Clearway Energy, Inc. Announces Chris Sotos President And CEO Will Resign, Craig Cornelius To Succeed Sotos As CEO; Reiterates 2024 Financial Guidance

Clearway Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CWEN, CWEN.A))))) ("Company", "Clearway") today announced that effective June 30, 2024, Chris Sotos will move on from his position as Clearway Energy, Inc.'s President and Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") and resign from his role as a member of CWEN's Board of Directors to pursue other opportunities. Craig Cornelius, who is currently the CEO of the Company's sponsor, Clearway Energy Group ("Clearway Group"), will succeed Mr. Sotos as CWEN's CEO and will join CWEN's Board of Directors.

 

"Chris's leadership has been critical to the financial success that CWEN and its predecessor have achieved since its 2013 IPO. On behalf of the CWEN Board, I want to thank him for his many contributions that have put CWEN in an excellent position for future growth," said Jonathan Bram, Founding Partner of GIP and Chairman of the Board of Clearway Energy, Inc. "Craig's leadership and vision has been instrumental in growing the renewable development pipeline at Clearway Group by six times since GIP's investment while also effectively managing the teams that operate CWEN's assets. In his expanded role within the Clearway enterprise as the incoming CEO of Clearway Energy, Inc., I'm confident CWEN will continue to meet its growth objectives."

"I have been with CWEN and its predecessor entity since its inception in December 2012 and have been honored to serve as its CEO since 2016. While I'll miss my colleagues, I'm comforted to know that I'm leaving behind a best-in-class team that can continue to build upon Clearway's strong track record of value creation for its investors," said Christopher Sotos, Clearway Energy, Inc.'s outgoing President and Chief Executive Officer. "I've worked with Craig for many years and know that CWEN will be in an excellent position under his leadership to continue to grow CWEN's platform in a manner that is accretive to shareholders."

Prior to becoming Clearway Group's CEO at its formation through a spin-out of NRG Energy Inc.'s ("NRG") clean energy businesses in 2018, Mr. Cornelius was President of NRG's renewables division. In this capacity, he oversaw origination, development, engineering & construction, operations, and asset management across the company's businesses in wind and solar power. He joined NRG in 2013 and initially led new business development for renewables, including the establishment of new market segments, acquisition of projects, and direction of process improvement initiatives. Before joining NRG, Mr. Cornelius served for five years as a Principal and then a Managing Director in the solar investing practice at Hudson Clean Energy Partners. Previously, he was the Program Manager of the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Program, where he led the creation of the $1.5 billion Solar America Initiative.

"Chris was an instrumental creator of the business that became Clearway and has been a great colleague over his incredible arc of service. It's been a true privilege getting to co-lead the enterprise alongside him. He's built a solid foundation for CWEN that will allow for a seamless transition as we go forward. The Clearway enterprise has a talented employee base across our organization that supports both Clearway Energy, Inc. and Clearway Group. We remain well positioned to sustainably grow CAFD per share and our clean energy fleet for years to come and look forward to doing that," said Craig Cornelius, Clearway Energy, Inc.'s incoming President and Chief Executive Officer. "We continue to expect CWEN to achieve the upper range of its 5% to 8% annual dividend growth objective without needing external capital through at least 2026.  Furthermore, and consistent with prior disclosures, we see potential for CWEN's CAFD per share growth in 2027 to be in that same range if the balance of our gas fleet contracts its capacity to deliver resource adequacy at the same or better pricing as previously disclosed contract awards."

Financial Guidance

The Company is reaffirming its 2024 full year CAFD guidance of $395 million. The Company's 2024 financial guidance factors in the contribution of committed growth investments based on current expected closing timelines and estimates for merchant energy gross margin at the conventional fleet. 2024 CAFD guidance does not factor in the timing of when CAFD is realized from new growth investments pursuant to 5-year averages beyond 2024. Financial guidance is based on median renewable energy production estimates for the full year.