Earnings Call Transcript - BEPC Q3 2025

Operator, Operator

Hello, and welcome to the BEP Third Quarter 2025 Results Conference Call and Webcast. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce CEO, Connor Teskey.

Connor Teskey, CEO

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our third quarter 2025 conference call. Before we begin, we would like to remind you that a copy of our news release and investor supplement can be found on our website. We also want to remind you that we may make forward-looking statements on this call. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, and our future results may differ materially. For more information, you are encouraged to review our regulatory filings available on SEDAR, EDGAR and on our website. On today's call, we will provide a review of our third quarter performance, then Jen Mazin, Co-President and General Counsel, will discuss the recently announced partnership between Westinghouse and the U.S. government and how we expect this partnership to benefit our business for years to come. Lastly, Patrick will conclude our remarks by discussing our operating results and financial position. We had another strong quarter, delivering solid financial results and advancing our strategic initiatives across the business. We generated $302 million of FFO during the quarter or $0.46 per unit, up 10% year-over-year, and we continue to expect to deliver on our 10% plus FFO per unit growth target for 2025. We were successful in advancing our commercial priorities, signing contracts to deliver another 4,000 gigawatt hours per year of generation and continue to deliver on our growth initiatives, commissioning 1,800 megawatts of new projects in the quarter. We also made strategic investments across our key markets in critical technologies to support both energy demand and grid reliability. We continue to see accelerating demand for power across nearly all the markets in which we operate. This growth is being driven by the same three key themes we have highlighted in recent quarters: ongoing electrification, reindustrialization across our operating regions and the extraordinary demand for energy from hyperscalers. The hyperscalers continue to ramp up their CapEx spend on data centers to support the rapid expansion of cloud computing and artificial intelligence. What is clear to us is that the scale and pace of investment into AI is not slowing down. At the same time, offtakers are seeking long-term access to reliable and sustainable energy sources to power this growth. With this, it is becoming increasingly apparent that meeting the surging demand for electricity will require an any-and-all solution, leveraging solar, wind, hydro, gas, nuclear and other technologies to ensure sufficient load and consistent delivery of electrons. As a result of this demand and the required any-and-all solution, the opportunity to deploy capital has noticeably accelerated in the past few months and is reflected in the pipeline of opportunities we are executing on today. In particular, we are seeing growing opportunities in nuclear, where we are exceptionally well positioned to play a leading role in the sector's expansion in both the United States and globally, given our ownership of Westinghouse, the U.S. nuclear champion. In October, we announced a strategic partnership with the U.S. government with the intention of achieving the objectives of reinvigorating the nuclear power industrial base as set out in President Trump's executive orders. Under the partnership, the U.S. government will support Westinghouse by, among other things, arranging financing and ordering new Westinghouse nuclear power reactors to be built in the United States, with an aggregate investment value of at least $80 billion. This transformational agreement, which Jen will speak to in more detail shortly, positions nuclear energy deployment as a cornerstone of America's strategy to sustain global leadership in both artificial intelligence and advanced nuclear power technology and will drive a step change in the growth of nuclear power generation, helping to kickstart scale deployment of new Westinghouse reactors in the U.S. and around the world. Separate from our partnership with the U.S. government, this past month, Brookfield signed a letter of intent to conduct six weeks of early-stage diligence on the potential development of two VC Summer nuclear reactors. The reactors are Westinghouse AP1000s that were partially constructed until development was paused in 2017. While we are early in our diligence process, we are encouraged by our initial feedback from potential partners and hyperscaler offtakers. The development of these reactors represents another growth opportunity for Westinghouse as well as potentially for Brookfield Renewable to enhance its position as a leading supplier of scale electricity to utilities and hyperscalers to support accelerating energy demand via nuclear power. However, we will only proceed if the appropriate downside protections and risk-adjusted returns are available to us. Another example of how accelerating demand from the hyperscalers is impacting our business is that these players are increasingly looking to our hydro capacity as a source of power, given its scale, baseload and clean characteristics. While hyperscalers have traditionally focused on contracting our wind and solar generation and continue to do so for its low-cost additionality and speed-to-market benefits, the scale of current demand means we are also seeing a greater opportunity to contract our hydro fleet to these offtakers. As the largest private owners and operators of hydro assets in the United States with approximately 5 terawatt hours of generation coming up for recontracting, we are well positioned to capture the increasing demand, which will both lift our cash flows in the form of higher pricing and also enable us to finance these assets, providing additional capital to deploy into growth. We have seen this play out with the hydro framework agreement we signed in July with Google and the immediate subsequent contracting of two facilities. Most recently, we also signed a new 20-year contract with Microsoft at another one of our hydro assets in PJM as part of our renewable energy framework with that counterparty. We continue to evaluate the opportunity to acquire hydros, which would fit well within our portfolio. This quarter, we closed our previously announced incremental investment into Isagen, increasing our stake in a world-class hydro business with a strong growth outlook. Another area of growth for our business, driven by rising electricity demand, higher peak loads and greater renewables penetration is battery storage. Costs continue to come down, decreasing more than 50% in the past 12 months, and we are seeing a notable increase in counterparties willing to execute long-term capacity contracts, a key attribute of our de-risked approach to development. This past quarter, we advanced our global battery development strategy, highlighted by the delivery of a 340-megawatt battery in Australia, which combined with the first phase of this project is now the largest operating battery solution in the country. We continue to see scale opportunities for partnerships with governments and corporates to help deliver energy solutions utilizing battery storage. While we are deploying significant capital into batteries and hydro and evaluating further deployment into nuclear, our core wind and solar business also continues to grow at an accelerating pace as a result of its position as the lowest cost, fastest-to-market form of bulk power available in most major markets around the world. Today, we have a global operating fleet and scale pipeline of over 200 gigawatts, which complements our battery, hydro and nuclear capabilities and furthers our position as the partner of choice to the largest buyers of power who are prioritizing low-cost, readily available power solutions. We feel the ability to provide baseload power and energy storage solutions enhances the value of our wind and solar development pipeline as these technologies can be used to complement each other to meet the needs of customers. These combined capabilities across renewable technologies, including our baseload power capabilities, our relationships with the largest technology players and our access to scale capital enable us to act quickly in environments like these, positioning us well to accelerate our growth over the next several years. As a result, we have never felt stronger about the growth prospects of our business. With that, we will now turn it over to Jen to speak in more detail to the recently announced partnership between Westinghouse and the U.S. government.

