All amounts in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated BROOKFIELD, News, May 03, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (TSX:BEP, NYSE:BEP) ("Brookfield Renewable Partners", "BEP") today reported financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2024. "We had a strong start to the year delivering record results and executing on our business plans. We signed a landmark agreement with Microsoft, which expands on our longstanding partnership, to deliver over 10.5 gigawatts of additional renewable energy capacity to enable the growth of their AI powered cloud services business," said Connor Teskey, CEO of Brookfield Renewable. "The agreement is a testament to our ability to deliver scale clean power solutions to our leading global corporate partners and the exponential demand we are seeing for renewable energy to support data center development. During the quarter we were also successful advancing our development and growth activities and are well positioned to deploy significant capital into a robust pipeline of attractive opportunities and build on our track record of value creation."     For the three months endedMarch 31 US$ millions (except per unit amounts), unaudited   2024     2023   Net income (loss) attributable to Unitholders $ (120 ) $ (32 ) –   per LP unit(1)   (0.23 )   (0.09 ) Funds From Operations (FFO)(2)   296     275   –   per Unit(2)(3)   0.45     0.43   Brookfield Renewable reported FFO of $296 million in the quarter, or $0.45 per unit for the three months ended March 31, 2024, an 8% increase compared to the prior year. The strong results reflect solid resources across our hydro fleet and the impact from development and growth initiatives. These results position us well to deliver our target 10%+ FFO per unit growth for the year. After deducting non-cash depreciation and other expenses, our Net loss attributable to Unitholders for the three months ended March 31, 2024 was $120 million. Key highlights: Advanced commercial priorities, including securing contracts to deliver an incremental ~5,200 gigawatt hours per year of generation in addition to the announced partnership with Microsoft. Continued to progress development activities during the quarter and expect to bring on ~7,000 megawatts of new renewable capacity this year. Progressed asset recycling activities that are expected to generate $3 billion of proceeds ($1.3 billion net to Brookfield Renewable) this year at attractive returns. Strengthened our balance sheet by executing approximately $6 billion of financings, ending the quarter with $4.4 billion of available liquidity to deploy into a very attractive investment environment. We are Positioned as the Leading Clean Power Provider to the Digitalizing Global Economy As the accelerating global trends of cloud computing, digitalization, and adoption of AI continue to drive significant growth in demand for power, we are fortunate to be a key enabler of one of the most significant growth trends in recent history. Demand for cloud computing and AI is incentivizing the leading technology companies to scale their investment in these areas, and the key requirements needed to deliver these products are computing power and energy. However, existing energy infrastructure is not enough, meaning sourcing additional sustainable renewable power at scale is on the critical path to growth for these companies. In May we signed a landmark renewable energy framework agreement with Microsoft, furthering our strategic partnership, where we expect to deliver them over 10,500 megawatts of new renewable energy capacity in the U.S. and Europe between 2026 and 2030. The first-of-its-kind agreement, which is almost eight times larger than the largest single corporate PPA ever signed, will assist Microsoft's data center growth and support its investment in AI powered cloud services. The agreement positions us well to deliver over 7,000 megawatts of new capacity annually through the end of the decade. There are further opportunities to partner with Microsoft, with whom we are already set to deliver almost 1,000 megawatts of projects through 2025. The agreement includes provisions to increase its scope to deliver additional renewable energy capacity within the U.S. and Europe, and beyond to Asia-Pacific, India, and Latin America. The partnership is a testament to our differentiated offering which is characterized by our significant access to capital and credibility to deliver scale clean power solutions from our extensive pipeline of advanced stage projects, which are well positioned from an interconnection and permitting perspective in many key data center markets globally. While this partnership is a first-of-its-kind, given the significant scale of investment required to meet the increase in energy demand, we believe we are uniquely positioned to be a key enabler of growth for the largest technology players through similar arrangements. Our access to scale capital, sizeable development pipeline, and ability to commission significant capacity concurrently to meet this demand differentiates us as a partner. We are also uniquely positioned to provide a tailored solution to help address our customers' needs. Our ability to provide scale 24/7 clean power solutions through the combination of our large portfolio of existing hydro assets, our leading nuclear services business, and other renewable power capacity from across the technology spectrum also distinguishes our offering; this is translating to favorable contracting opportunities. Operating Results We generated FFO of $296 million, or $0.45 per unit, representing an 8% increase from the prior year as we benefited from our diverse operating assets and contribution from our growth and development activities. Our hydro assets continue to exhibit strong cash flow resiliency given our diversified asset base, inflation-linked power purchase agreements, and ability to realize strong power prices. Our hydroelectric segment delivered FFO of $193 million driven by solid resources across our fleet, which