Constellation Energy Corp (CEG) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Constellation Energy Corporation First Quarter Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this call may be recorded. I would now like to introduce your host for today's call, Emily Duncan, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Strategic Growth. You may begin.

女士們先生們，美好的一天，歡迎參加星座能源公司第一季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）謹此提醒，此通話可能會被錄音。現在我想介紹今天電話會議的主持人艾米麗鄧肯 (Emily Duncan)，她是負責投資者關係和策略成長的高級副總裁。你可以開始了。

Thank you, [Towana]. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Constellation Energy Corporation's first quarter earnings conference call. Leading the call today are Joe Dominguez, Constellation's President and Chief Executive Officer; and Dan Eggers, Constellation's Chief Financial Officer. They are joined by other members of Constellation's senior management team who will be available to answer your questions following our prepared remarks.

謝謝你，[托瓦納]。大家早安，感謝您參加星座能源公司第一季收益電話會議。今天的電話會議由 Constellation 總裁兼執行長 Joe Dominguez 主持。以及 Constellation 財務長 Dan Eggers。 Constellation 高階管理團隊的其他成員也將加入他們的行列，他們將在我們準備好的發言後回答您的問題。

We issued our earnings release this morning along with the presentation, all of which can be found in the Investor Relations section of Constellation's website. The earnings release and other matters, which we will discuss during today's call contain forward-looking statements and estimates regarding Constellation and its subsidiaries that are subject to various risks and uncertainties.

我們今天早上發布了收益報告以及演示文稿，所有這些都可以在 Constellation 網站的投資者關係部分找到。我們將在今天的電話會議上討論的收益發布和其他事項包含有關星座及其子公司的前瞻性聲明和估計，這些聲明和估計受到各種風險和不確定性的影響。

Actual results could differ from our forward-looking statements based on factors and assumptions discussed in today's material and comments made during this call. Please refer to today's 8-K and Constellation's other SEC filings for discussions of the risk factors and other circumstances and considerations that may cause results to differ from management's projections, forecasts and expectations.

根據今天資料中討論的因素和假設以及本次電話會議期間發表的評論，實際結果可能與我們的前瞻性陳述有所不同。請參閱今天的 8-K 和 Constellation 向 SEC 提交的其他文件，以了解可能導致結果與管理層的預測、預測和預期不同的風險因素以及其他情況和考慮因素的討論。

Today's presentation also includes references to adjusted operating earnings and other non-GAAP measures. Please refer to the information contained in the appendix of our presentation and our earnings release for reconciliations between the non-GAAP measures and the nearest equivalent GAAP measures.

今天的演示還包括對調整後營業收益和其他非公認會計原則衡量標準的參考。請參閱我們的簡報和收益發布的附錄中包含的信息，以了解非公認會計準則衡量標準與最接近的同等公認會計準則衡量標準之間的調節。

I'll now turn the call over to Joe Dominguez, CEO of Constellation.

現在我將把電話轉給 Constellation 執行長 Joe Dominguez。

[Towana] thanks for getting us started this morning. And Emily, thanks for running through all that and laying out the agenda for today. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. We had an excellent first quarter operationally and financially. We're making steady progress with technology customers on transactions that will power America into the future and employ thousands. And last week, we concluded meetings with our Board where they authorized another $1 billion in stock buybacks because we believe in our strategy.

[Towana] 感謝您讓我們今天早上開始。艾米麗，感謝您經歷了這一切並製定了今天的議程。大家，早安。感謝您加入我們。我們的第一季在營運和財務方面都表現出色。我們正在與技術客戶的交易中取得穩步進展，這些交易將為美國的未來提供動力並僱用數千人。上週，我們結束了與董事會的會議，他們授權另外 10 億美元的股票回購，因為我們相信我們的策略。

This is the second buyback announcement in less than 6 months. Dan and I will cover all of those topics and more this morning, but I want to begin today with a celebration of Chris Crane, the former CEO of Exelon, who passed suddenly last month. We appreciate all of you who reached out and shared your thoughts and fun memories of Chris. If there ever was one, Chris was a nuked through and through. And as much as anyone, Chris deserves credit for the operational excellence of our fleet and improvements in other fleets around the industry. He was an operational genius. His reach was far and he touched so many people.

這是不到 6 個月內第二次宣布回購。丹和我今天早上將討論所有這些主題以及更多內容，但我今天想首先慶祝 Exelon 前首席執行官克里斯·克蘭 (Chris Crane)，他上個月突然去世。我們感謝所有伸出援手並分享對克里斯的想法和有趣回憶的人。如果有的話，克里斯就是一個徹頭徹尾的核武者。與其他人一樣，克里斯因我們機隊的卓越運營以及行業內其他機隊的改進而值得讚揚。他是一位營運天才。他的影響力很遠，他感動了很多人。

He and I spoke regularly after Constellation launched. He's happy to see how we are doing but his first thoughts were always about our people. He was always so proud of folks here at Constellation, especially the women and men at the plants. They were his family. Many of us here worked with Chris for over 20 years, but you only have to be with him for about 20 minutes to know what he cared about. Safety and operational excellence was always number one, followed closely by the care and the development of the women and men who we are all privileged to lead every day. Those two things were his North Star.

Constellation 推出後，我和他定期交談。他很高興看到我們的表現，但他首先想到的始終是我們的員工。他總是為星座公司的員工感到自豪，尤其是工廠裡的男女員工。他們是他的家人。我們這裡的許多人與克里斯一起工作了 20 多年，但你只需要和他在一起大約 20 分鐘就知道他關心什麼。安全和卓越營運始終是第一位的，緊隨其後的是我們每天都有幸領導的男女員工的關懷和發展。這兩件事是他的北極星。

He was a leader for the industry and had conviction and courage through a lot of hard times. He was an all-of-the-above energy thinker. He cared about nuclear because he was sure that you could not run a full time clean energy economy just on part-time power.

他是該行業的領導者，在許多困難時期都擁有信念和勇氣。他是一位綜合性的能源思想家。他關心核能，因為他確信僅靠兼職電力無法運作全職清潔能源經濟。

We've got a lot going for us here at Constellation, and we'll talk about that today, but one of the most important things we have is Chris Crane in our DNA. He trained and mentored Bryan Hanson and David Rhoades and a lot of our other leaders. We're going to miss him, but you can be sure that his legacy of excellence will carry on here.

在 Constellation，我們有很多事情要做，今天我們將討論這一點，但我們擁有的最重要的東西之一是我們 DNA 中的 Chris Crane。他培訓和指導了 Bryan Hanson 和 David Rhoades 以及我們的許多其他領導者。我們會想念他的，但你可以確信他的卓越遺產將在這裡延續下去。

In February, we gave you a very thorough update on the company and the opportunities that lie ahead of us to create value for you, our owners. So we don't have to go through all of that again in detail, but I do want to reiterate a few points. Constellation will grow base earnings by at least 10% through the decade.

在二月份，我們向您提供了有關公司的非常全面的最新資訊以及我們為您（我們的所有者）創造價值的機會。因此，我們不必再次詳細討論所有這些內容，但我確實想重申幾點。未來十年，Constellation 的基本收入將成長至少 10%。

And importantly, we have a number of opportunities to generate base earnings above those levels. In the coming years, the demand for clean, reliable megawatts will only grow, and we think we're best positioned to meet growing demand for clean energy to tackle the challenge of the energy transition; to unlock value through compensation for the uniquely clean and reliable attributes of our 180 million-megawatt hour fleet; and to help America power the technologies of the future whether that be EVs, electric heating and industrialization where we've got a lot to go or in the booming demand for artificial intelligence technologies and other digital infrastructure projects.

重要的是，我們有很多機會創造高於這些水準的基本收入。未來幾年，對清潔、可靠兆瓦的需求只會增長，我們認為我們最有能力滿足對清潔能源不斷增長的需求，以應對能源轉型的挑戰；透過補償我們 1.8 億兆瓦時機組獨特的清潔和可靠屬性來釋放價值；幫助美國為未來的技術提供動力，無論是電動車、電熱和工業化，還是對人工智慧技術和其他數位基礎設施項目不斷增長的需求。

I'd like to drill down on that last point for a moment. Over the last few months, a lot has been written about power demands in the technology industry. But I want to assure you that these challenges will be overcome as they have in the past because we all know here how imperative it is for America's national security and economic competitiveness that the U.S. leads the world in the development of these technologies. And we're working hard every day to make that possible.

