Companhia Paranaense de Energia - COPEL (BVMF:CPLE3)
Brazil flag Brazil · Delayed Price · Currency is BRL
16.30
-0.29 (-1.75%)
Apr 27, 2026, 5:07 PM GMT-3
← View all transcripts

Investor update

Mar 18, 2026

Operator

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the video conference of Companhia Paranaense de Energia, Copel, to discuss the results of the 2026 Reserve Capacity Auction held today. This video conference is being recorded, and the replay can be accessed on the company's website at ri.copel.com. The presentation is also available for download. Please be advised that all participants will only be watching the video conference during the presentation, and then we will start the Q&A session and further instructions will be provided. Before proceeding, I would like to note that the forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of Copel's management and on information currently available to the company.

These statements may involve risks and uncertainties as they relate to future events, and therefore should be treated as forecasts dependent on the macroeconomic environment, the country's economic scenario, and the performance and regulation of the electricity sector, among other variables, and therefore, are subject to change. This video conference will be presented by Mr. Felipe Gutterres and Mr. Diogo Mac Cord, respectively the CFO and the VP of Strategy, New Business and Digital Transformation at Copel. I would now like to give the floor to the company's CFO, who will start the presentation. Please, Felipe, you may go ahead.

Felipe Gutterres
CFO, Copel

Thank you. Thank you, everyone for attending. It is a very relevant day for Copel. It's relevant in terms of our contribution to the National System.

It is relevant in terms of the value generation that is determining and sustainable in this capital allocation, fruit of intense work of a multifunctional group that's been working for many years to prepare these two assets for this, Foz do Areia and Segredo. Thank you for being with us, and I'll give you a little bit more color on the coming slides of our vision about the results of this auction. An important point that I would like to highlight here is the effect and the importance of the hydric product for the system. It has the lowest cost for the National System. It has tariff of affordability, greater flexibility compared with other sources, unique advantages in frequency control, synchronous compensation, and operating reserves. It's a majority of equipment manufactured in Brazil.

The content is developed nationally and without a doubt, a renewable clean product that obviously, in terms of carbon emission, has a role, an important role in the reduction of footprint, there are no emissions. Now, on Copel's point of view, the power generation auction consolidates the potential for generation of value for Copel. We mobilized our generating park. We have the sustainable determining impact of this capital allocation. We also have a pipeline of more than 4 GW for future auctions, and we, with this result, leverage our Strategy 2035. With the capacity auction, we go from an installed capacity at Foz do Areia of 1.7 GW to 2.5 GW. Actually, turning us into the eighth largest hydroelectric power plant in Brazil.

Segredo goes from 1.3 GW to 2.5 GW, now becoming the ninth largest hydropower plant in Brazil. You can see here on the left, on my left, in Paraná where the two plants are located geographically. Just to give you the dimension of these two projects and how by doing them, we also increase the power and the relevance of Copel in the system. An important point here to bring you some additional details in the modeling process. The installed capacity available for the auction in Foz do Areia, 690.5 MW, and in Segredo, 1.18 GW or 1.17 GW. The physical assurance of expansion, 20.6 MW average for Foz do Areia, 50.6 MW for Segredo. The duration of this power generation of 15 years.

The beginning of operations, both at Foz do Areia and Segredo, August 2030. The contracted gross price, BRL 1,395, so it's a gross price. This and COFINS taxes have to be removed from this. The estimated investment, BRL 1.3 billion for Foz do Areia, BRL 3.6 billion for Segredo, BRL 4.9 billion for the two assets. TUST, BRL 5.75-BRL 6.10 for Foz do Areia. Segredo, BRL 673-719 for this asset. It's important here, two base dates for the gross price, September, and for the TUST, June 2025, corrected by the IPCA rate. This is important as well to pay attention for the modeling. Before opening the floor and opening our space for a Q&A, I would like to stress that the company with this auction opens a new chapter in capital allocation from what it's doing.

