Q2 2024 Boralex Inc Earnings Call
Speaker Change: Subtitles created by the Amara.org community
Speaker Change: Subtitles created by the Amara.org community
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Speaker Change: Stphane Milot, Patrick Decostre, Patrick Decostre,
Monsieur: Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the conference call on Bourg-Alex's financial results for the second quarter of 2024.
Speaker Change: Please note that all lines are for one month of listening only.
Speaker Change: At the end of the presentation, there will be a question and answer session during which financial analysts, shareholders, and investors will be invited to ask their questions by pressing star 1 and 1 on their phone or by using the question and answer window on the web.
Speaker Change: Please also note that this conference is being recorded. For webcast participants, you can also ask questions during the conference, but they will be answered by email after the call.
Speaker Change: In fact, media representatives who have questions are invited to contact directly when they venture, you will make public and external communication during is indicated at the end of the very astray statement.
Speaker Change: I would now like to hand over to Stéphane Milot, Vice President of Investor Relations at Pour Alex.
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: Notez également que le son de conférence est enregistré.
Speaker Change: For the webcast participants, you can also ask questions during the conference, but they will be answered by email after the call. Finally, media representatives are invited to contact Camilla Ventura, Public Affairs and External Communications Advisor.
Speaker Change: Your contact information is provided at the end of the neighborhood premonition.
Speaker Change: I will now turn the conference over to Stéphane Milot, Vice President of University Relations for Boralex. Please, go ahead.
Stéphane Milot: Thank you very much. Thank you, operator. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to BioLec's second quarter earnings conference.
Speaker Change: It is one of those days today, in this case, Patrick Decostre, our president and Chief Executive Officer, Bruno Guilmette, corrects executive vice-president and Chief Financial Officer, and other members of our management and finance team.
Speaker Change: It's a case we begin with how other conditions and Alice's example. Afterwards, Mr. Guilmette, you will have to make a choice about Alice. And so, we will subscribe to your questions.
Speaker Change: As you know, during this call, we will discuss historical as well as forward-looking information.
Speaker Change: When talking about the future, there are a variety of risk factors that have been listed in our different filings with securities regulators, which can materially change our estimated results.
Speaker Change: These documents are all available for consultation at cdocplus.ca.
Speaker Change: Dans notre document de présentation de webcast, les résultats annoncés sont présentés sur une base consolidée et sur une base combinée. Quand on parle des résultats, on parle généralement des chiffres combinés, et quand on parle du flux de cash et du chiffre de balance, on parle généralement des chiffres consolidés.
Speaker Change: Please note that the Combine is an ungapped financial measure and doesn't have to standardize meaning on their IFRs.
Speaker Change: Accordingly, Combined may not be comparable to similarly named measures used by other companies.
Speaker Change: For more details, see the Non-IFRS and Other Financial Measures section in the MD&A.
Speaker Change: On the Présolis, from MDNA, the Financial Council, Aitments, and the copies of the Ais of the Ais of Presentations. We are all posted on the barrax website www.barrax.com. We are in the investorception.
Speaker Change: If you wish to receive a copy of these documents, please contact me directly.
Speaker Change: Do I not want to do this moment, so I will do it.
Speaker Change: Thank you, Stéphane, and good morning, everyone.
Speaker Change: It's a pleasure for me to present our results and achievements for the second quarter and first half of 2024.
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: During the first half, we increased our EBITDA by 11%, our operating income by 21%, and our net income by 41%.
Speaker Change: Nous avons 851 mégawatts de projets sécurisés, prêts à construire et en phase de construction qui progresse comme prévu.
Speaker Change: Turbines are being installed in our projects Apwit in Quebec and Limekin in Scotland, which are getting closer to their expected commissioning date scheduled for the end of the year.
Speaker Change: I would also like to point out we started to record accounts receivable for the investment tax credit related to the APUIT project based on the qualifying property as at the end of the quarter. Bruno will elaborate on this later.
Speaker Change: Concernant LymeKin...
Speaker Change: We also closed the financing of the project during the quarter as our first financing in the UK.
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: Our DENEJ project, SUD project, is also progressing well.