我想深入探討最後一點。在過去的幾個月裡，有許多關於科技業電力需求的文章。但我想向你們保證，這些挑戰將像過去一樣被克服，因為我們都知道，美國在這些技術的開發方面領先世界對於美國的國家安全和經濟競爭力是多麼重要。我們每天都在努力實現這一目標。

The data economy and constellations nuclear energy go together like peanut butter and jelly. And as such, we're in advanced conversations with multiple clients, large well-known companies that you all know about powering their needs. Speed to execution is important to them as it is to us, but these are large and complicated transactions that require diligence and time to finalize. And while we're not done yet, I do expect that we will finalize agreements that will have long-term and transformational value. They'll ensure that our fleet and the jobs and economic community benefits that we already provide will be sustainable for decades to come.

數據經濟和星座核能就像花生醬和果凍一樣緊密結合。因此，我們正在與多個客戶、大型知名公司進行深入對話，你們都知道如何滿足他們的需求。執行速度對他們和我們都很重要，但這些都是大型且複雜的交易，需要勤奮和時間才能完成。雖然我們還沒有完成，但我確實希望我們能夠敲定具有長期和變革價值的協議。他們將確保我們的機隊以及我們已經提供的就業和經濟社區利益在未來幾十年內可持續。

As demand grows, our nation's need for firm clean power grows proportionately. As we add new clean power, the role and importance of nuclear will only grow. We intend that Constellation will be a leader and adding new clean, reliable megawatts to the grid to meet the needs of American families and businesses. We're going to do that in three ways: First, we're extending the lives of our existing sites to power the nation into 2060 and beyond, creating more clean energy than all of the renewables ever built in this country.

隨著需求的成長，我們國家對穩定的清潔能源的需求也隨之成長。隨著我們增加新的清潔能源，核能的角色和重要性只會越來越大。我們希望 Constellation 成為領導者，為電網增加新的清潔、可靠的兆瓦電力，以滿足美國家庭和企業的需求。我們將透過三種方式實現這一目標：首先，我們將延長現有站點的使用壽命，為國家提供電力直至2060 年及以後，創造比該國有史以來建造的所有可再生能源更多的清潔能源。

We've already received or have announced license extensions at 5 and have more to come, assuming supportive policy. Continuing to run these plants through license extensions is quite simply the most important thing we can do for America's clean energy future. Second, we're adding megawatts by using uprates to increase the output of our current machines.

我們已經收到或已經宣布了 5 號的許可證延期，如果有政策支持的話，還會有更多許可證延期。透過延長許可證繼續運作這些工廠是我們為美國清潔能源的未來所能做的最重要的事情。其次，我們透過提高現有機器的輸出來增加兆瓦功率。

And we already announced to you operates at Byron and Braidwood that will bring in 160 megawatts in the next few years. And we're looking at many opportunities to do that other plants. We believe that the opportunities will add up to 1,000 megawatts or perhaps more of clean, firm power to the grid. This is in addition to the many hundreds of megawatts of renewables that Constellation is adding through CORe+ deals with customers and through our wind repowerings.

我們已經向您宣布，Byron 和 Braidwood 的營運將在未來幾年內帶來 160 兆瓦的電力。我們正在尋找許多機會讓其他工廠也能做到這一點。我們相信，這些機會將為電網增加 1,000 兆瓦甚至更多的清潔、穩定的電力。除此之外，Constellation 還透過與客戶的 CORe+ 交易以及我們的風能改造增加了數百兆瓦的可再生能源。

Third, we're looking to partner with others to locate new technologies, including new nuclear at our existing sites. These sites already have, of course, community support and existing infrastructure for nuclear energy. And we think our simple thesis is this, if new nuclear is going to be built anywhere where we do business, it's going to be built on sites where there already is existing nuclear because that's where communities love the technology and have the capability to support more. So we believe that we're uniquely suited to provide this value and grow the industry.

第三，我們希望與其他人合作尋找新技術，包括在我們現有基地使用新核子技術。當然，這些站點已經擁有社區支持和現有的核能基礎設施。我們認為我們的簡單論點是，如果要在我們開展業務的任何地方建造新核電，那麼它將建在已經有核電的地點，因為那裡的社區喜歡這項技術，並且有能力支持更多。因此，我們相信我們非常適合提供這種價值並發展該行業。

Turning to the quarter. We delivered first quarter GAAP earnings of $2.78 per share, and adjusted operating earnings of $1.82 per share driven by continued strong performance from the commercial business through better than historical customer margins and through optimizing our combined generation and customer business. Given the performance, we're confident in our full year outlook, and we look forward to another strong financial year.

轉向季度。我們第一季的GAAP 收益為每股2.78 美元，調整後的營運收益為每股1.82 美元，這得益於商業業務持續強勁的業績、優於歷史客戶利潤率以及優化我們的綜合發電和客戶業務。鑑於業績，我們對全年前景充滿信心，並期待另一個強勁的財政年度。

Our performance and creditworthiness is being recognized. Moody's upgraded our credit rating to Baa1, which is further recognition of our strong financial footing, and we issued the first green bond to fund nuclear power in the United States. I think that's really cool, think about it 5 years, the idea of using green bonds for nuclear would have been something that people would have scratched their head at, it happened. And you could see the enthusiasm in our near- and long-term outlook for our business through our continued share repurchases, buying 500 million shares to date with another 350 million of that coming since our end of the year February call.

我們的業績和信譽正在得到認可。穆迪將我們的信用評級提升至 Baa1，這是對我們強大的財務基礎的進一步認可，我們也發行了第一支為美國核電提供資金的綠色債券。我認為這真的很酷，想想五年後，使用綠色債券用於核能的想法會讓人摸不著頭腦，它發生了。透過我們持續的股票回購，您可以看到我們對近期和長期業務前景的熱情，迄今已購買了 5 億股股票，自 2 月底的電話會議以來又購買了 3.5 億股股票。

Looking at our strong free cash flows and near-term allocation opportunities, the Board, as I mentioned, previously authorized an additional $1 billion in share repurchases, bringing our remaining authority -- authorized buyback capacity to $1.5 billion. As Dan will explain, even after this new authorization, Constellation has ample cash available for growth investments, acquisitions and returning even more value to you, our owners.

考慮到我們強勁的自由現金流和近期分配機會，正如我所提到的，董事會先前授權額外 10 億美元的股票回購，使我們剩餘的權力——授權回購能力達到 15 億美元。正如丹將解釋的那樣，即使在獲得這項新授權之後，星座集團仍擁有充足的現金可用於成長投資、收購，並為您（我們的所有者）回報更多價值。

Turning to Slide 6. The importance of nuclear energy to our economy, electric system and meeting the country's environmental and clean energy goals was first recognized by states when they enacted zero-emission credit programs, and it's now been followed by the federal government through the nuclear production tax credit. Since then, the financial community has embraced nuclear energy understanding its importance to our country's success.

轉向投影片 6。從那時起，金融界開始接受核能，了解對我國成功的重要性。

As I mentioned, we issued the first nuclear green bond in the U.S. There was significant demand for this product, and we were able to upsize our offering as a result. The strong demand from investors for our 30-year green bond is recognition that clean, reliable nuclear energy is critical to meeting the sustainability goals of the nation and will be beyond the present period of our current licensed lives. I mentioned that we received a credit upgrade from Moody's. Importantly, included as part of that upgrade, Moody's improved our carbon transition score to its highest level, a further recognition of the importance of nuclear energy to the energy transition.

正如我所提到的，我們在美國發行了第一隻核綠色債券。投資者對我們 30 年期綠色債券的強烈需求表明，人們認識到清潔、可靠的核能對於實現國家永續發展目標至關重要，並且將超越我們目前的許可壽命。我提到我們獲得了穆迪的信用升級。重要的是，作為此次升級的一部分，穆迪將我們的碳轉型評分提高至最高水平，進一步認識到核能對能源轉型的重要性。

More and more customers are acknowledging that nuclear should be part of meeting their own clean energy goals. Our customers are signing deals for hourly match carbon-free power from our existing plants, and we are talking to others about behind-the-meter opportunities at our sites. Congress has passed legislation to provide the necessary funding for bringing more of the nuclear fuel chain into our country, ultimately reducing geopolitical risks and supply. We expect DOE to issue a request for proposals imminently. And states across the country are taking action in favor of nuclear energy.