Jennifer Mazin, Co-President and General Counsel

Thank you, Connor, and good morning, everyone. As Connor mentioned, in October, we announced a strategic partnership between the U.S. government and Westinghouse, where the U.S. government will order new Westinghouse nuclear reactors to be built in the United States with an aggregate investment value of at least $80 billion. The agreement supports the government's goal of having 10 large-scale reactors with completed designs under construction by 2030 and aligns the U.S. government with the owners of Westinghouse to dramatically enhance the value of the business by providing for an opportunity for profit sharing in certain circumstances. Westinghouse, which we and Cameco acquired in 2023, is a leading provider of mission-critical technology, services and products to the nuclear power industry. Westinghouse is the U.S. nuclear champion, currently servicing over 50% of the global nuclear fleet. Over two-thirds of operating nuclear reactors in the world are derived from Westinghouse Technology. Westinghouse operates through three main business segments. Today, its operating plant services and nuclear fuel businesses together generate roughly 85% of the company's earnings, driven by long-term contracts with a global fleet of operating reactors. These segments generate stable infrastructure-like cash flows anchored by Westinghouse's position as the leading nuclear service provider. As the nuclear industry grows globally through greater usage, life extensions and new reactors, Westinghouse's core business of operating plant services and nuclear fuel will continue to grow alongside the broader nuclear market. This leading position and the stable growing cash flows from these two businesses form the foundation of our original investment thesis. Westinghouse also owns the intellectual property for the world's leading utility scale reactor, the AP1000 as well as the AP300, its small modular reactor version. Through its third main business segment, the Energy Systems business, Westinghouse provides design, engineering and procurement services for new nuclear power plants without assuming construction risk or operating liabilities. We have always had strong conviction in the long-term role nuclear energy will play and the potential of this Energy Systems segment; however, at the time of our acquisition, we assigned only modest growth expectations to the Energy Systems business, reflecting the broader market conditions at that time. Since then, in light of factors including a greater focus on energy security and the insatiable demand for baseload power to support the build-out of data centers, global sentiment around new build nuclear has changed significantly as we have seen with new reactor builds announced primarily in Europe and also restarts in the United States. The recently announced partnership with the U.S. government represents a significant catalyst for the trajectory of growth at Westinghouse. Under the agreement, the U.S. government plans to invest at least $80 billion into new build nuclear facilities in the United States that will use Westinghouse reactors. The U.S. government has agreed to support Westinghouse by, among other things, arranging financing, facilitating permits and the approvals required to accommodate the near-term build-out of new nuclear plants in the United States. Westinghouse will continue to undertake the same activities it has since our ownership, focused on the design, engineering and procurement services for these new build reactors. Once the plants are operating, we would expect to provide fuel and maintenance services for the lives of these new nuclear facilities, which is on average between 60 and 80 years each. The partnership creates significant value for Westinghouse and Brookfield Renewable in three main ways. First, this scale investment should contribute to significant earnings growth over time at Westinghouse as the reactors are constructed. Second, we expect that these orders will provide long-term recurring cash flows to the business with Westinghouse delivering fuel and maintenance services over the course of the reactors' lives once constructed. Third, and perhaps most importantly, orders of this magnitude should provide both a catalyst and enhanced certainty to the sector that should enable investment in the supply chain for Westinghouse and the nuclear industry more broadly, resulting in greater assurances for future investment in new build reactors and lower costs going forward as the supply chain scales. This should have the added benefit of helping Westinghouse further deploy its technology, both in the United States and globally, far beyond this initial order of reactors. Interestingly, even since the announcement less than two weeks ago, inbounds for new build Westinghouse reactors have increased. It is also important to note that the terms of the strategic partnership align us with the U.S. government to create significant near-term value at Westinghouse while maintaining the current governance structure of the business. Under our agreement, provided that the U.S. government has made a final investment decision and entered into definitive orders to invest at least $80 billion in the construction of new Westinghouse nuclear reactors in the United States before January 2029, the U.S. government will receive 20% of distributions from Westinghouse, but only after the current shareholders have first received $17.5 billion in distributions. The partnership and near-term development of new nuclear reactors are expected to deliver significant value for Westinghouse over the long term through reactor construction, development of the supply chain to enable further global deployment and associated servicing and fuel contracts. With our co-owner Cameco's expertise across the nuclear fuel supply chain, Westinghouse's leadership in mission-critical technology and services, and our access to capital and deep commercial relationships with the largest buyers of electricity, the business is exceptionally well positioned to build on its leadership in the sector. This strategic partnership marks a strong start to what we believe will be a meaningful runway of growth for the business, positioning Westinghouse to far exceed our original underwriting expectations and deliver significant value for our shareholders and stakeholders over the long term. With that, I will pass it on to Patrick to discuss our operating results and financial position.

