ALLETE, Inc., the Minnesota-based company with major wind farms in Oklahoma suffered a significant drop in earnings in the second quarter. Forced outages at the company’s two wind farms in Oklahoma played a role in the decline.
Earnings were 57 cents a share on net income of $33 million compared to 90 cents a share and $51.5 million a year earlier. The company explained that the net income included 25 cents a share of transaction expenses connected to the merger with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Global Infrastructure Partners.
“The merger is progressing as planned and we remain on track for a mid-2025 closing, subject to all necessary approvals,” said ALLETE Chair, President, and Chief Executive Officer Bethany Owen.
“In addition, Minnesota Power’s requests for proposals for new solar and wind projects are progressing as planned, ALLETE Clean Energy has begun taking advantage of the Inflation Reduction Act with the sale of production tax credits in the second quarter, and New Energy Equity is executing on its strategy and robust pipeline of projects.”
ALLETE Clean Energy, the subsidiary that covers the wind farm operations, recorded second quarter 2024 net income of $2.4 million compared to $3.1 million in 2023. Earnings in 2024 reflect impacts from a forced network outage near its Oklahoma Caddo wind energy facility as well as a transformer outage at its Diamond Springs wind energy facility; both outages were resolved during the second quarter of 2024. These decreases were partially offset by lower operating and maintenance expense. Net income in 2023 also included a gain on the Red Barn wind generation facility.
“Similar to this year’s first quarter, the second quarter results reflect items not included in our original 2024 expectations, including merger related transaction expenses, milder weather negatively impacting sales to residential and commercial customers, and the implementation of interim rate reserves as a result of the rate case settlement,” said ALLETE Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Steve Morris.