Speaker Change: with commissioning expected in 2026.
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: and a wind project under the AR6 allocation round 6 request for proposal in the UK.
Speaker Change: As you can see, a lot has been accomplished so far this year and there is more to come.
Speaker Change: Going back to the quarterly results, production was lower than expected due to unfavorable weather conditions.
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: I don't look, I don't look, I don't look
Speaker Change: Our business performed well, generating a combined ABDA of 152 million, up 9 million, and the AFFO of 17 million, up 13, compared to the second quarter of 2023.
Speaker Change: The impact...
Speaker Change: From the Hour production, that is to say, by the positive impact of the Hour strategy to optimize the Electricity of sendings, and the contribution of the commissioner in France.
Speaker Change: Regarding market conditions,
Speaker Change: The demand for renewable energy in our markets remains high, creating a positive environment for the operation and the development of our activities.
Speaker Change: En Canada,
Speaker Change: The Clean Energy Investment Tax Credit received Royal Assent and was enacted last June .
Speaker Change: This will have a very positive impact on our project in Quebec and Ontario.
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: Nous sommes très bien positionnés, avec une forte frontière compétitive entre les deux marchés.
Speaker Change: In the United States, the federal government is concerned about the increase in the production of green products in China, and is therefore...
Speaker Change: imposing tariffs on important green glass technologies, including solar panels, to protect American industries.
Speaker Change: The market remains highly promising and we continue to develop and build our project.
Speaker Change: In Europe, the election of the Liberal Party in the United Kingdom is very promising, considering the new government's ambition to accelerate the development of renewable energy. Our goal is to accelerate our development in this market.
Speaker Change: Finally, in France, we're still waiting for a new government following the dissolution of the Assembly in June .
Speaker Change: in the meantime.
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: I will now rapidly cover the main variances in our portfolio of projects and growth paths.
Speaker Change: The change...
Speaker Change: In the pipeline was mainly due to the addition of solar and wind project in Europe in early stage.
Speaker Change: Changes.
Speaker Change: to the expected capacity of wind and solar projects in Europe and North America. Transition of solar and wind projects through the pipeline to the mid and advanced stages in Europe . In total,
Speaker Change: Our morning and advancement project now consists of totaling a project of about 6 gigawatts of wind, electricity, and storage.
Speaker Change: In the second quarter, the growth paths represent...
Speaker Change: a capacity of 851 megawatts.
Speaker Change: in 34 MW compared to the last quarters, following the commissioning of a 21 MW wind project and a 13 MW welding project in France.
Speaker Change: I won't go into detail through the progress made in our growth and diversification strategic direction, as I have already talked about the major highlights.
Speaker Change: On the customer strategic direction, we signed a three-year PPA with Stathcraft
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: We also continue to have advanced discussion with different corporations in France as the demand for renewable energy contracted at attractive price remains high.
Speaker Change: This completes my part. I will now let Bruno cover the financial portion in more detail, and we'll be back later for the question period.
Speaker Change: To you. Thank you, Patrick. Good morning, everyone. I will start with the review of the progress made in light of our 2025 corporate objectives.
Speaker Change: A balance sheet is solid with $621 million in available cash resources and authorized financing.
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: In addition, 21 million euros are accounted for mutual aid and other receivables, representing nearly half of the investment tax credit to be received for the Apriat establishment project in Quebec.
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: From a castral perspective,
Speaker Change: We should therefore receive cash from financing.
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: These credits will be amortized from the commissioning date of the contract and presented as other combined revenues.
Speaker Change: TOTAL DEBT
Speaker Change: remains stable in the second quarter of 2024, with project debt now representing 89% of the total.
Speaker Change: The reinvestment ratio is in line with our targets.
Speaker Change: Lastly, on our corporate objectives, we continue to make good progress on our CSR strategy as presented in our webcast presentation.
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: For more detailed information, including data on CO2 emissions and work done in relation to climate change and the TCFD initiatives,
Speaker Change: I invite you to read our latest CSR report, which was published in February 2024.
Speaker Change: I will now cover the financial results for the second quarter, starting with production.