越來越多的客戶認識到核能應該成為實現自己的清潔能源目標的一部分。我們的客戶正在與我們現有工廠簽訂每小時匹配的無碳電力協議，我們正在與其他人討論我們工廠的電錶後面的機會。國會已通過立法，為將更多核燃料鏈引入我國提供必要的資金，最終減少地緣政治風險和供應。我們預計能源部將立即發布徵求建議書。全國各州都在採取支持核能的行動。

State legislatures have 130 bills out there to support nuclear energy this year compared to 5 to 10 historically. States like Michigan and Minnesota have passed laws moving renewable standards to clean energy standards, which include nuclear. I was pleased to see that Governor Shapiro in Pennsylvania recently did the same thing. They're removing barriers to nuclear by repealing moratoriums on building new nuclear and they're developing regulations to support new development in the states. In places like Indiana and South Dakota, where there currently is no nuclear, there are plans to build nuclear. And 6 states, Red and Blue have created incentives in their state budgets to attract nuclear to their state. The momentum behind nuclear energy, both existing and new, continues to build as more and more policy makers recognize exactly what Chris Crane believed that you can't power a full-time economy on clean energy that is only part time.

州立法機構今年有 130 項支持核能的法案，而歷史上只有 5 到 10 項。密西根州和明尼蘇達州等州已通過法律，將再生能源標準轉向清潔能源標準，其中包括核能。我很高興看到賓州州長夏皮羅最近做了同樣的事情。他們正在透過廢除暫停建設新核電的禁令來消除核能障礙，並制定法規以支持各州的新發展。在印第安納州和南達科他州等目前沒有核電的地方，有計畫建造核電。紅州和藍州等 6 個州在其州預算中製定了激勵措施，以吸引核能進入其州。隨著越來越多的政策制定者準確認識到克里斯·克蘭(Chris Crane) 的觀點，即不能僅依靠兼職的清潔能源來為全職經濟提供動力，核能（無論是現有的還是新的）背後的動力將繼續增強。

Turning to Slide 7. Nuclear performance was strong and ahead of plan for the quarter. We produced more than 41 million megawatt hours (sic)[41 million Terawatt hours] of reliable available in carbon-free generation from our nuclear plants with an on-plan capacity factor of 93.3%. We completed 3 refueling outages during the quarter, with each lasting less than 22 days on average, and overall faster than we had planned. During our outage at Quad Cities, we anticipated a longer outage due to inspections on the low-pressure turbines that were installed as part of an upgrade in 2010.

轉向幻燈片 7。我們的核電廠可靠無碳發電量超過 4,100 萬兆瓦時（原文如此）[4,100 萬太瓦時]，計畫容量係數為 93.3%。本季我們完成了 3 次加油中斷，每次平均持續時間不到 22 天，整體速度比我們計畫的要快。在 Quad Cities 停電期間，由於對 2010 年升級過程中安裝的低壓渦輪機進行了檢查，我們預計停電時間會更長。

But even with the additional work, we were able to complete that outage in 20 days, full 8 days faster than planned, kudos to nuclear and the entire team there. Our renewables and natural gas fleet also performed well with 96.3% renewable energy capture and 97.9% power dispatch match. The team is now completing our summer readiness work so that we're ready to go when the temperature turns up.

但即使有額外的工作，我們還是能夠在 20 天內完成停電，比計劃快了整整 8 天，這要歸功於核能和整個團隊。我們的再生能源和天然氣船隊也表現良好，再生能源捕獲率為 96.3%，電力調度匹配率為 97.9%。團隊目前正在完成夏季準備工作，以便在氣溫回升時我們做好出發的準備。

Turning to Slide 8. Our commercial team is off to another great start. We continue to see strong margins in our customer business. We talked about this in the last call, our projections being based partly on historical margins. We're continuing to see strong margins as we get into the beginning here of 2024. They're also creating value because of our integrated generation and customer business, capturing value through optimizing our positions across the fleet. I talked a moment ago about customers choosing existing nuclear to meet their energy demands and we continue to meet our customers' need for hourly match clean energy. We recently signed 2 deals with 2 of our largest customers that I just want to briefly mention. In each case, we converted these customers from a renewable-only product to a product that now uses nuclear energy to fill in the gaps when renewables don't operate. Each will ensure that our customers have full-time power, clean power each and every hour that they are consuming it. The first is with Comcast. It's a new deal that includes offtake from new solar facility.

轉向幻燈片 8。我們繼續看到客戶業務的強勁利潤。我們在上次電話會議中討論了這一點，我們的預測部分是基於歷史利潤。進入 2024 年伊始，我們將繼續看到強勁的利潤率。我剛剛談到客戶選擇現有核電來滿足他們的能源需求，我們將繼續滿足客戶對每小時清潔能源的需求。我們最近與兩家最大的客戶簽署了兩筆交易，我只想簡單提一下。在每種情況下，我們都將這些客戶從純再生能源產品轉變為現在使用核能的產品，以填補再生能源無法運作時的空白。每一個都將確保我們的客戶在使用時每小時都能獲得全天候電力、清潔電力。第一個是與康卡斯特合作。這是一項新協議，其中包括新太陽能設施的承購。

The second, which will be announced in the coming weeks, converts an existing CORe deal, which again is Constellation's off-site renewables program to now include hourly matched carbon-free energy with energy from our nuclear plants. So our customers are recognizing that in order to meet their goals and make the difference for their business, they need full-time clean power to run their full-time businesses.

第二項計劃將在未來幾週內宣布，將轉換現有的 CORe 協議，這也是 Constellation 的場外再生能源計劃，現在包括每小時匹配的無碳能源與來自我們核電站的能源。因此，我們的客戶認識到，為了實現他們的目標並為他們的業務帶來改變，他們需要全職的清潔能源來經營他們的全職業務。

So now with that, I'll turn it over to Dan for the financial update. Dan?

現在，我將把它交給丹以獲取最新的財務資訊。擔？

Thank you, Joe, and good morning, everyone. Beginning on Slide 9, we earned $2.78 per share in GAAP earnings and $1.82 per share in adjusted operating earnings, which is $1.04 per share higher than last year. As Joe mentioned, our commercial business has continued to perform very well. They do this through our generation to load portfolio optimization strategy, and we take advantage of our physical position in the markets to capture more value to the combined generation and customer businesses than they could if they were apart.

謝謝你，喬，大家早安。從幻燈片 9 開始，我們的 GAAP 收益為每股 2.78 美元，調整後的營運收益為每股 1.82 美元，比去年每股增加 1.04 美元。正如喬所提到的，我們的商業業務繼續表現良好。他們透過我們的發電負載投資組合優化策略來做到這一點，而我們利用我們在市場中的實際地位，為發電和客戶業務的合併獲得比分開時更多的價值。

On the margin front, we are seeing margins come in better than planned and continue to trend higher than our long-term averages that we use in forecasting, as we discussed with you all on the last call. In addition, we had more nuclear output year-over-year and saw lower costs for our refueling outages in the quarter. And as a reminder, this was the first full quarter with contribution from our ownership share in the South Texas project. And speaking of first, this is the first quarter the nuclear production tax credit was in effect, favorably contributing to our earnings even after sharing some of the value of the PTC with our states. And as a reminder, we forecast the full year PTC value for our business based on the expected gross receipts at each plant.

在利潤方面，我們看到利潤率好於計劃，並且繼續高於我們在預測中使用的長期平均水平，正如我們在上次電話會議中與大家討論的那樣。此外，我們的核產量較去年同期增加，本季的加油中斷成本也有所降低。提醒一下，這是我們在南德克薩斯州專案所有權份額中貢獻的第一個完整季度。首先，這是核生產稅收抵免生效的第一個季度，即使在與我們各州分享了 PTC 的一些價值之後，也對我們的收入做出了有利的貢獻。提醒一下，我們根據每個工廠的預期總收入來預測我們業務的全年 PTC 價值。

So as prices realized through the year different from where we started the year, the value of the PTC can change relative to forecast, but the overall net earnings for Constellation should be the same as the mix of energy revenues and PTCs will balance to get us to the same place.

