Utilities
Utilities - Diversified
$9.25B
10K
The AES Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified power generation and utility company in the United States and internationally. The company owns and/or operates power plants to generate and sell power to customers, such as utilities, industrial users, and other intermediaries; owns and/or operates utilities to generate or purchase, distribute, transmit, and sell electricity to end-user customers in the residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental sectors; and generates and sells electricity on the wholesale market. It uses various fuels and technologies to generate electricity, such as coal, gas, hydro, wind, solar, and biomass, as well as renewables comprising energy storage and landfill gas. The company owns and/or operates a generation portfolio of approximately 34,596 megawatts and distributes power to 2.6 million customers. The company was formerly known as Applied Energy Services, Inc. and changed its name to The AES Corporation in April 2000. The AES Corporation was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.
Key insights and themes extracted from this filing
Net income increased by $984 million, from a net loss of $182 million in 2023 to a net income of $802 million in 2024. This is primarily due to lower impairments, unrealized foreign currency gains, and a gain on the sale of AES Brasil.
Adjusted EBITDA decreased by $189 million year-over-year, driven by drought conditions and outages in Colombia, and lower margins at the Energy Infrastructure SBU due to prior year merchant Southland facilities that are now contracted for capacity.
Adjusted EBITDA with Tax Attributes increased by $513 million, primarily due to higher realized tax attributes driven by more renewables projects placed in service.
AES completed construction or acquisition of 3.0 GW of renewables, primarily in the United States and Chile, and signed long-term contracts for 4.4 GW of renewables, bringing total backlog to 11.9 GW.
AES closed the sale of its 47.3% interest in AES Brasil for approximately $630 million, including sale and hedge proceeds. This aligns with their strategy to focus on key growth markets.
AES announced a strategic partnership to support AES Ohio's robust growth plans by agreeing to sell a 30% indirect interest to CDPQ for approximately $546 million, showing commitment to future growth.
AES is focused on managing fixed costs and reducing them over time, a driver of business performance. This is achieved through operational efficiency and strategic sourcing.
Management identified a material weakness in internal control over financial reporting related to the disposition of AES Brasil and is taking steps to remediate the weakness, indicating proactive management.
AES Colombia's results of operations are driven by hydrology, and the company is committed to supporting its customers to diversify their energy supply and become more competitive.
The company faces certain risks and uncertainties related to numerous environmental laws and regulations, including existing and potential GHG legislation or regulations, and actual or potential laws and regulations pertaining to water discharges, waste management, and certain air emissions.
The company is in the business of generating and distributing electricity, which involves certain risks that can adversely affect financial and operating performance, including changes in the availability of generation facilities or distribution systems due to increases in scheduled and unscheduled plant outages, equipment failure, failure of transmission systems, labor disputes, disruptions in fuel supply, poor hydrologic and wind conditions, inability to comply with regulatory or permit requirements, or catastrophic events.
Wind, solar, hydrogen, and energy storage projects are subject to substantial risks. Some of these business lines are dependent upon favorable regulatory incentives to support continued investment, and there is significant uncertainty about the extent to which such favorable regulatory incentives, in particular, those associated with the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, will be available in the future.
The company was ranked the #1 provider of clean energy globally to corporations by BloombergNEF, representing the third consecutive year as a top seller.
The power production markets in which we operate are characterized by numerous strong and capable competitors, many of whom may have extensive and diversified developmental or operating experience and financial resources similar to, or greater than, ours.
AES is actively working to develop new renewable energy projects that may increase its market share in the Mexican National Energy System, with a strong commitment to provide energy support for the economic growth of the country.
For all generation businesses, managing fixed costs and reducing them over time is a driver of business performance, indicating a focus on operational efficiency.
Our contract and short-term sales provide incentives to our generation plants to optimally manage availability, operating efficiency and flexibility. Capacity payments under contract sales are frequently tied to meeting minimum standards.
Constraints imposed by the capacity of transmission lines connecting the west side of the country with the load, keeping surplus power trapped during the rainy season, negatively impact operations in Panama.
AES partnered with the AI Fund to combine its power sector expertise with the fund's artificial intelligence capabilities, leveraging generative AI technology to address bottlenecks in the energy transition.
Following the merger, ACED expanded organic and inorganic efforts to become a clear leader in the U.S. renewables industry. In 2024, it built off its successes in customer-centric mergers and acquisitions to add over 1 GW of high-quality projects to its backlog.
AES launched Maximo, an Al-enabled solar robot offering faster, safer, and more cost-effective solar deployment than traditional methods.
AES Indiana plans to spend an estimated $2.8 billion on capital projects from 2025 through 2027, which includes AES Indiana's power generation and renewable energy projects discussed above, spending under AES Indiana's TDSIC Plan, as well as other new transmission and distribution projects.
In 2024 and 2022, AES Indiana received equity capital contributions of $225 million and $253 million, respectively, from AES and CDPQ on a proportional share basis to be used for funding needs related to AES Indiana's TDSIC and replacement generation projects.
AES Clean Energy works with its customers to co-create and deliver the smarter, greener energy solutions that meet their needs, including 24/7 carbon-free energy. For example, AES has worked with several major technology companies to provide clean energy solutions to power their network of data centers and we see these relationships growing as utilization of generative artificial intelligence drives the expansion of data center use.
AES is committed to reducing the carbon intensity of the Chilean power grid and plans to increase the renewable energy capacity in its portfolio. As part of this commitment, AES Chile is building wind, solar, and battery projects to supply AES Andes' agreements with its main mining customers.
Electromobilty is also being promoted by AES Soluciones through a partnership with Blink Charger in order to design and deploy a private network of electric chargers throughout the country.
At AES, our people are instrumental to helping us meet the world's energy needs. Supporting our people is a foundational value for AES. Our actions are grounded in the shared values that shape AES' culture: Safety First, Highest Standards, and All Together.
Our Renewables SBU is well-positioned to take advantage of the growth in data centers driven by the increase in power demand for generative artificial intelligence.
Our generation businesses are affected by seasonal weather patterns and, therefore, operating margin is not generated evenly throughout the year. Additionally, weather variations, including temperature, solar and wind resources, and hydrological conditions, may also have an impact on generation output at our renewable generation facilities.
Regulatory changes in the Bulgarian power market impact AES Bulgaria. In December 2022, Bulgaria implemented Regulation 2022/1854, approved by the European Council in October 2022 as an emergency intervention aiming at limiting energy prices in Europe.