Patrick Taylor, CFO

Thanks, Jen, and good morning to everyone on the call. Our business performed well this quarter, delivering funds from operations of $302 million or $0.46 per unit, an increase of 10% year-over-year, driven by contracted inflation-linked cash flows from our diverse global operating fleet, commercial and operational execution, and contributions from recent M&A activity and project development. Our Hydroelectric segment delivered another strong quarter, generating FFO of $119 million, up over 20% from the prior year on the back of solid generation from our Canadian and Colombian fleets, higher pricing across our U.S. operations and increased earnings from commercial and operational activities. The performance of this segment reflects growing demand for scale baseload power and our ability to capture improved pricing in the current environment. Our wind and solar segments generated a combined $177 million of FFO, supported by contributions from our acquisitions of Neoen, Geronimo Power and the portfolio of offshore wind assets in the U.K. that we invested in last year. The benefits of this growth and our organic development were offset by the impact of the sale of wind assets in the U.S., Spain, and Portugal since Q3 last year. Our distributed energy, storage and sustainable solutions segments delivered a solid quarter, generating FFO of $127 million, up from the prior year. Results were supported by growth from the Neoen acquisition and strong performance at Westinghouse. Now turning to our financial position. During the quarter, we were successful in deploying significant capital into growth while maintaining strong liquidity of $4.7 billion and a sector-leading balance sheet, reaffirming our BBB+ investment-grade rating from three major rating agencies. We continue to differentiate our franchise with our access to scale capital. In the current environment where there is increasing demand for energy and opportunities for those with the right mix of capabilities and development expertise, access to capital is becoming even more crucial. During the quarter, we executed $7.7 billion in financings, bringing our total financings over the last 12 months alone to $38 billion. This includes $1.1 billion in upfinancings across the business in the third quarter alone. We executed upfinancings at our Holtwood and Safe Harbor hydro assets recently, following the first contracts under our framework agreement with Google that we signed earlier in the year. We completed an innovative upfinancing at our Smoky Mountain Hydro asset. These financings sized to investment grade attracted strong investor demand and were over 5x oversubscribed at the tightest spreads we have seen for these types of financings the past five years, reflecting the strength of the demand to lend to our high-quality assets. As Connor mentioned earlier, we were also successful in the quarter advancing our commercial initiatives, signing contracts to deliver approximately 4,000 gigawatt hours per year. This includes signing a 20-year contract with Microsoft at one of our hydro facilities in the PJM market in the U.S. On the back of this contract, we expect to execute another significant upfinancing in the fourth quarter. During the quarter, we were very active on the capital recycling front, closing sales and signing agreements that are expected to generate $2.8 billion or $900 million net to Brookfield Renewable. This includes reaching an agreement to sell a stake in a leading North American distributed generation business while retaining almost half the development business and its pipeline, maintaining exposure to the growth of this platform going forward. We sold a portfolio of de-risked operating assets within one of our U.S. platforms, something we expect to increasingly do more of as we build out our capital recycling capabilities in all our businesses and continue to bring long-life infrastructure assets into production, which today are in very strong demand from low cost of capital buyers. We signed and closed the sales of solar, wind and battery assets in Australia that we acquired within Neoen earlier this year. Since our acquisition of Neoen, we have implemented an asset recycling program and sold assets worth $1.1 billion of enterprise value in less than one year of ownership. As we look ahead, we anticipate an acceleration of opportunities to deploy capital through M&A and within our existing businesses. Our approach will not waver. We will remain focused on ensuring we maintain high levels of liquidity and access to capital so that we are well positioned to deploy scale capital when compelling opportunities arise. In closing, we remain focused on delivering 12% to 15% long-term total returns for our investors while remaining disciplined allocators of capital. On behalf of the Board and management, we thank all our unitholders and shareholders for their ongoing support. That concludes our formal remarks for today's call. Thank you for joining us this morning. With that, I'll pass it back to the operator for questions.