Speaker Change: In North America, total production on a combined basis for the quarter was 2% higher than last year, but 7% lower than expected.
Speaker Change: Production for the hydro sector was 4% lower than last year and 9% lower than anticipated due to unfavorable weather conditions in Canada.
Speaker Change: Production from solar assets was 8% lower than the same quarter last year and 25% lower than anticipated.
Speaker Change: mainly due to curtailment requests in California.
Speaker Change: In Europe , total production was 2% lower than last year and 12% lower than anticipated, attributable to unfavorable weather conditions and the increase in curtailments in France.
Speaker Change: Overall, total production for the quarter was 1% higher than last year, but 8% lower than anticipated.
Speaker Change: The quarter combined revenues were down 12% compared to last year mostly due to lower prices and
Patrick Decostre: As mentioned by Patrick, we continue to make good progress on the FADA and AFFO numbers.
Patrick Decostre: Our financial position remains very solid.
Patrick Decostre: with a net debt-to-total market capital ratio of 42%.
Speaker Change: In conclusion, it is a good second quarter for 2024, by continuing the discipline and execution of our strategic plan.
Speaker Change: Delivering on Resolves and Numbers
Speaker Change: We have increased our FDA and AFFO compared to 2023.
Speaker Change: We further increased our financial flexibility, resulting in a solid financial position.
Speaker Change: And we continue to deliver on our four strategic orientations.
Speaker Change: Thank you for your attention, we are unable to have any questions.
Speaker Change: Thank you.
Speaker Change: As a reminder, to ask a question from the phone line, please press star 1 and 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 and 1 again.
Speaker Change: Once again, please press the 1 and 1 key on your phone and wait for your name to be announced. To cancel your question, please press the 1 and 1 key again.
Speaker Change: If you wish to ask a question via the webcast, please type them in the question box and click Submit. Thank you.
Speaker Change: We will now proceed to our first question.
Speaker Change: The questions come from the line of Nicola Boychuk from Cormac Securities. Please ask your question.
Speaker Change: Hello everyone. You mentioned that you were looking to accelerate the development of projects in the United Kingdom. Can you tell us a bit more about your expectations for this market in the coming years?
Speaker Change: Thank you.
Speaker Change: Good morning, Nick. Essentially, with the new government in the first...
Speaker Change: in the coming days.
Speaker Change: to abandon the wind project in England, which had been there for almost ten years, I think.
Speaker Change: This book has certain...
Speaker Change: Potential.
Speaker Change: Project in...
Speaker Change: in England, that's the first point. The second point is the significant increase
Speaker Change: to the allocation of the budget for...
Speaker Change: the part of the budget dedicated to onshore wind, so this increase.
Speaker Change: The like is wood
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: was in Toronto and I was there and she just confirmed they will accelerate.
Speaker Change: Planning Consent.
Speaker Change: for generation, onshore and offshore, and also for grid connection, and do whatever they can to accelerate the investment.
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: [inaudible] Finale, Finale, Finale, Finale, Finale, Finale
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Helene: and Hélène.
Helene: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: We have also higher different people in the UK from the outside, and we're also chasing potential M&A and off of...
Speaker Change: Fully consented project or a project in development because I think it's the right time to be in the UK and I think with the team we have there and the rest of the corporation bringing support to them, that's a great opportunity.
Speaker Change: [inaudible] Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
Speaker Change: Thank you!
Speaker Change: Thank you. We are now going to proceed with our next question.
Speaker Change: The questions come from the line of Mark Jarvi from CIBC. Please ask your question.
Speaker Change: [inaudible]
Speaker Change: Hi Marc, we have submitted two projects.
Speaker Change: which are already in our pipeline for aggregated power of 115 megawatt. We have a very disciplined approach of the bid.
Speaker Change: because we will have other possibility next year and the year after to bid this project in the following round and this will not delay them since there is some grid
Speaker Change: It's time for construction. We know when these projects will be connected, but we have no problem with delays if we win them next year. As I mentioned, the budget...
Speaker Change: It's a little bit different than last year. Last year, there was only one pot of budget for a project.