Here, we're talking about the terminating value generation that is sustainable, as I started talking about in the beginning of the call, where we consolidate two major analytics views. One is the determination of the minimum return rate for capital allocation that we have been already discussing since Copel Day, but also the pillars that lead us to believe and build this compound factor of the company's value generation. In this case, they're based on operational efficiency, optimum leverage, and the generation of consistent determining returns. With that, I would like to open our conference for the Q&A.

Operator

We will now begin the questions and answer session for investors and analysts. If you'd like to ask a question, please click on Raise Hand. If your question is answered, you may leave the line by clicking the same button again. First question, Bruno Amorim at Goldman Sachs. Please, Bruno, your microphone is enabled.

Bruno Amorim
VP of Equity Research in LatAm Energy, Transportation, and Infrastructure, Goldman Sachs

Good evening, and congratulations on the results of the auction. Can you talk about the disbursement of this CapEx over the coming years? And also, if you can talk about how this investment, this additional investment compared to the current portfolio, impacts the outlook for dividends in the coming years. Thank you.

Felipe Gutterres
CFO, Copel

Thank you, Bruno. 2026, we should have a concentration of about 15% of these investments. For Foz do Areia then, 40% more or less between 2027 and 2028, and the remainder, 5% in 2029, 2030. For Segredo, it's more or less the same reference. It's not 15%, it's 16%, but it's a good number for 2026. Average investment of 30% between 2027, 2028, and a bigger concentration of 22% approximately between 2029 and 2030. Our vision about the optimum capital structure and the effect of these investments is that considering the time horizon where they will be executed, they fit in our balance sheet and our space, and we should not have any changes to our minimum payout of 75% of dividend policy.

Bruno Amorim
VP of Equity Research in LatAm Energy, Transportation, and Infrastructure, Goldman Sachs

Excellent. Thank you.

Operator

Next question, Francisco Navarrete with Bradesco BBI. Please, Francisco, you may go ahead.

Francisco Navarrete
Director of Research, Bradesco BBI

Felipe, Diogo, Rafa, congratulations. I don't see Daniel there, but that's quite a score. I think you gave a lot of important operating data. I don't know about the PMSO, but I think it's very low here, right? It's important as well for the modeling. Could you give us that?

Felipe Gutterres
CFO, Copel

Yes. Nava, sure. Thank you. PMSO, close to 3% of the total cost. To give you an idea, the most relevant cost is TUST that we already gave the reference, the guideline for.

Francisco Navarrete
Director of Research, Bradesco BBI

Thank you.

Operator

Next question, Maria Carolina Carneiro at Safra. Maria Carolina, please, you may go ahead.

Maria Carolina Carneiro
Head of Equity Research, Safra

Thank you for this call. This is just to complement Bruno's question. It seems that obviously it fits with the strategy of growth with dividends, as you mentioned. This auction itself doesn't affect it here. But to understand the strategy, for example, of growth for other segments, considering you were successful here, it seems that maybe the focus remains now with the capacity, Reserve Capacity Auction now, and maybe we should think less strongly about the transmission auctions or no? Just to understand if it changes anything in the game of how you're planning to do your capital allocation in new projects, if you already consumed everything that you had in terms of firepower for the coming years in what you had mapped?

Felipe Gutterres
CFO, Copel

Carol, thank you. Of course, we monitor this very closely. There is an important value generation leverage starting in June this year with a tariff review from the distribution company, so that's a leverage that is part of this equation of cash generation and space in the balance sheets that adds up for the generations of coming years. Remember that 2027 is a year full value generation. This year we only have six months. These projects also starting in 2030, they'll start to generate a lot of cash.

With this view, in terms of cash, having a longer term view, even considering the convergence of 24 months, if we work at the higher range of our leverage is considerable. Any other investment, as we've always said, it's more transformational that the company is engaged in this period, and normally, it also comes with cash flow, and it replots the optimum capital structure that probably opens room to accommodate those investments.

Maria Carolina Carneiro
Head of Equity Research, Safra

Excellent. Thank you.