因此，由於全年實現的價格與我們年初的價格不同，PTC 的價值可能會相對於預測發生變化，但 Constellation 的總體淨利潤應該與能源收入的組合相同，並且 PTC 將平衡以讓我們到同一個地方。

Finally, our soft performance year-to-date has resulted in higher compensation expense year-over-year due to the timing of how we book compensation expense, it results in higher O&M during the quarter, and it will for the full year as well. We remain very comfortable with our earnings guidance range of $7.23 to $8.03 per share.

最後，由於我們記帳補償費用的時間安排，我們今年迄今的疲軟業績導致補償費用同比更高，這導致本季度以及全年的營運和維護更高。我們對每股 7.23 美元至 8.03 美元的獲利指引範圍仍然非常滿意。

Turning to the financing and liquidity update on Slide 10. I'm excited to expand upon some of the accomplishments that Joe mentioned in his opening remarks. As he said, firm clean megawatts are the most valuable commodity in the market today, and we own more nuclear generation in competitive power markets than all of our peers combined. We look at the opportunities ahead of us, continue to view our stock is compelling at the current share price, even after the strong performance we have already enjoyed this year.

轉向幻燈片 10 上的融資和流動性更新。正如他所說，穩定的清潔兆瓦是當今市場上最有價值的商品，我們在競爭激烈的電力市場上擁有的核電數量比所有同行的總和還要多。我們著眼於我們面前的機會，繼續認為我們的股票在當前股價下具有吸引力，即使我們今年已經享受了強勁的業績。

In March, we entered into a $350 million accelerated share repurchase agreement, bringing our total repurchases to $500 million year-to-date. We have now executed $1.5 billion of share repurchases since the first quarter of 2023, buying back approximately 13.5 million shares in total. Having completed $0.5 billion authorization from December, we're happy to announce that our Board authorized an incremental $1 billion, bringing the total program to $3 billion. We will remain opportunistic with the remaining $1.5 billion authorization and still see our stock is attractive.

3 月份，我們簽訂了 3.5 億美元的加速股票回購協議，使年初至今的回購總額達到 5 億美元。自 2023 年第一季以來，我們現已執行了 15 億美元的股票回購，總共回購了約 1,350 萬股股票。自 12 月起完成 5 億美元的授權後，我們很高興地宣布，董事會又增加了 10 億美元的授權，使計劃總額達到 30 億美元。我們將繼續對剩餘的 15 億美元授權保持機會主義，並且仍然認為我們的股票具有吸引力。

Our high investment-grade credit ratings are a core principle to our capital allocation strategy. Our ratings are further strengthened by Moody's upgrade to Baa1 in March bringing it in line with S&P's BBB+ rating. The ratings action taken by Moody's recognizes the strong financial performance of the company and the stability provided by the nuclear PTC.

我們的高投資等級信用評等是我們資本配置策略的核心原則。穆迪在 3 月將我們的評級升級至 Baa1，使其與標準普爾的 BBB+ 評級保持一致，進一步加強了我們的評級。穆迪採取的評級行動認可了該公司強勁的財務業績以及核 PTC 提供的穩定性。

Last, we issued the nation's first ever corporate green bond including nuclear with proceeds of $900 million. The funds from the 30-year issuance will be used to finance green projects such as nuclear uprates to increase the production of clean, carbon-free energy. We saw a significant demand despite pricing amid a busy window for corporate supply allowing us to upsize from our initial target to $900 million, but still within our full year issuance plan. We also achieved very tight pricing when we look at both spreads and treasuries in line with 30-year holding company debt for regulated utilities. This is the second 30-year offering we have done in between the two, we have had $10 billion in demand, demonstrating the strong investor confidence in us as a company and a belief that our assets will be a critical part of the U.S. energy mix for a long time to come.

最後，我們發行了全國首個企業綠色債券，其中包括核能債券，募集資金達 9 億美元。 30年發行的資金將用於資助核電升級等綠色項目，增加清潔、無碳能源的產量。儘管在企業供應繁忙的時期定價，我們還是看到了巨大的需求，這使我們能夠將規模從最初的目標擴大到 9 億美元，但仍在我們的全年發行計劃之內。當我們根據受監管公用事業的 30 年期控股公司債務來檢視利差和國債時，我們也實現了非常嚴格的定價。這是我們在兩者之間進行的第二次30 年期發行，我們的需求已達100 億美元，這表明投資者對我們公司充滿信心，並相信我們的資產將成為美國能源結構的重要組成部分在未來很長一段時間。

Turning to Slide 11 and our 2-year view of free cash generation and planned use of the cash. We'll update this slide and we make meaningful updates to our allocation plans like the increased share repurchase authorization we announced today, or the STP transaction last year. As you can see from the chart, even after the increase in share buyback authorization, we still have approximately $2.3 billion of unallocated capital in 2024 and 2025, providing considerable strategic flexibility for us to further benefit our owners. I'll now turn the call back to Joe for his closing remarks.

轉向投影片 11 以及我們對自由現金產生和現金計畫使用的 2 年看法。我們將更新這張投影片，並對我們的分配計劃進行有意義的更新，例如我們今天宣布的增加股票回購授權，或去年的直通式交易。從圖表中可以看到，即使在增加股票回購授權之後，我們在2024年和2025年仍然有約23億美元的未分配資本，這為我們提供了相當大的戰略靈活性，以進一步使我們的所有者受益。現在我將把電話轉回給喬，讓他作結束語。

Thanks, Dan. Constellations like no other company. We have a unique set of existing assets that create opportunities that no one else has. At our core, we have visible base earnings growth of 10% through the decade that is backstopped by the federal government through the nuclear PTC and has a built-in inflation adjustor. We're the largest and best operator of nuclear power plants in the United States. Our plants are especially well positioned to meet the challenge of reliability and clean that U.S. electricity markets need.

謝謝，丹。星座公司獨一無二。我們擁有一套獨特的現有資產，可以創造其他人沒有的機會。在我們的核心，我們在過去十年中實現了 10% 的可見基本盈利增長，這是由聯邦政府透過核 PTC 提供的支持，並具有內建的通膨調節器。我們是美國最大、最好的核電廠營運商。我們的工廠特別適合應對美國電力市場所需的可靠性和清潔挑戰。

Our more than 20% share of competitive C&I connects us to leaders in sustainability and the drivers of power demand, in particular, demand for sustainability products. Our country needs what we have, clean and dependable power generation to drive economic growth, support our national security and our environmental goals. Power demand is growing, and at the same time, reliability is becoming a premium product, and there is no more reliable power source than nuclear.

我們在具有競爭力的 C&I 領域所佔的份額超過 20%，將我們與永續發展領域的領導者和電力需求（特別是永續產品的需求）的驅動因素聯繫起來。我們的國家需要我們所擁有的清潔、可靠的發電來推動經濟成長、支持我們的國家安全和我們的環境目標。電力需求不斷增長，同時，可靠性正成為一種優質產品，而沒有比核能更可靠的能源了。

Increased demand, combined with the change of the electric system to be more dependent on intermittent, non-dispatchable resources means that we're going to see continued volatility and increased volatility for years to come. This presents an opportunity for us to drive additional value for our owners. In short, we think Constellation is a big part of the solution to America's energy supply. Our clean, reliable nuclear plants, coupled with our ability to offer customers what they need will support the energy transition and our national security. And that's why Republicans and Democrats recognize that nuclear is the backbone of the electric system today and will be tomorrow, and that support continues to grow.

需求的增加，加上電力系統更依賴間歇性、不調度資源的變化，意味著我們將在未來幾年看到持續的波動和加劇的波動。這為我們提供了為業主帶來額外價值的機會。簡而言之，我們認為星座是美國能源供應解決方案的重要組成部分。我們清潔、可靠的核電廠，加上我們為客戶提供所需產品的能力，將支持能源轉型和我們的國家安全。這就是為什麼共和黨和民主黨認識到核能是當今和未來電力系統的支柱，而這種支持持續增長。

On top of the opportunities we have from continued volatile power markets, and we've certainly seen movement in power markets. We have more than 180 million-megawatt hours of carbon-free electricity that we produce annually that can receive additional compensation through 24/7 clean attributes behind the meter opportunities, government procurements for clean energy and capturing prices above the PTC floor levels as we see increases in power prices as demand continues to ramp. These opportunities are on top of the 10% growth we have in our plan. Our task is to capture the additional opportunities as they unfold and to do better than our plan for our owners.