Operator, Operator

Operator's Instructions. Our first question comes from the line of Nelson Ng with RBC Capital Markets.

Nelson Ng, Analyst

Quick question. So just in the U.S., obviously, there's better visibility on tax credits, which is great. But can you talk about whether you're seeing any improvements in the pace of permitting, whether at the state or federal level? And are you seeing any changes being made to speed up the pace of power deployment? I know we're hearing a lot about the need for power, but are you seeing any other changes taking place?

Connor Teskey, CEO

Nelson, thanks for the question. You're right. The biggest dynamic that has been discussed lately in the United States is just the increased demand for power. In terms of whether we are seeing things move faster on the ground, we would say incrementally, but not dramatically, to be candid. Given the size of our platform, that means we are bringing significant amounts of megawatts into operations on an ongoing basis. But the bottleneck to growth is not capital, is not demand, it's execution on the ground level. What we would highlight, and this is consistent across the United States and markets around the world, is there is a clear intent from all stakeholders to remedy the situation to accelerate permitting and fast track approvals. The intent is there. Progress to date is limited but we are confident it can only get better from here.

Nelson Ng, Analyst

Great. And then just on data centers, obviously, the U.S. is a big focus. But given your global platform, can you just talk about regions outside of the U.S. in terms of where you're having discussions about adding additional power for data centers?

Connor Teskey, CEO

We wouldn't want to give you an oversimplified answer, but I would say it is almost everywhere. However, let's go a layer deeper on that. The largest concentration of data center build-out is in the United States. Following the United States, it would be Western Europe. So we are seeing a heightened number of conversations there. But this extends to almost every market around the world, including Australia, India, and even South America. There is a consistent topic globally. However, the greatest number of conversations is in the United States and then Western Europe. It's interesting that while the biggest opportunity is building data centers for hyperscalers, there is also a secondary opportunity of very meaningful scale, which is to build data centers for countries. Sovereign compute is increasingly a growing source of demand and something we feel we're equally well positioned to support the same way we support data center demand from corporates.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Sean Steuart with TD Cowen.

Sean Steuart, Analyst

First question for Connor or Jen. Can you give us an expected timeline for the U.S. build-out associated with the Westinghouse agreement? Just trying to gauge the timeline of expected FFO contribution for that. And I guess the question is in the context of the U.S. has some ambitious timelines for this build-out. How would that compare to what's typical for AP1000 reactors in terms of the time frame?