resulted in generation at 105% of the long-term average, and strong all-in pricing. Our wind and solar segments generated a combined $148 million of FFO, benefiting from recently closed acquisitions and the commissioning of new projects. We continue to execute on development, further diversifying our business and reducing quarter-over-quarter volatility. Our distributed energy and storage, and sustainable solutions segments generated a combined $67 million of FFO. We continued to scale our distributed generation business with strong growth in our backlog of projects that we expect to commission over the next few years and benefited from our acquisition of Westinghouse, where we continue to see robust performance. Balance Sheet & Liquidity Our financial position remains strong with $4.4 billion of available liquidity enabling us to deploy significant capital into growth. During the quarter we further strengthened our balance sheet executing almost $6 billion in financings. Globally, we continue to see robust financing markets and have been actively extending maturities at attractive pricing with spreads near historic lows. In January, we issued C$400 million of 30-year notes at 5.3% and meaningfully extended our debt maturity profile. Later in the quarter we issued $150 million of fixed rate perpetual subordinated notes, with proceeds being used to refinance outstanding preferred shares that were scheduled to reset in early April. The newly issued notes are 70 bps cheaper than the reset rate of the outstanding preferred shares we redeemed, saving us almost $5 million over the next five years. The market for the right type of renewable power assets continues to strengthen as the outlook for interest rates has stabilized. Our large and growing portfolio of contracted operating assets with fixed rate non-recourse financing and pipeline of derisked projects are in high demand from lower cost of capital buyers. We are fortunate to have launched a significant pipeline of asset sales into this environment which we are advancing. In aggregate we are targeting to generate $3 billion of proceeds ($1.3 billion net to Brookfield Renewable) this year at attractive returns. Considering public market conditions and our strong conviction in the intrinsic value of our business, we allocated capital to repurchase our units in the quarter. In the last nine months, we repurchased over 4 million units under our normal course issuer bid. Looking forward, we will continue to allocate capital based on where we are seeing the best risk-adjusted returns and remain confident we will continue to create meaningful value for our investors. Distribution Declaration The next quarterly distribution in the amount of $0.355 per LP unit, is payable on June 28, 2024 to unitholders of record as at the close of business on May 31, 2024. In conjunction with the Partnership's distribution declaration, the Board of Directors of BEPC has declared an equivalent quarterly dividend of $0.355 per share, also payable on June 28, 2024 to shareholders of record as at the close of business on May 31, 2024. Brookfield Renewable targets a sustainable distribution with increases targeted on average at 5% to 9% annually. The quarterly dividends on BEP's preferred shares and preferred LP units have also been declared. Distribution Currency Option The quarterly distributions payable on the BEP units and BEPC shares are declared in U.S. dollars. Unitholders who are residents in the United States will receive payment in U.S. dollars and unitholders who are residents in Canada will receive the Canadian dollar equivalent unless they request otherwise. The Canadian dollar equivalent of the quarterly distribution will be based on the Bank of Canada daily average exchange rate on the record date or, if the record date falls on a weekend or holiday, on the Bank of Canada daily average exchange rate of the preceding business day. Registered unitholders who are residents in Canada who wish to receive a U.S. dollar distribution and registered unitholders who are residents in the United States wishing to receive the Canadian dollar distribution equivalent should contact Brookfield Renewable's transfer agent, Computershare Trust Company of Canada, in writing at 100 University Avenue, 8th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5J 2Y1 or by phone at 1-800-564-6253. Beneficial unitholders (i.e., those holding their units in street name with their brokerage) should contact the broker with whom their units are held. Distribution Reinvestment Plan Brookfield Renewable Partners maintains a Distribution Reinvestment Plan ("DRIP") which allows holders of BEP units who are residents in Canada to acquire additional LP units by reinvesting all or a portion of their cash distributions without paying commissions. Information on the DRIP, including details on how to enroll, is available on our website at www.bep.brookfield.com/stock-and-distribution/distributions/drip. Additional information on Brookfield Renewable's distributions and preferred share dividends can be found on our website at www.bep.brookfield.com. Brookfield Renewable Brookfield Renewable operates one of the world's largest publicly traded platforms for renewable power and sustainable solutions. Our renewable power portfolio consists of hydroelectric, wind, utility-scale solar and storage facilities in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Our operating capacity totals almost 34,000 megawatts and our development pipeline stands at approximately 157,000 megawatts. Our portfolio of sustainable solutions assets includes our investments in Westinghouse (a leading global nuclear services business) and a utility and independent power producer with operations in the Caribbean and Latin America, as well as both operating assets and a development pipeline of carbon capture and storage capacity, agricultural renewable natural gas and materials recycling. Investors can access the portfolio either through Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (NYSE:BEP, TSX:BEP), a