除了我們從持續波動的電力市場中獲得的機會之外，我們當然也看到了電力市場的變動。我們每年生產超過 1.8 億兆瓦時的無碳電力，這些電力可以透過電錶機會背後的 24/7 清潔屬性、政府清潔能源採購以及我們所看到的高於 PTC 底線的價格獲得額外補償隨著需求持續增加，電價上漲。這些機會是在我們計劃中的 10% 增長之上的。我們的任務是抓住更多機會，並為業主做得比我們的計劃更好。

With that, let me open it up for questions.

接下來，讓我開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of David Arcaro with Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 David Arcaro。

I appreciate the update. Joe, you mentioned that you're exploring the potential to locate next-generation nuclear units at your sites. I was wondering if you could elaborate on that, just maybe what technology you're looking at. Where does that stand overall?

我很欣賞這個更新。喬，您提到您正在探索在您的地點部署下一代核機組的潛力。我想知道您是否可以詳細說明一下，也許您正在研究什麼技術。總體而言，這處於什麼位置？

Yes. So David, here's what we've done so far on that. There was an RFI that was issued by 3 companies: Google, Microsoft and Nucor Steel. And what these companies were looking for is power today, but also some role in building new clean power supply in the future. And so what we outlined in our response to that request for information is exactly what I said earlier on the call that we think our existing sites are in an incredibly valuable resource as we consider new firm, clean energy, in particular, from nuclear energy. And so we proposed a structure kind of a multi-tiered structure where we could begin flowing power today from our existing power plants on a long-term PPA.

是的。大衛，這就是我們迄今為止所做的工作。有一份 RFI 由 3 家公司發布：Google、Microsoft 和 Nucor Steel。這些公司所尋求的是今天的電力，但也在未來建造新的清潔電力供應中發揮一定的作用。因此，我們在回應資訊請求時概述的內容正是我之前在電話會議上所說的，我們認為我們現有的站點是一種極其寶貴的資源，因為我們考慮新公司，清潔能源，特別是核能。因此，我們提出了一種多層結構，我們今天就可以開始透過長期購電協議從現有發電廠輸送電力。

As part of that long-term PPA, we would work with our customer to begin to evaluate opportunities to add new firm energy. Now big part of that is subsequent license renewal of plants in our fleet, then upgrades and other opportunities that we have organically to add additional megawatts in our fleet. And then finally, to investigate different technologies for SMRs and actually other technologies as well that can be cited at our locations. And what we would anticipate doing over time is having some work with the customer to select that technology. And then the customer, through increases in the PPA, would begin to fund site development work construction ultimately scaling up to the point where the PPA absorbs the full cost of an operating new unit.

作為長期購電協議的一部分，我們將與客戶合作，開始評估增加新公司活力的機會。現在，其中很大一部分是我們艦隊中工廠的後續許可證更新，然後是升級和其他機會，我們有組織地在我們的艦隊中增加額外的兆瓦功率。最後，研究中小型反應器的不同技術以及實際上可以在我們的地點引用的其他技術。隨著時間的推移，我們預計要做的是與客戶合作來選擇該技術。然後，客戶透過增加購電協議，開始為現場開發工作建設提供資金，最終擴大到購電協議吸收新設備營運的全部成本的程度。

And so we would anticipate operating the unit for the owner because obviously, it would be on our site, and we would have a slice of equity given our contribution in land and other things of value to the owners. So this is in the beginning stages, but what I could tell you is it's of great interest to a number of clients in this space that not only want to have immediate access to power today, but want to have more clean power in the future.

因此，我們預計會為業主經營該單位，因為顯然，它將在我們的網站上，並且考慮到我們對土地和其他對業主有價值的東西的貢獻，我們將擁有一部分股權。所以這還處於開始階段，但我可以告訴你的是，這個領域的許多客戶對此非常感興趣，他們不僅希望今天立即獲得電力，而且希望在未來擁有更多清潔電力。

And so that's how we're walking through it. In terms of the technologies we're looking at, I think folks know generally that we have a small equity position in Rolls-Royce. So that would be a technology that we would look at, but we would also look at other competing SMR technologies. And we've worked with the owner to figure out which technology best meets their future need at the cost that's appropriate.

這就是我們正在經歷的過程。就我們正在研究的技術而言，我認為人們普遍知道我們在勞斯萊斯擁有少量股權。因此，這將是我們會關注的技術，但我們也會關注其他競爭性的 SMR 技術。我們與業主合作，找出哪種技術最能以適當的成本滿足他們未來的需求。

So that's the work in that area. But again, look, I want to emphasize that the most important thing right now that customers could do in this space is make sure the existing fleet we have right now is ready and funded for subsequent license renewal. These contracts allow for that, and that's an important sustainability objective for our customers, then operates and other opportunities. And finally, new incremental clean generation which I think could be brought online somewhere closer to the middle of the next decade.

這就是該領域的工作。但我想再次強調，客戶現在在這個領域可以做的最重要的事情是確保我們現在擁有的現有車隊已準備好並為後續許可證更新提供資金。這些合約允許做到這一點，這對我們的客戶來說是一個重要的永續發展目標，然後是營運和其他機會。最後，我認為新的增量清潔發電可以在接近下一個十年中期的某個時間上線。

Perfect. Yes, that's really helpful color. Very interesting. We'll stay tuned on how that opportunity develops. And then I was wondering, as you're thinking about or talking to hyperscalers, big data center developers, are you seeing any discussions or opportunities evolve related to something like a supercomputer, a major multi-gigawatt data center like the Stargate idea we'd seen in the media, something that could potentially use power from multiple nuclear plants. Is that an option that you're seeing being explored at this point?

完美的。是的，這確實是很有幫助的顏色。很有意思。我們將繼續關注這一機會的發展。然後我想知道，當您正在考慮或與超大規模企業、大數據中心開發人員交談時，您是否看到與超級電腦、大型多千兆瓦資料中心（例如我們的「星際之門」想法）等相關的討論或機會的演變？您目前正在探索這個選項嗎？

I think we're just going to be careful here in terms of that because there's just a lot being reported about that in the press, and we don't want to be kind of linked to a particular project until it's time to announce something. But I think what I am comfortable saying is this, David, we're seeing interest in developing projects that are on a size and scale that presently don't exist, but will be needed for training systems and other things to kind of build out and support the need for all of these foundational models.

我認為我們在這方面要小心，因為媒體對此有很多報道，我們不想在宣布某些事情之前與某個特定項目有任何联系。但我認為我可以放心地說的是，大衛，我們看到了開發項目的興趣，這些項目的規模和規模目前還不存在，但需要培訓系統和其他東西來構建並支持對所有這些基礎模型的需求。

I think they're up to 170 plus now foundational models that are going to require training data centers. These are things could be aerodynamics or pharmaceuticals, but essentially, these very, very large computers that would do nothing more than train for a period of time on all of the learnings in every country, in every language from the beginning of time until now be positioned to answer the questions to the future to advance these different industries. So we're seeing significant increases in the number of those training modules that customers need. It's our understanding that in order to support the training, we're going to need data centers that are of size and mentioned from a megawatt standpoint, that is far beyond what currently exists out there in the market.

我認為現在有多達 170 多個基礎模型需要訓練資料中心。這些東西可能是空氣動力學或製藥學，但本質上，這些非常非常大的計算機除了在一段時間內對每個國家、用每種語言從一開始到現在的所有學習內容進行訓練之外，什麼也做不了。因此，我們看到客戶所需的培訓模組數量顯著增加。我們的理解是，為了支援培訓，我們將需要一定規模的資料中心，並且從兆瓦的角度來看，這遠遠超出了目前市場上存在的資料中心。

Our next question comes from the line of Shahriar Pourreza with Guggenheim Partners.

我們的下一個問題來自 Shahriar Pourreza 與 Guggenheim Partners 的合作。

Maybe starting off on the disclosures. I mean, obviously, Dan, we've seen some major moves in the curves in recent weeks. You guys didn't really update the ranges on the enhanced gross margin for '24 and '25. Obviously realize you guys gave wide ranges, but I mean where are you relative to those curves, these curves?