Speaker Change: and the offshore was not included, so there is a different pool for offshore and inshore, but the offshore has been significantly increased by the government. Therefore, the insurance price must be higher than what we could have expected in June, which is also good news.
Speaker Change: By following the expectations of a higher repair price, how would you say the revenue potential balances in the UK against the other markets you are focusing on?
Speaker Change: Subtitles created by the Amara.org community
Speaker Change: They are better than what we can get in France presently.
Speaker Change: And the projects are larger, 2 projects for 115 megawatts. It's a significant project, as you understand, compared to France.
Speaker Change: And what I also see is that, with the mechanism of being able to
Speaker Change: to choose the place to start, typically on LimeKey. We will start the CFD at the beginning of the year 2028, but we have this 'Merchant Nose' which is contracted at a very interesting price.
Speaker Change: pay-as-you-go production contract with StatGraph. We can benefit a little like the 18 months in France, but in this case, it would be 36 months.
Bruno: contracted and produced a high price today. This is a good optimization, and Bruno's team was able to negotiate very attractive financing to account for these 18 years of generation.
Bruno: Goodbye.
Speaker Change: Regarding the investment tax credit in Canada, you mentioned the Support, what other projects are there, the battery projects in Ontario?
Speaker Change: Do you have an idea of the percentage you could get from the CAPEX? Is there something you should give up to the opposing party? And can you quantify what you think the total tax refunds on the tax credits would be for Borlax?
Speaker Change: And my missing one.
Speaker Change: I think that's all for today.
Speaker Change: Goodbye.
Speaker Change: The key element is the April-Diagresville in particular, and the Ainage.
Speaker Change: When we started the negotiations and discussions with the offeror, we did not take the ITC into account in our revenues. This is therefore one of the fundamental cases of these projects. In the future, we hope that...
Speaker Change: and the suppliers, and so on, we will all take the ITC into account.
Speaker Change: of these initial projects where the final law was not heard.
Speaker Change: And so, there were risks in the fact that we did not take the ITC into account, so we did not take the risk of implementing the ITC, which represents a failure.
Speaker Change: which was recorded in June.
Speaker Change: But then if you look closely, I'm seeing Leicard.
Speaker Change: Thank you. Goodbye.
Speaker Change: I was going to say something like Tilbury and Oxford, where you probably had clarity that the ITC was going to pass. Is there a partial repair of the ITC?
Speaker Change: which is compared with the two.
Speaker Change: I appreciate that Hagerville is more advanced and that you are keeping all that. I am wondering about the following projects in Ontario and even about the wind projects where you have secured the RFP, one of the most recent RFP projects.
Speaker Change: We receive credit for eligible expenses. The question is whether, in the various contracts, this will continue to evolve.
Speaker Change: Mais si nous devons redonner une partie à l'utilité, par exemple, ou si les acheteurs vont ajuster leur prix en fonction de ce que nous avons vu aux Etats-Unis.
Speaker Change: That's really what I was saying about future projects, where we receive the credit, but eventually, it can be more shared among the different players in the chain.
Speaker Change: When do you think you will have clarity on these projects, in terms of sharing?
Speaker Change #100: When we finally signed the different contracts, so it will keep evolving.
Speaker Change #101: On Tilbury, we have taken the price into account. Obviously, we have put some money into the price, but we receive the credit.
Speaker Change #101: OK. All right, I'll leave it there for today. Thank you. I'm not sure if I'm clear. Marc, is that clear? Just to be very clear, on this project, we are not sharing the credit after...
Speaker Change #102: The contracts are signed and the contracts are already signed. It was not an assumption when we voted.
Speaker Change #103: except on Tilbury, because we have decided at that time to be a little bit more aggressive in terms of risk. We have been right, but these two projects also have very good news in terms of CAPEX themselves, battery and BOP, compared to...
Speaker Change #104: to the company, so they really have a good reward, a reward expected today.
Speaker Change #105: Understood. Yes, that makes sense. Thank you.
Speaker Change #106: Thank you.
Speaker Change #107: We will now proceed to our next question.
