'It’s dragging us down, but we ride the waves': EDPR chief on Trump election win

Political cycles come and go but the fundamentals for renewables remain strong, not least technology giants scrambling to power their data centres, EDPR chief Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade told analysts today in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.

D’Andrade was speaking on an earnings call today discussing the Portuguese renewables developer’s nine-month profits, which have halved to €210m ($226m) year-on-year, largely due to lower gains from asset rotation in 2024.

Analysts were keen to know how a second Trump term will impact EDPR, which is owned by Portuguese utility EDP. The developer has over 7GW of renewables assets in the US – approaching half its portfolio – with many more projects in the pipeline.

Trump promised to “drill baby, drill” should he retake the White House, coupled with a continued hatred of “bullshit” wind power, although he has taken a softer line in solar.

D’Andrade stressed that the US renewables sector “experienced strong growth during Trump’s first presidency” from 2017 to 2021.

Since then, the Democratic Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has turbocharged green growth through $369bn of subsidies. There has been much speculation over the fate of this legislation under Trump, who has vowed to overturn it.

A second Trump presidency also raises the prospect of a ramping up of tariffs on imports, which will impact the US green and clean energy sectors.

D’Andrade said that EDPR is “very well positioned” to weather this when it comes to solar panels and batteries given its high level of domestic procurement, citing a deal with Tesla as an example. He did not however elaborate on this regarding wind turbines.

Regarding offshore wind, which he noted has faced “vocal opposition,” he said that EDPR – whose joint venture subsidiary Ocean Winds is developing projects in the US – would exercise a “measured, cautious approach”.

EDPR is exposed to the US offshore wind sector to the tune of €400m, D’Andrade revealed.

D’Andrade said that there will be “uncertainties” in the political transition, including “key people being appointed” in the Trump administration, and that EDPR would continue to monitor the situation over the coming weeks and months.

“Long-term macro trends” continue to be in favour of renewables regardless of political cycles, insisted d’Andrade. This is not least thanks to tech giants who are “scrambling” to meet the booming power demands of their data centres with clean energy.

“Nuclear is not going to solve that any time soon,” he said. “The solution is either renewables or gas,” which given the desire of tech giants to hit ambitious net zero targets favours the former.

D’Andrade said that tech giants continue to sign up to Power Purchase Agreements for renewables assets with “healthy” prices exceeding $60/MWh.

D’Andrade also referenced the effect that Trump’s election has had on EDPR’s share price, which is down almost 12% at time of writing. “EDPR is a more volatile stock,” he said. “The day after the US election it clearly seems to be dragging us down significantly.”

“We ride out the different political waves and the market sentiment,” he said. “These cycles happen, you have to stay focused on the execution and on delivering the megawatts and cutting the costs.”