也許從披露開始。我的意思是，顯然，丹，最近幾週我們看到曲線出現了一些重大變化。你們並沒有真正更新 24 年和 25 年毛利率提高的範圍。顯然意識到你們給出了很寬的範圍，但我的意思是你們相對於這些曲線的位置在哪裡？

Yes, we gave a huge amount of disclosure as you captured on the last call. Our approach to updating those is really going to be when we do a more comprehensive revisit of our guidance, right? What goes into enhance is more than just a power price, there's a lot going on in the commercial business and other positioning. So I think when you see us assuming we update our earnings guidance or our range as the year goes on, I think that's a good opportunity to refresh the disclosures we have, including our expectations for enhanced in '24 and '25.

是的，正如您在上次通話中捕獲的那樣，我們披露了大量資訊。當我們對我們的指導進行更全面的重新審視時，我們真正會更新這些內容，對吧？提升的不僅是電價，還有商業業務和其他定位方面的許多內容。因此，我認為，當你看到我們假設我們隨著時間的推移更新我們的盈利指引或範圍時，我認為這是一個刷新我們所披露信息的好機會，包括我們對24 和25 年增強的預期。

I think when you look at the curves, and Jim can share more thoughts on this, right, but there's been a lot of movement, depending on what day you pick. There's the price has been -- a lot of different prices, the near end of the curve, particularly in our markets has been probably more muted right at the back end where you're seeing a lot of the news largely. So I don't know that within the range you laid out that there's a lot of movement to what we shared with you for '24, '25 at this point in time. And Jim, do you want to talk about markets?

我認為當你看曲線時，吉姆可以分享更多對此的想法，對吧，但是有很多變化，這取決於你選擇哪一天。價格一直是——有很多不同的價格，曲線的近端，特別是在我們的市場中，在後端可能會更加安靜，在那裡你會看到很多新聞。因此，我不知道在您列出的範圍內，我們在 24 年、25 年與您分享的內容目前有很多變化。吉姆，你想談談市場嗎？

I think you hit it. I think that if you look out at more the '27, '28, '29 time frame, the market run-up we saw during the first quarter has kind of held on and maybe gone a little higher. The '25, '26 time frame has been a little bit more volatile in both directions, and that volatility is which Joe spoke to, right? When we see the continued baseload retirements and renewable penetration with energy demand, we're going to see volatility up and down. The out-year strength, I think, is certainly reflective of some of this increased demand that we're talking about, it's not real liquid out there. There's not a lot of trading volumes that can be done out in that time frame.

我認為你擊中了它。我認為，如果你更專注於「27」、「28」、「29」的時間框架，我們在第一季看到的市場上漲勢頭已經持續，甚至可能會更高一些。 '25、'26 的時間框架在兩個方向上都有點波動，喬談到的就是這種波動，對嗎？當我們看到基荷退役和再生能源滲透率與能源需求的持續成長時，我們將看到波動性的上下波動。我認為，去年的強勁勢頭肯定反映了我們正在談論的需求增加，但它並不是真正的流動性。在那個時間範圍內可以完成的交易量並不多。

And as Dan mentioned, in our last call we provided, the attribute value side. I think that's a good proxy for how price movements, whether it's energy prices or attributes or whatever could be picked up in some of our enhanced earnings. So there's some data, I think, from the last call that you can pick up there.

正如 Dan 所提到的，在我們上次的呼叫中，我們提供了屬性值方面。我認為這是一個很好的指標，可以反映價格變動的情況，無論是能源價格還是屬性，或任何可以從我們的一些增強收益中獲得的東西。我認為，您可以從上次通話中獲取一些數據。

Okay. It's perfect. So I guess, for '26, '27, '28, whatever, are you still within that 10% to 20% of consolidated range as a general rule of thumb?

好的。這是完美的。所以我想，對於“26”、“27”、“28”，無論如何，作為一般經驗法則，您是否仍在綜合範圍的 10% 到 20% 之內？

I think we use that as a rule of thumb, and I don't want to mark to market. But Shah, if you go back to the slide we had on attribute value in '28, you had $10, which is like the curve might have moved depending on market in that range. You can see those numbers get bigger and inevitably push you out of that 10% to 20% if you're just going to mark that one variable right now.

我認為我們將其作為經驗法則，我不想按市場定價。但 Shah，如果你回到 28 年關於屬性值的幻燈片，你會得到 10 美元，這就像曲線可能會根據該範圍內的市場而移動。您可以看到這些數字越來越大，如果您現在只想標記一個變量，則不可避免地將您推出 10% 到 20%。

Okay. Perfect. And then, Joe, lastly...

好的。完美的。然後，喬，最後…

It's Joe. I just want to reiterate the point that I think Jim and Dan are making. There's definitely -- we're certainly seeing upside if you were to freeze this moment in time in terms of the power prices later in the decade, but they're not all that liquid right now. So we'll see how it kind of evolves over time. And the right point for you to look at us is when we talk about guidance ranges, again, as we get through the year, we'll provide some more data points on that stuff. But I think it's exciting to see all of that it also is in a liquid market out there.

是喬。我只想重申吉姆和丹所表達的觀點。如果你在十年後的電價方面凍結這個時刻，我們肯定會看到上行空間，但它們現在並不那麼流動。因此，我們將看看它如何隨著時間的推移而演變。您關注我們的正確觀點是，當我們談論指導範圍時，隨著這一年的過去，我們將提供更多有關該內容的數據點。但我認為看到這一切也出現在流動性市場是令人興奮的。

Yes. No, I appreciate you addressing that because I mean, that's one of the key questions coming in to us is why didn't you mark like some of your other peers. So I appreciate the color there, Joe. And then just lastly for me, there's been a bunch of industry chatter on this. Are you considering a TMI restart at this time? If so, can you maybe talk a little bit about the capital involved in that and the time line?

是的。不，我很感謝您解決這個問題，因為我的意思是，我們面臨的關鍵問題之一是您為什麼沒有像其他一些同行那樣評分。所以我很欣賞那裡的顏色，喬。最後對我來說，業界對此有許多討論。您此時是否考慮重啟 TMI？如果是的話，您能否談談涉及的資金和時間表？

Shah, what we'll say is that we've obviously seen what happened with Palisades. I think that was brilliant, brilliant for the nation saw great support out of Michigan, great support out of the federal government. And we're not unaware of that, that opportunity exists for us. So we'll -- we're doing a good bit of thinking about a number of different opportunities, and that would probably be certainly one of those that we would think about. But we're not there yet to start disclosing capital and other things relating to that opportunity.

Shah，我們要說的是，我們顯然已經看到了 Palisades 發生的事情。我認為這太棒了，太棒了，因為這個國家得到了密西根州的大力支持，並得到了聯邦政府的大力支持。我們並非沒有意識到這一點，我們存在這樣的機會。因此，我們正在認真考慮許多不同的機會，這肯定是我們會考慮的機會之一。但我們還沒有開始披露與該機會相關的資本和其他資訊。

A lot of exciting things for us to do in uprate space as well. And I think you could kind of -- if these things fall into place, you could kind of see where Constellation might be the nation's leader in adding firm, clean energy to the grid. And so these things are huge, chunky things that really position America for the future. So we're going to stick with that until we have something more specific to report.

我們在升級空間中也可以做很多令人興奮的事情。我認為，如果這些事情落實到位，你就可以看到星座公司可能成為美國在向電網提供穩定、清潔能源方面的領導者。所以這些都是巨大而厚實的東西，真正為美國的未來定位。因此，我們將堅持這一點，直到我們有更具體的報告為止。

Our next question comes from the line of Steve Fleishman with Wolfe Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 Steve Fleishman。

I'm a little more of a peanut butter and chocolate Reese's fan, but I like the peanut butter and jelly reference. The -- just on the data center opportunity, maybe you could just give us a little more color because there's a lot of utilities talking about data center growth and even some of the companies talking about data centers related to gas plants. So just first on just -- first on the demand that you're seeing, but then maybe more importantly, any sense of kind of timing and just other things to execute beyond just customer demand? Like are there hurdles you need to get through on permitting, citing other things that set timing gap?