Speaker Change #108: The questions come from Sean Stewart's line from TD Cowan, please ask a question.
Sean Stewart: Thank you, hello. I have a few questions regarding the progress in optimizing sales prices in France.
Speaker Change #110: Can you give us an overview of the expected progress on this front over the next few quarters? Or have most of the gains already been realized?
Speaker Change #111: Basically, we have a strategy for...
Speaker Change #112: Set the price with the off-taker, there is...
Speaker Change #113: Typically, we have two streams of projects under this framework. We have the contract completed in April 2022.
Speaker Change #114: and we signed a contract for all these projects with the Expo, and we set the price at the maximum at that time for the years 2025 and 2026.
Speaker Change #114: When it was possible. For the 18 months...
Speaker Change #115: Merchand News.
Speaker Change #115: We did it.
Speaker Change #117: in Q1 last year for the remaining 18 months and the 18 months will be completed at the end of the year.
Speaker Change #117: The first group of projects is subject to price increases. As you know, the second group of projects is not exempt from price increases.
Speaker Change #118: In advance, we do exactly the same thing. We continue to set and define in advance, when we think it is opportunistically interesting, the price of water.
Speaker Change #119: electricity that will be sold at the Expo. And we have a clear policy of not signing too much, we have a path. For example...
Speaker Change #119: Three years in advance, we want to have 25 people safe.
Speaker Change #120: two years in advance, we need to have a commitment of 50 people, and one year in advance, we want to have at least a commitment of 75 people. And we follow this path exactly, to ensure that we are not too exposed and that we do not do anything erratic.
Stphane Milot: Good evening, I am Stéphane.
Stphane Milot: Thank you very much. Thank you.
Stphane Milot: Yep.
Speaker Change #122: Just an additional comment to show you a certain trend. As in Q1 of this year,
Speaker Change #123: We have added a positive variance of 15 million at the Ibidia scale that comes from this strategy. 2.2 is at 11 million.
Speaker Change #123: And Q3, going forward, should have a lower variance, because, as we have fixed the price over time, and this price has decreased.
Speaker Change #123: So, the effect will be still good in coming quarters, but not as strong as what we've seen in Q1 and Q2 of this year.
Speaker Change #123: [inaudible]
Stéphane Milot: That's great, thank you Stéphane. As I mentioned, we are trying to avoid being exposed to the spot market, because if you look at the last quarter,
Speaker Change #124: The increase in the market price in France was 31 euros per MWh, which was very low.
Speaker Change #125: But if you want to contract end of this year or next year, the forward products are still around 90 euros a megawatt hour.
Speaker Change #126: It's a good strategy not to be exposed on the coming day or week.
Speaker Change #127: the generation, the wind, and the status of everything, you have a better opportunity to achieve a good price. And that's also what we do.
Speaker Change #127: That's great, thank you for that. The second question for Bruno, you referenced the laws of exchange that helped to push your position on the liquidity of this neighborhood. I wonder if you can explain the terms for this source against...
Speaker Change #128: more purchasing power against your revolters, maybe a bit more context on this liquidity lever for the company.
Bruno: The example I would use is the financing of exchanges.
Bruno: It is a separate site from a French bank that helps us finance this type of equipment.
Bruno: It is an addition to our other sources of funding.
Bruno: It is not a restriction on the other funding, it is just an addition.
Speaker Change #129: Thank you.
Speaker Change #129: OK.
Speaker Change #129: Thank you for that, Bruno. That's all I have. Thank you.
Speaker Change #129: Thank you, Charles. Thank you.
Speaker Change #130: We will now proceed to our next question.
Speaker Change #131: The questions come from Rupert Murrow's line of NBF. Please, ask a question.
Rupert Murrow: Hello everyone.
Speaker Change #133: Just to follow up on the RFP activity, I believe you had some bids into New York as well. Can you give us some color on the scale of that opportunity with this round of RFPs and any updates you can give on your strategy going into this round?
Speaker Change #133: Hello, Rupert. Actually, we have created three projects.
Speaker Change #134: to Nacerda for an aggregated power of 590 megawatts.
Speaker Change #135: So, it's...
