的機會並沒有什麼不同。該業務擁有現有的資產基礎，但有一個非常大的模塊化回收設施開發管道 - 材料回收設施，抱歉，他們有潛力建造。現在，他們只有在能夠獲得長期合同的情況下才會建造這些設施，一旦我們建造它們，這些資產的建設和長期現金流就會真正降低風險。

So once again, a very direct parallel to the investment profile that we're familiar with. And then secondly, the point that we would reiterate is simply around our ability to increasingly serve our customers' decarbonization needs. One thing that we are very, very happy with is the value proposition we have in the United States right now that, quite frankly, for our customers, we think it's tough to match, whether it's on green energy, now we can provide green power across any asset type, wind, solar, hydro or DG in any region.

所以再一次，與我們熟悉的投資概況非常直接相似。其次，我們要重申的一點只是圍繞我們越來越多地滿足客戶脫碳需求的能力。我們非常非常滿意的一件事是我們現在在美國的價值主張，坦率地說，對於我們的客戶來說，我們認為很難匹配，無論是綠色能源，現在我們都可以提供綠色電力跨任何地區的任何資產類型、風能、太陽能、水力或 DG。

If it's a customer that has emissions that are tough to abate that want to look to reduce emissions through the use of carbon capture, we can give them that. If it's a customer that has needs for raw materials, and they want to focus on recycled materials as opposed to virgin materials, we now have an avenue to do that as well. So as we think about these new asset classes, it's really about servicing our customers while executing on the same risk-adjusted return and investment profile that's been very familiar to our business for a number of years.

如果客戶的排放量難以減少，並希望通過使用碳捕獲來減少排放量，我們可以為他們提供。如果客戶需要原材料，並且他們希望專注於回收材料而不是原始材料，那麼我們現在也有辦法做到這一點。因此，當我們考慮這些新的資產類別時，它實際上是在為我們的客戶提供服務的同時，按照我們多年來非常熟悉的相同的風險調整回報和投資概況執行。

Appreciate that. And just last 1 for me. I mean could you speak broadly to what you're seeing in terms of asset prices for traditional operating renewable energy projects? And have valuations started to come down just to reflect the higher rate environment that we're in?

感謝。對我來說只是最後一個。我的意思是，您能否廣泛談談您在傳統運營可再生能源項目的資產價格方面所看到的情況？估值是否開始下降只是為了反映我們所處的高利率環境？

We'll provide a very balanced answer on this. Valuations have yet to come down for private market transactions but let's be clear, we fully expect that they will at some point. Rates can't continue to rise and valuations stay cemented where they've been for the last couple of years. So we're certainly taking that into account. But to date, there's been a number of very recent high-profile transactions in the renewable space. And I think it would be very tough to make an argument that valuations have come down yet.

我們將就此提供一個非常平衡的答案。私人市場交易的估值尚未下降，但讓我們明確一點，我們完全預計它們會在某個時候下降。利率不能繼續上漲，估值保持在過去幾年的水平。所以我們當然會考慮到這一點。但迄今為止，可再生能源領域最近發生了一些備受矚目的交易。而且我認為很難說估值已經下降。

The other point that we would highlight is when we think of where we buy or build versus where we think we can sell, that development margin or that operating improvement margin, we haven't seen that shrink. So even if power -- or interest rates cause, let's say, the price of long-term contracted operating assets decline a little bit, maybe returns going up a little bit. We are seeing development returns go up, a proportionate amount as well. So we're still capturing the same amount of development margin or improvement margin, which means capital recycling continues to be a very value accretive way to grow our business.

我們要強調的另一點是，當我們考慮購買或建造地點與我們認為可以銷售的地點、開發利潤率或運營改進利潤率時，我們並沒有看到這種縮減。因此，即使電力或利率導致長期合同經營資產的價格略有下降，也可能回報率有所上升。我們看到開發回報在增加，數量也相應增加。因此，我們仍在獲得相同數量的開發利潤或改進利潤，這意味著資本回收仍然是一種非常增值的方式來發展我們的業務。

Thank you. Now I'm showing no further questions. So with that, I'll hand the call back over to CEO, Connor Teskey, for any closing remarks.

謝謝你。現在我不再提出任何問題。因此，我將把電話轉給首席執行官康納·特斯基（Connor Teskey），以聽取任何結束語。

Great. Well, thank you, everyone, for dialing in to today's call. We, as always, appreciate your interest and support of Brookfield Renewable, and we look forward to updating you with our year-end results after the end of Q4. Have a great day.

偉大的。好的，謝謝大家撥入今天的電話。我們一如既往地感謝您對 Brookfield Renewable 的關注和支持，我們期待在第四季度結束後向您更新我們的年終業績。祝你有美好的一天。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.

女士們，先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接。