Operator

Next question, Victor Cunha with Itaú BBA. Please, Victor, you may go ahead.

Victor Cunha
Equity Research Associate, Itaú BBA

Good evening. Thank you for this opportunity, and congratulations on winning the auction. If you can repeat the CapEx curve for Foz do Areia and Segredo, please, and talk a little bit about the possibility of anticipating it, especially Foz do Areia, considering this plant already has a lot of the work already done, already in place. Thank you.

Felipe Gutterres
CFO, Copel

Victor, thank you for your question. Sure. It's 15% in 2026, both for Foz do Areia and Segredo. Segredo is actually 16%, but 15% is a good number for 2026. For Foz do Areia, an average of 40% in 2027, 2028. 40% in 2027, 40% in 2028, and the remainder in 2029, 2030. In Segredo, 30% in 2027, 2028, and the final complement, 22% in 2029, 2030. This anticipation, this advance, there's a process to bring it ahead. Our base deadline is delivery in August of 2030. I'll ask Diogo to describe the natural process of a call for this anticipation.

Diogo Mac Cord
VP of Strategy, New Business, and Digital Transformation, Copel

The first thing, you remember at Copel Day, we have a thesis of the power. For you to enable this anticipation, the state must need that power, and we believe that this demand will be present in the coming years.

We have a positive outlook in terms of this possibility of anticipation. MME gets to this conclusion, and based on that, we have all of the mechanism to anticipate this, defined by CMSE, so I think this is relatively clear, and especially for Foz do Areia, as you mentioned. We have the electromechanical assembly. This is a slightly simpler activity, and we would be able to have this possibility of anticipating it to 2029. Segredo's slightly more complex, also considering that it's not such large construction works as a new hydroelectric power plant would be. We already have the reservoir. We know that the type of difficulty in this type of works is environmental and land-related, and this is something that has already been overcome in Segredo's case. Obviously Foz do Areia is simpler. Normally, MME would do this request for anticipation two months before.

They need to define this need for power and with the different plants, and thermal power plants compete with hydropower plants. This is a process where they'll define the volume of power they need, the different types of plants compete, and we believe that hydraulic has a great advantage compared to the other technologies for this anticipation.

Victor Cunha
Equity Research Associate, Itaú BBA

Very clear. Thank you.

Operator

Once again, if you'd like to ask a question, please click on Raise Hand. Please wait as we collect the questions. Next question is from João Pimentel at Citi. Please, João, you may go ahead.

João Pimentel
Director of Equity Research, Citi

Hello, good afternoon. Congratulations on the results. Very positive. I just have a question in funding. In the material fact, you talk about the estimated leverage, but I'd like to understand from you. Can you hear me?

Operator

Yes.

João Pimentel
Director of Equity Research, Citi

Just wanted to understand what you foresee in cost of debt for this funding, the maturity? Just to have more detail of the funding for these two projects, please? Thank you.

Felipe Gutterres
CFO, Copel

As we said, the idea is that the structure that we seek is 70% debt and 30% equity. In the conditions that the company, as a AAA company with good access to the market, the local market, is able to raise those funds in a compatible term with this, considering the project. I think that a good reference would be looking at the company's most recent fundings.

João Pimentel
Director of Equity Research, Citi

Excellent. Thank you.

Operator

Once again, if you'd like to ask a question, please click on Raise Hand. Please wait as we collect the questions. The questions and answers session is now concluded. I will turn the floor to Mr. Felipe Gutterres for his final considerations.

Felipe Gutterres
CFO, Copel

Again, I'd like to thank you all for attending here this evening and reinforce how happy we are with the results and all of the work that the Copel team has done. To also reinforce that we're opening a new chapter in our process, in our capital allocation, with value generation, and I want to repeat this. It is determining and it's sustainable value generation, completely in line with what we're bringing repeatedly with our view in terms of capital, of high returns capital allocation. Thank you all very much. Have a good night.

Operator

Copel's video conference is now concluded. We thank you all for attending. Have a great evening.

Powered by