Speaker Change #136: It's a larger project than what we built in the previous RFPs.
Speaker Change #136: And this is clearly where we are.
Speaker Change #136: because we think that it is the best way to have a high cost of energy and to be able to offer a good income at a better price for Nicérade. That is how we are.
Speaker Change #136: No news from the previous RFP of the winners, and in between there was all this question.
Speaker Change #137: Chinese products and imported Chinese tariffs.
Speaker Change #138: We have therefore taken all of this into account.
Speaker Change #139: And there was also good news on one side, which is the implementation of the IRA and the incentive for domestic content. So we worked a lot, and the team worked a lot.
Speaker Change #139: on the panel and on the evaluation of the BOP to achieve a good cost. That's where we are, and we will see what NYSERDA decides to select.
Speaker Change #140: with the MOBiD project.
Speaker Change #140: So, in your previous rounds in New York, I believe you had...
Speaker Change #141: to certain major projects. How many exchanges are there between this 590 and the...
Speaker Change #142: and the previous portfolios that you have invited.
Speaker Change #143: and how new it would be.
Speaker Change #144: There is only one project.
Speaker Change #144: who is the smallest in this circle that we made and who was the tallest in the first circle that we made.
Speaker Change #145: I don't want to give you more information than that, but I would like to show you that the intermediation is just on one of the three projects, and that it is really a strategy to get a better price.
Speaker Change #146: Very well. Secondly, we can talk a bit about Kurt Thielmans, whom we saw during the last quarantine. I think you have seen a few of them in France.
Speaker Change #147: and a few on electricity, I imagine in California. What do you think about these activities? Are there opportunities to install batteries or to examine storage using your systems? Or do you think others will take care of that for you in the future? How do you see this evolving?
Speaker Change #148: Essentially, the cause of the curtailment is...
Speaker Change #149: In France, it is essentially due to the fact that there is a very good generation of hydrogen. If you look at the French generation of hydrogen, I think it is the highest in all of history.
Speaker Change #150: Twice, just a quarter of an hour ago, we experienced it twice.
Speaker Change #150: the number of negative prices of 23, essentially, in Q2. It went down a bit in July, but it's still there. But I think that it's...
Speaker Change #150: It is not…
Speaker Change #151: I'm not sure it will last in France, because it really depends on the hydrology of the year.
Speaker Change #151: and the demands will increase, that's one thing. I am not convinced that the investment is...
Speaker Change #152: It's...
Speaker Change #153: It's the right.
Speaker Change #154: This is the best solution for us. The best solution is to sign the right contract, as we are doing, paid, produced, and to obtain compensation. And on many of the contract mechanisms that we have, CR17, this is the best solution.
Speaker Change #154: The contract we received with the RSP, with the CRE, in France, and the utility PPA we have with the Expo, there is a compensation.
Speaker Change #155: Okay.
Speaker Change #156: The situation in California is different, there is only one contract.
Speaker Change #156: of the interpretation of the contract between us and the offeror, and we will enforce the contract to receive the adequate payment, and the team is currently working with the offeror.
Speaker Change #156: It's a slightly different situation.
Speaker Change #156: We have recorded the revenues for the French contracts that Patrick mentioned, which offer skills, but we have not recorded the revenues for the situation in California.
Speaker Change #157: Perfect. So the curtailment in France is in revenue but not in production. Is that right?
Speaker Change #158: It's the production, but the compensation is there.
Speaker Change #159: It's a matter of the compensation.
Speaker Change #159: Yes. Very good.
Speaker Change #160: But thank you very much, I'll leave it there. Thank you very much, I'll leave it there.
Speaker Change #160: Thank you.
Speaker Change #161: We are now going to proceed with our next question.
Speaker Change #161: Thank you.
Speaker Change #161: [inaudible]
Speaker Change #161: The questions come from the line of Benjamin Pham from BMO. Please, ask your questions.
Benjamin Pham: Hello, thank you, good morning. Can you explain to us...
Benjamin Pham: Thank you for your comments around looking at acquisitions.
Speaker Change #163: Maybe it's some some color on ideal size technology.