Bermuda-based limited partnership, or Brookfield Renewable Corporation ((NYSE, TSX:BEPC), a Canadian corporation. Further information is available at https://bep.brookfield.com. Important information may be disseminated exclusively via the website; investors should consult the site to access this information. Brookfield Renewable is the flagship listed renewable power and transition company of Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global alternative asset manager with over $900 billion of assets under management. Please note that Brookfield Renewable's previous audited annual and unaudited quarterly reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and securities regulators in Canada, are available on our website at https://bep.brookfield.com, on SEC's website at www.sec.gov and on SEDAR+'s website at www.sedarplus.ca. Hard copies of the annual and quarterly reports can be obtained free of charge upon request. Contact information:   Media: Investors: Simon Maine Alex Jackson Managing Director – Communications Vice President – Investor Relations +44 (0)7398 909 278 (416)-649-8196 Quarterly Earnings Call Details Investors, analysts and other interested parties can access Brookfield Renewable's First Quarter 2024 Results as well as the Letter to Unitholders and Supplemental Information on Brookfield Renewable's website at https://bep.brookfield.com. The conference call can be accessed via webcast on May 3, 2024 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/pk262rue/ Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. Consolidated Statements of Financial Position     As of UNAUDITED March 31 December 31 (MILLIONS) 2024 2023 Assets         Cash and cash equivalents     $ 1,423     $ 1,141 Trade receivables and other financial assets(5)       4,184       5,237 Equity-accounted investments       2,484       2,546 Property, plant and equipment, at fair value and Goodwill       65,471       65,949 Deferred income tax and other assets(6)       1,548       1,255 Total Assets     $ 75,110     $ 76,128           Liabilities         Corporate borrowings(7)     $ 3,545     $ 2,833 Borrowings which have recourse only to assets they finance(8)       25,579       26,869 Accounts payable and other liabilities(9)       9,522       9,273 Deferred income tax liabilities       7,091       7,174           Equity         Non-controlling interests         Participating non-controlling interests – in operating               subsidiaries $ 18,669     $ 18,863   General partnership interest in a holding subsidiary held by                Brookfield   52       55    Participating non-controlling interests – in a holding subsidiary –                Redeemable/Exchangeable units held by Brookfield   2,529       2,684    BEPC exchangeable shares   2,336       2,479   Preferred equity   570       583   Perpetual subordinated notes   738       592   Preferred limited partners' equity   760       760   Limited partners' equity   3,719     29,373     3,963     29,979 Total Liabilities and Equity     $ 75,110     $ 76,128 Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. Consolidated Statements of Operating Results   UNAUDITED For the three months endedMarch 31 (MILLIONS, EXCEPT AS NOTED)   2024     2023   Revenues $ 1,492   $ 1,331   Other income   34     26   Direct operating costs(10)   (634 )   (401 ) Management service costs   (45 )   (57 ) Interest expense   (476 )   (394 ) Share of earnings from equity-accounted investments   (33 )   33   Foreign exchange and financial instrument gain   120     146   Depreciation   (502 )   (429 ) Other   (12 )   (54 ) Income tax recovery (expense)     Current   (28 )   (43 ) Deferred   14     19   Net income (loss) $ (70 ) $ 177                 Net income attributable to preferred equity, preferred limited partners' equity,             perpetual subordinated notes and non-controlling interests in operating subsidiaries $ (50 ) $ (209 ) Net loss attributable to Unitholders   (120 )   (32 ) Basic and diluted loss per LP unit $ (0.23 ) $ (0.09 ) Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows         For the three months endedMarch 31 UNAUDITED(MILLIONS)   2024     2023   Operating activities     Net income (loss) $ (70 ) $ 177   Adjustments for the following non-cash items:     Depreciation   502     429   Unrealized foreign exchange and financial instrument gain   (117 )   (130 ) Share of (earnings) loss from equity-accounted investments   33     (33 ) Deferred income tax expense   (14 )   (19 ) Other non-cash items   56     37       390     461   Net change in working capital and other(11)   (66 )   202       324     663   Financing activities     Net corporate borrowings   297     293   Non-recourse borrowings, commercial paper, and related party borrowings, net   647     (262 ) Capital contributions from participating non-controlling interests – in operating subsidiaries, net   151     994   Issuance of equity instruments, net and related costs   118     —   Distributions paid:     To participating non-controlling interests – in operating subsidiaries   (132 )   (142 ) To unitholders of Brookfield Renewable or BRELP   (260 )   (243 )     821     640   Investing activities     Acquisitions net of cash and cash equivalents in acquired entity   (11 )   (81 ) Investment in property, plant and equipment   (840 )   (572 ) Disposal (purchase) of associates and other assets   2     (539 ) Restricted cash and other   14     16       (835 )   (1,176 ) Foreign exchange gain (loss) on cash   (17 )   14   Cash and cash equivalents     Increase   293     141   Net change in cash classified within assets held for sale   (11 )   1   Balance, beginning of period   1,141     998   Balance, end of period $ 1,423   $ 1,140   PROPORTIONATE RESULTS FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDED MARCH 31 The following chart reflects the generation and summary financial figures on a proportionate basis for the three months ended March 31:   (GWh)     (MILLIONS)   Actual Generation     LTA Generation     Revenues     Adjusted EBITDA     FFO   2024 2023