Connor Teskey, CEO

Sure. Thanks for the question, Sean. To pull a nuclear reactor out of the ground, you need alignment and buy-in from a large number of stakeholders, and that takes time before development and construction can start. Essentially, what the U.S. government has done, and our partnership is a big part of this effort, is to say we will backstop all of that, enabling us to get shovels in the ground as quickly as possible. We expect the first reactors, the first projects to begin their development process in the next quarter or two. We worked from trying to close the agreement to immediately turning our attention to what we can do to pull the first project out of the ground. We expect contributions out of this agreement relatively quickly because once that development process starts, Westinghouse begins to generate revenues. Now for context, in the Energy Systems division of Westinghouse, there are three stages in a reactor's life. For the first 3 to 4 years, it's a development stage where Westinghouse generates revenues and profits, but they are modest. Once construction starts, which we expect to see in about three years, there is a heightened profitability for about three to six years during that construction phase, then there's an 80-year annuity on fuel supply, fuel fabrication and supply, and maintenance services contracts. So we do expect revenues from this contract to start as soon as the next couple of quarters, and really ramp up in the 3- to 4-year time frame.

Sean Steuart, Analyst

Second question is with respect to the Santee Cooper project and assets. If Brookfield invests directly, how do you hedge the basis risk around cost overruns or delays in those risks at the BEP level?

Connor Teskey, CEO

Certainly. Just for everyone's benefit, the timing of the U.S. Westinghouse partnership and the Santee Cooper announcement was entirely coincidental that they came a day or two apart. These are separate and distinct processes and opportunities we're looking at. With Santee Cooper, we see an opportunity where Brookfield is well positioned. The facility was started with Westinghouse technology, so it must finish with Westinghouse technology. We're well positioned there. Our ability to bring both capital and offtake to the project, consistent with what we do across our broader business, differentiates us and allows us to be positioned as a preferred bidder. In terms of investing in nuclear reactors, we'll only do so if we can get the appropriate protections around cost overrun and key nuclear risks and generate appropriate risk-adjusted returns for this type of activity. If we pursue an opportunity like Santee Cooper, we'd structure our investment to ensure protections around these key risks, particularly cost overrun risk. That is definitely part of our current thinking.

Operator, Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Robert Hope with Scotiabank.

Robert Hope, Analyst

To follow up on Sean's question: When you think about the build-out of the next phase of nuclear with the partnership with the U.S. government, could Brookfield and BEP potentially be a source of capital there? And under what framework or protections would you consider being a buyer of backstopped reactors by the U.S. government?

Connor Teskey, CEO

Rob, thank you for the question. We feel that Brookfield Renewable is extremely well positioned to play a major role in the growth of nuclear power, both in the United States and worldwide. Our ownership of Westinghouse means we own the global nuclear champion, which services more than half of the global reactor fleet. Our relationships with the largest offtakers and consumers of power, along with our access to capital and our long-established history as disciplined developers and constructors of large infrastructure and power projects, place us in a strong position to pursue opportunities in this space. However, in the context of our partnership with the U.S. government, they are working to backstop everything needed to get these projects started, but over time, these facilities likely find paths to more natural owners, whether that be utilities or IPPs in the market. To invest and get the protections we need for comfortable investment in nuclear power, we can share cost overrun burdens with offtakers, accompany them in financing that provides liquidity in the event of the overruns, and structure appropriately with technology and construction suppliers. These are the types of levers we are considering.

Robert Hope, Analyst

I appreciate that. And then maybe pivoting over to the Microsoft Renewable Energy framework. Can you walk us through the factors that led to contracting the existing hydro asset versus building new wind and solar? Could we see some additional hydro deals with Microsoft?

Connor Teskey, CEO

Our Microsoft framework agreement from a couple of years ago always considered the inclusion of hydro, so this does not feel overly unnatural. Could more hydro be introduced in the future? Absolutely. Our framework agreement always included other technologies, including hydro, and we could see more of it in the future.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Mark Jarvi with CIBC.

Mark Jarvi, Analyst

Connor, you mentioned having the U.S. government backstop the new builds. So would they bear all the cost overruns? Since that framework has been identified, have you had engagement with other stakeholders like EPC firms, utilities and offtakers to see if they're on board with that?