Speaker Change #163: [inaudible]
Speaker Change #163: [inaudible]
Speaker Change #164: and especially, I would say more on the American and American markets.
Speaker Change #164: [inaudible]
Speaker Change #165: and also potentially with a team with development assets that we would not be too much for.
Speaker Change #165: [inaudible]
Speaker Change #166: And I know you mentioned…
Speaker Change #166: Also acquisitions of potential development projects.
Speaker Change #167: Is there an increase in poverty to pay more for development now than in the past?
Speaker Change #167: [inaudible]
Speaker Change #168: Probably, we will come back a bit in terms of value, which is also good for us, but I don't think to the extent of the excitement we experienced in not paying too much in the past.
Speaker Change #168: [inaudible]
Speaker Change #169: Just one last question. The reference to the Canadian ITC projects that were grandfathered,
Speaker Change #170: Are you effectively, since you financed these projects, 80-20?
Speaker Change #171: Aren't you effectively getting your equity back and more?
Speaker Change #172: Just the way that you structure it, or am I...
Speaker Change #172: [inaudible]
Speaker Change #172: So, all in, the lenders are, as you say, reluctant to finance all of that that could be labeled as equity.
Speaker Change #173: It certainly helps quite a bit on the RRR of these projects, and the need for equity is reduced.
Speaker Change #173: It was meaningful.
Speaker Change #174: Okay, thank you.
Patrick Decostre: Thank you, Patrick.
Speaker Change #175: We will now move on to our next question.
Speaker Change #176: The questions come from the line of Jessica Hoyle from Scotiabank. Please ask your question.
Speaker Change #177: Thank you very much for asking me this question. To begin with, can you tell us in more detail what you see in the RSP environment? Have you seen any recent signs of acceleration regarding the increase in electrical demand in several of your geographies?
Speaker Change #177: That's it. Thank you. Bye.
Speaker Change #177: First of all, there is clearly, there is...
Speaker Change #178: Not yet RFPs, but there is clearly a big program in Quebec for 10 gigawatt plus that will come. We know that this will – I think Quebec will make RFP to select.
Speaker Change #179: partner, private partner per project
Speaker Change #179: [inaudible]
Speaker Change #179: [inaudible]
Speaker Change #180: and we are well positioned since we are their partner on the Dénèche project.
Speaker Change #181: If you look at Ontario, there is an RFP coming next year, the LT2, and once again, it will be a significant RFP for generation, engineering, and storage. So it's an important point.
Speaker Change #181: We are also looking at something coming in B.C., but...
Speaker Change #181: We will see where it goes. It's due for mid-September.
Speaker Change #181: [inaudible]
Speaker Change #182: who have Inuit origins, therefore bringing a lot of expertise and another point of view to the Board.
Speaker Change #182: in Europe .
Speaker Change #183: Just mentioning...
Speaker Change #183: [inaudible]
Speaker Change #183: [inaudible]
Speaker Change #183: [inaudible]
Speaker Change #184: That's exactly what we are doing in Ontario and Quebec. It takes a little bit more time in France and the UK because in France and the UK, the condition to bid, you need to be fully permitted. So you do the development work.
Speaker Change #185: before, and not after obtaining the contract.
Speaker Change #186: In Quebec and Ontario, it's a little bit different, but yes, the team are working a lot, and we have had resource since the last years because we were seeing that coming, and I think that's a good news because it's now.
Speaker Change #187: Thank you very much.
Speaker Change #187: Thank you.
Speaker Change #188: Thank you. We have no further questions on the phone line. I will send you questions on social media. Thank you.
Speaker Change #188: [inaudible]
Speaker Change #189: Alright, thanks a lot everyone for your attention. If you have any additional questions, please call me.
Speaker Change #189: As you know, same number 5142131045.
Speaker Change #189: [inaudible]
Speaker Change #189: Bye, everyone. Thank you.
Speaker Change #190: This concludes today's conference. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect your phone lines. Thank you and have a good day.
Speaker Change #190: Thank you.
Speaker Change #190: [inaudible]
Speaker Change #190: Thank you. Thank you.