我更喜歡里斯的花生醬和巧克力，但我喜歡花生醬和果凍的參考。關於資料中心的機會，也許你可以給我們更多的色彩，因為有很多公用事業公司在談論資料中心的成長，甚至一些公司在談論與天然氣工廠相關的資料中心。因此，首先是——首先是您所看到的需求，但也許更重要的是，除了客戶需求之外，還有任何時機感以及需要執行的其他事情嗎？例如你需要克服許可方面的障礙，引用其他造成時間差距的事嗎？

Yes, Steve, I think the interest is like nothing else we've seen in 20 years in terms of the number of clients that are coming to us, the size and scale of the opportunity. So I would say that kind of the -- what you're hearing in the market is certainly accurate in terms of the inbound that we're getting from an origination team perspective and frankly, some of the outreach we're doing. So that's all seems to be right. Right now, it's focused on nuclear because the clients we're dealing with aren't interested as a general rule in emitting technologies. They have sustainability goals. They have 24/7 clean goals, and they want to stay on that path. So we're focused right now on the nuclear plant opportunity and monetizing the value of the attributes that we have.

是的，史蒂夫，我認為從來找我們的客戶數量、機會的規模和規模來看，我們 20 年來從未見過如此濃厚的興趣。所以我想說，你在市場上聽到的信息肯定是準確的，從我們從發起團隊的角度獲得的入站數據來看，坦白說，從我們正在做的一些外展來看。所以這一切似乎都是對的。目前，它的重點是核能，因為我們所處理的客戶通常對排放技術不感興趣。他們有永續發展目標。他們有 24/7 的明確目標，並且他們希望繼續沿著這條道路走下去。因此，我們現在的重點是核電廠機會，並將我們擁有的屬性的價值貨幣化。

But these are, as I mentioned earlier, very complicated. What's apparent to me is that our prospective customers in this space are all in a hot competition, one against another to grow this kind of capability, and there's a clear view out there that those companies that move most quickly will be the companies that get a durable advantage in this space. So they're incented to move very quickly. And we are too. We want to get this business going and to show the results to our owners. But with that said, Steve, there is complexity to these transactions. These are transactions that are longer in duration than any of the power contracts that we're used to talking about in this business and involve notional values that are quite a bit higher.

但正如我之前提到的，這些非常複雜。在我看來，顯而易見的是，我們在這個領域的潛在客戶都在激烈競爭，為了發展這種能力，相互競爭，而且有一個明確的觀點，即那些行動最快的公司將是那些獲得成功的公司。因此，他們有動力迅速採取行動。我們也是。我們希望讓這項業務繼續下去，並向我們的業主展示結果。但話雖如此，史蒂夫，這些交易還是很複雜的。這些交易的持續時間比我們在該行業中習慣談論的任何電力合約都要長，並且涉及的名義價值要高得多。

So there's work that needs to be done diligence that needs to be done. In terms of things that are connected in front of the meter and if we're going to talk about PJM, for example, there's a load integration process that people have to get through in order to site a data center on the grid. And this is a network integration service study that could take months at best and years at worst. So a number of these customers are looking at co-location opportunities to hasten the speed in which they could become operational.

因此，有些工作需要勤勉地完成。就儀表前面連接的事物而言，例如，如果我們要討論 PJM，人們必須完成一個負載整合過程才能在電網上建立資料中心。這是一項網路整合服務研究，最好的情況可能需要數月，最壞的情況可能需要數年時間。因此，許多客戶正在尋找託管機會，以加快營運速度。

So if you're looking behind the fence line of the plan or a co-located opportunity, there's a necessary study process. It's another PJM process and PJM was clear in its amendments to its documents most recently that you could go either on the grid or behind the fence line, but there's a different process. We have become quite good at using the tools that PJM uses in their necessary study work so that we could look across our fleet at places where we think we could add the load behind the fence line. We went through a necessary study process at LaSalle. And as it so happens, we were doing that in the case of the hydrogen hub that was intended to be built out there. So we did a study for 900 megawatts and we were able to match up very closely our ability to model PJM's work and be able to simulate that here at Constellation.

因此，如果您正在尋找計劃的界限或同一地點的機會，則需要進行必要的研究過程。這是另一個 PJM 流程，PJM 在最近對其文件的修訂中明確表示，您可以在發車區或柵欄線後面，但有一個不同的流程。我們已經非常擅長使用 PJM 在必要的研究工作中使用的工具，以便我們可以在我們的車隊中尋找我們認為可以在柵欄線後面添加負載的地方。我們在拉薩爾經歷了必要的學習過程。碰巧的是，我們在打算在那裡建造的氫中心的情況下就是這樣做的。因此，我們進行了一項 900 兆瓦的研究，我們能夠非常接近地匹配我們對 PJM 工作進行建模的能力，並且能夠在 Constellation 進行模擬。

So I would say that we know very well where we could co-locate data centers and get through the PJM process, but that's a necessary study process that could take anywhere from 6 months to a year to resume. And once you have that, it goes through, I don't want to say perfunctory, but a fairly routine FERC approval process. And that would be the starting point. So if you have a necessary study done, what you're really talking about is having the transformers and the infrastructure, but you could kind of break ground pretty quickly. You don't have a necessary study done. You're going to have to wait for a year to figure out where you could co-locate.

因此，我想說，我們非常清楚可以在哪裡部署資料中心並完成 PJM 流程，但這是一個必要的研究過程，可能需要 6 個月到一年的時間才能恢復。一旦你有了這個，它就會通過，我不想說敷衍，而是相當常規的 FERC 批准流程。這就是起點。因此，如果您完成了必要的研究，那麼您真正談論的是擁有變壓器和基礎設施，但您可以很快破土動工。您沒有完成必要的研究。你將不得不等待一年才能弄清楚你可以在哪裡共處一處。

And then on the data company side, they also have the time that they need to build out the shell, the infrastructure, supporting all of the equipment inside cooling and likewise, and then actually build out the servers inside of it. So you have to anticipate a ramp rate. So from my perspective, this isn't something you're going to see people plop into service in '24, '25 [towns] ahead of others because they started earlier. But this is more stuff that begins in '26, '27, '28 and it ramps over time as the data centers are built. No one is plopping down a 1 gigawatt data -- and I've read reports of this. No one is plopping down a 1-gigawatt data center in 6 months to believe that completely and thoroughly misunderstands the amount of work needed to get this stuff done.

然後在數據公司方面，他們也有時間建造外殼、基礎設施、支援內部冷卻等所有設備，然後實際建造其中的伺服器。所以你必須預測斜坡率。因此，從我的角度來看，這不會是你會看到人們在 24、25 年[城鎮]先於其他人投入服務，因為他們開始得更早。但這是更多從 26 年、27 年、28 年開始的事情，隨著資料中心的建設，它會隨著時間的推移而增加。沒有人會放下 1 吉瓦的數據——我讀過這方面的報告。沒有人會在 6 個月內建成一座 1 吉瓦的資料中心，相信這是完全徹底誤解了完成這些工作所需的工作量。

So the contracts have a scaling component to them. You saw kind of an example of that in the town, the Susquehanna deal that was done. That's similar to ramp rates that you would see in other things. And that's why I'm pretty confident we'll be able to manage the energy demands on the system because you likewise will ramp into this load. So that's what I'm seeing here. A couple of years before you're able to really start delivering the megawatts and then it ramps steadily after that. What we're trying to do is get the contracts done that lay out the gross amount of megawatts that are going to be needed, the time frame over which they're going to be needed and allows us to begin necessary infrastructure work with an understanding that we're doing the PJM study and other things on a parallel path even as we speak here this morning.

因此，合約具有擴展組件。你在鎮上看到了這樣的一個例子，即已完成的薩斯奎哈納交易。這與您在其他事物中看到的斜坡率類似。這就是為什麼我非常有信心我們能夠管理系統的能源需求，因為您同樣會增加這種負載。這就是我在這裡看到的。幾年後，您才能真正開始提供兆瓦級的電力，然後穩定成長。我們正在努力做的是完成合同，列出將需要的兆瓦總量、所需的時間範圍，並使我們能夠在了解情況的情況下開始必要的基礎設施工作即使我們今天早上在這裡發言，我們也在並行進行PJM 研究和其他事情。

Okay. Is it -- do you think you'll be able to have something to announce by the end of the year?