Connor Teskey, CEO

I think we need to separate out two things. In the situation under the U.S. government partnership, Westinghouse is not an owner of those facilities. We are simply the provider of the engineering design and technology services. The cost overrun risk and financing responsibilities sit entirely with the U.S. government. This could create opportunities in the future for the U.S. government to consider bringing partners into specific projects; however, that has not been discussed yet. In terms of discussions with construction companies, technology suppliers, and capital providers, yes, there has been a very warm reception to the idea of participating in the build-out of nuclear, with some socialization of cost overrun protections.

Mark Jarvi, Analyst

In terms of moving from the term sheet to a buy agreement, is that something that could be done by year-end or mid- to late first quarter of 2026?

Connor Teskey, CEO

We expect that to be done within 90 days of the announcement two weeks ago. So that positions us around year-end.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Mark Strouse with JPMorgan.

Mark W. Strouse, Analyst

Do you think the government is more committed to the $80 billion backstop, or are they focused more on the 10 reactors? Would the $80 billion be a fixed number?

Connor Teskey, CEO

Our agreement surrounds $80 billion of reactor contracts, and that is the initial order before any cost overruns. However, the U.S. government is decidedly committed to catalyzing the growth of nuclear power generation and the supply chain that supports it in the United States. They are not overly focused on a specific number of reactors. What they want to see is the U.S. be the leading provider of nuclear power generation worldwide. This partnership with the U.S. government is critical in kickstarting the flywheel of nuclear power generation growth, both in the United States and globally. We see it leading to the development of numerous reactors outside this partnership, with Westinghouse being the leading technology provider.

Mark W. Strouse, Analyst

Can you talk about how we should be thinking about the margin during each of the three stages?

Connor Teskey, CEO

The Energy Systems division of Westinghouse typically operates at around a 20% margin during the development and construction stage. This may fluctuate year-to-year, but historically, it's been about 20% margins, and we expect that to almost be the floor going forward.

Operator, Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Baltej Sidhu with National Bank of Canada.

Baltej Sidhu, Analyst

Connor, have there been any changes in your perspective regarding the eligibility of projects in your U.S. development pipeline through 2029 for federal tax credits?

Connor Teskey, CEO

Certainly. We've seen greater clarity around safe harboring, and we feel very comfortable about our position there. The second consideration is surrounding the FEOC, and there isn't much clarity at this time around the specifics of those definitions. We do expect as those definitions are released that, if they become stricter, those changes will likely favor large players like ourselves who are well positioned with our global supply chains, our centralized procurement functions, and our relationships with domestic U.S. suppliers. So on the safe harboring side, we feel in a great position, and we expect to manage well as changes occur.

Baltej Sidhu, Analyst

How are you seeing valuations trend in the private markets relative to the public? Any color on jurisdiction would be great.

Connor Teskey, CEO

In no uncertain terms, the demand and valuations for recently built contracted high-quality operating cash-generative renewables assets are significantly higher in the private markets compared to the public markets right now. We classify the demand for these assets as very robust. We are just getting started with our capital recycling activities, taking advantage of this dynamic as we are bringing more new build projects through COD each year. With strong confidence, I would expect significant asset recycling activities in North America, Western Europe, Australia, and India over the next two to three quarters.

Operator, Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Benjamin Pham with BMO.

Benjamin Pham, Analyst

Can you talk about what nuclear will be as a percentage of your business in the next five years? Is it potentially a new business line?

Connor Teskey, CEO

There are certainly no constraints in our broader business. We'll allocate capital where we see the best risk-adjusted returns. There is a lot of excitement around nuclear power generation with growing demand for clean, dispatchable baseload power. However, our core businesses of hydro and wind and solar are producing better than they ever have. Today, Westinghouse and nuclear represent about 5% of Brookfield's FFO. We expect that to grow over time, but it'll grow in proportion to our overall growth across all sectors.

Benjamin Pham, Analyst

Where does nuclear fit in terms of target returns? Is it targeting above the 12% to 15%?

Connor Teskey, CEO

We target 12% to 15% returns on a blended basis across Brookfield Renewable. Our long-term contracted operating assets are probably at the lower end, if not even below that. When we look to construct and develop, we target north of 15% returns. If we're looking at nuclear, we will aim for well above our 12% to 15% target for the business.

Operator, Operator

I'll now hand the call back over to CEO, Connor Teskey, for any closing remarks.

Connor Teskey, CEO

Thank you, everyone, for joining our Q3 earnings call and your continued support and interest in Brookfield Renewable. We look forward to speaking to you at the end of the next quarter for our year-end 2025 results. Thank you, and have a great day.

Operator, Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating. This does conclude today's program, and you may now disconnect.