好的。你認為你能在今年年底前宣布一些事情嗎？

Look, I'll stick with this. We are working fast. Our clients want to work fast. For competitive reasons, I don't want to lay out when we think announcements are going to come, and I don't think it would be fair to our clients to do that either at this point. There's work that is underway. We've got a lot of folks thinking about it and working on it, again, as this call is progressing. So I'm confident that we are going to be able to get to the finish line on these things, but we still have some work to do. And I don't want to lay out a time frame for announcement.

聽著，我會堅持下去。我們工作很快。我們的客戶希望快速工作。出於競爭原因，我不想透露我們認為何時會發佈公告，而且我認為此時這樣做對我們的客戶也不公平。有工作正在進行中。隨著這次電話會議的進展，我們有許多人再次思考並致力於此。因此，我相信我們能夠完成這些事情，但我們仍然有一些工作要做。我不想制定公佈的時間表。

Okay. Just one other quick question. The law that passed on the Russia limits on nuclear enriched -- nuclear and then investing in U.S. enrichment. Can you just talk about your nuclear fuel -- update on your nuclear fuel positioning and the impact of that law?

好的。還有一個簡單的問題。俄羅斯通過的法律限制核濃縮，然後投資美國的濃縮。您能談談您的核燃料嗎？

Yes, Steve, I think on this one, there's not a whole lot more to report. In effect, we -- when we took the actions we took a couple of years -- over a year ago now. We were anticipating the passage of the band as we reported at the time. It took a little bit longer to get through Congress, but it's now there. It's now realized. So I think it just simply supports the strategy that we put in place a year ago. We think we are in a very solid position, kind of industry-leading solid position with regard to fuel. And we also are happy to see now investments in this domestic supply chain, which means that after this period of time where we've grown inventory, we're confident that we're going to have available and recently priced fuel to run this fleet for the next decade.

是的，史蒂夫，我認為在這一點上，沒有太多可報告的了。實際上，當我們採取幾年前採取的行動時，我們已經是一年多前了。正如我們當時報導的那樣，我們正在期待樂隊的通過。國會花了一點時間才獲得通過，但現在已經到了。現在已經實現了。所以我認為它只是支持我們一年前所製定的策略。我們認為我們處於非常穩固的地位，在燃料方面處於行業領先的穩固地位。我們也很高興看到現在對該國內供應鏈的投資，這意味著在我們增加庫存的這段時間之後，我們有信心我們將擁有可用且最近定價的燃料來運行這支車隊未來十年。

Our next question comes from the line of Durgesh Chopra with Evercore ISI.

我們的下一個問題來自 Durgesh Chopra 與 Evercore ISI 的關係。

Maybe just -- you obviously authorized additional $1 billion in share buybacks. I know there is no direct answer to this, but can you just help us kind of think through what is your calculus when you're thinking about incremental investment opportunities versus deploying capital on share buybacks and considering M&A in the future?

也許只是——你顯然授權額外 10 億美元的股票回購。我知道這個問題沒有直接的答案，但是當您考慮增量投資機會與在股票回購上部署資本以及考慮未來的併購時，您能幫助我們思考一下您的計算方式嗎？

Yes. I don't mind talking about it at all. It really is a summation of everything we've talked about in the call. We think we have a very good strategy here. We think as we compare that to M&A opportunities, the unrealized value in Constellation seems to be the best place for us to put our investment dollar right now. It has -- we have been buying shares of this company since we were, what, in the $80 and we saw a little bit of a drop in prices. We had some kind of negative, I would say, analyst reports at that point in time. We didn't believe it. We told you we didn't believe it. We told you we'd buy the company all day long. We still feel that way today because what we're looking at is the potential growth in our business, the opportunities that we know we're working on, the fundamentals and power markets and sustainability goals that I talked about earlier.

是的。我根本不介意談論它。這確實是我們在電話中討論的所有內容的總結。我們認為我們在這裡有一個非常好的策略。我們認為，與併購機會相比，星座的未實現價值似乎是我們目前投入資金的最佳地點。從那時起，我們就一直以 80 美元的價格購買這家公司的股票，我們看到價格略有下降。我想說，當時我們有一些負面的分析師報告。我們不相信。我們告訴過你我們不相信。我們一整天都告訴你我們會買下這家公司。今天我們仍然有這種感覺，因為我們關注的是我們業務的潛在成長、我們知道我們正在努力的機會、我之前談到的基本面、電力市場和永續發展目標。

I think that unrealized value is the best thing out there to go buy into. And so when we have extra cash, we're going to buy into that, and that's precisely what we're doing. The only thing that will like better than that is making ourselves bigger and better. So these uprate opportunities or other things where we could add megawatts of scale give us a great positioning and are actually supportive of the work we're doing with the data companies. So that's where I think you're going to see our deployment and capital. We'll continue to look at reinvesting in ourselves and investing in these organic opportunities. Presently, I don't see an M&A opportunity on the horizon is at a scale that is going to enter into this conversation because I don't think those opportunities provide equivalent value to our owners is investing in ourselves for the growth -- organic growth opportunities that we have here.

我認為未實現的價值是最好的選擇。因此，當我們有多餘的現金時，我們就會買入，而這正是我們正在做的事情。唯一比這更好的事情就是讓自己變得更大、更好。因此，這些升級機會或其他可以增加兆瓦規模的事情為我們提供了很好的定位，並且實際上支持了我們與數據公司所做的工作。因此，我認為您將在此處看到我們的部署和資本。我們將繼續考慮對自己進行再投資並投資於這些有機機會。目前，我認為即將出現的併購機會的規模不會進入本次對話，因為我認為這些機會不會為我們的所有者提供同等的價值，而我們的所有者正在投資於我們自己以實現增長——有機成長我們在這裡擁有的機會。

That's very clear, Joe. I appreciate all that color. And then can I just switch gears and quickly a follow-up in regards to the nuclear PTC guidance, what is the key -- what are the key items for us to look there? Is it the definition of gross receipts and just how do you see that playing out? Anything you can share there?

這很清楚，喬。我很欣賞所有這些顏色。然後我可以換個方向，快速跟進核 PTC 指導嗎？這是總收入的定義嗎？有什麼可以分享的嗎？

Well, I wish I could. We're waiting for treasury guidance as we've probably said this on [forward] calls. But it is not as near as we could tell a high priority item for treasury because it has a narrow application out there. It's really just nuclear owners that are looking for. We think spot is most likely going to be the thing that prevails. So the spot price over the year at the bus of the plant, that's going to be energy and capacity coupled together, are going to be the measuring stick that the treasury will use for the application of the PTC. That's kind of consistent with the vast majority of the comments in this area. That's certainly, we think that's where they're going. But we just don't know yet because they haven't announced anything, and we're waiting on that. But our planning is based on that spot interpretation as we've outlined previously.

好吧，我希望我能。我們正在等待財政部的指導，因為我們可能已經在[遠期]電話會議上說過這一點。但它並不像我們可以說的那樣接近財政部的高優先項目，因為它的應用範圍很窄。實際上只是核子擁有者在尋找。我們認為現貨很可能會成為主流。因此，工廠母線全年的現貨價格（即能源和產能耦合在一起）將成為財政部用於應用 PTC 的衡量標準。這與該領域的絕大多數評論是一致的。當然，我們認為這就是他們要去的地方。但我們還不知道，因為他們還沒有宣布任何消息，我們正在等待。但我們的計劃是基於我們之前概述的現場解釋。

At this time, I would now like to turn the call back over to Joe for closing remarks.

現在，我想將電話轉回給喬，讓他發表結束語。

Well, again, [Towana] thank you for kicking us off this morning. Thanks to all of you. We very much appreciate your interest in Constellation. I want to thank our women and men for a fantastic quarter. We look for more to come as the year goes forward. You know we're working on a lot of different things here at the company. The wind is at our backs, we feel very confident about the future and the fact that our best days are ahead. So look forward to catching up with you again on next quarterly earnings call. With that, I'll close the call.

好吧，[Towana] 再次感謝您今天早上讓我們離開。感謝大家。我們非常感謝您對 Constellation 的興趣。我要感謝我們的男女員工度過了一個美好的季度。隨著時間的推移，我們期待更多的事情發生。你知道我們公司正在做很多不同的事情。風在我們身後，我們對未來充滿信心，我們最好的日子就在前方。因此，期待在下一個季度的財報電話會議上再次與您聯繫。這樣，我就結束通話了。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.

女士們先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。大家，祝你有美好的一天。