RWE AG

RWE Aktiengesellschaft raised its earnings outlook for 2026 and 2027 after reporting stronger first-half operating and financial performance. Adjusted earnings per share rose more than 60% year over year to €1.77 in the first half, while adjusted income totaled €1.3 billion. The company now expects 2026 adjusted EPS at a midpoint of €2.95, compared with its previous target of €2.55, and set 2027 adjusted EPS guidance of €3.15. RWE also expects 2026 adjusted EBITDA of €5.57 billion to €6.35 billion and adjusted net income of €1.95 billion to €2.45 billion. The company increased its stake in German transmission system operator Amprion to 55%, making regulated grid infrastructure a third strategic pillar alongside power generation and trading. RWE plans €42 billion of net investment from 2026 to 2031 across renewables, flexible generation, storage and regulated grids, supporting targeted annual adjusted EPS growth of 10%.

The U.S. government has reached agreements worth approximately $3.9 billion with TotalEnergies, Bluepoint Wind, Golden State Wind, Invenergy, Duke Energy and RWE to relinquish offshore-wind leases and invest comparable sums largely in natural gas, LNG or oil. The latest deal provides RWE with $1.22 billion to surrender leases off New York, California and Louisiana, with RWE investing $900 million in Louisiana LNG infrastructure and reserving $300 million of gas turbines for peaking plants. TotalEnergies committed $928 million to LNG, oil and gas investments before becoming eligible for dollar-for-dollar reimbursement, while Bluepoint Wind redirected up to $765 million into LNG and Invenergy's $765 million is going mainly to gas-fired plants. The settlements make reimbursement conditional on investment in politically preferred technologies, effectively socializing the cost of retreat and narrowing future energy options. Critics argue the move removes a hedge against gas-price volatility and risks losing industrial capability in offshore wind, even as U.S. developers plan record solar and battery additions in 2026.

German energy company RWE AG has reached a $1.22 billion deal with the U.S. government to relinquish its offshore wind leases and redirect investment toward natural gas projects. The agreement covers leases off the coasts of New York, California, and Louisiana, and marks the latest move by the Trump administration to scale back offshore wind development. RWE said there was no path forward to securing permits for the projects in the foreseeable future, after paying $1.1 billion for its New York lease in 2022 and a combined $163 million for its Louisiana and California leases. Under the deal, RWE will use $900 million to acquire a 16 percent stake in an unnamed Louisiana liquefied natural gas project, with the settlement proceeds helping fund construction, and will spend $300 million on a turbine reservation agreement to develop a pipeline of 15 natural gas peaker plants across the U.S. The deal is reportedly the largest agreement of its kind under the Trump administration, bringing taxpayer-funded settlements with energy companies to nearly $4 billion, and RWE said it plans to invest about $19.6 billion in the U.S. over the next six years.

RWE and Google have signed a 15-year power purchase agreement for the total output from RWE's 155-megawatt Crooked Creek Solar project in McCurtain County, Oklahoma. The project, RWE's first solar development in the state, is expected to begin construction later this year and enter commercial operation in 2028. Once online, it will supply electricity to support Google's operations in the Southwest Power Pool market while generating an estimated $24.3 million in local economic activity during construction and $25 million in long-term revenue for county programs, schools, and emergency services. At peak construction, the project is expected to employ up to 250 workers. RWE also operates the 148-megawatt Boiling Springs wind project in Oklahoma and has an additional 1.6 gigawatts of power projects in development across the state.

Alphabet's Google and German utility RWE have invested in nuclear fusion startup Proxima Fusion as part of a €411 million funding round. Alphabet participated as a strategic investor, extending its reach into long-term, carbon-free energy solutions beyond its core technology operations. The investment aligns with rising AI-related power demand and long-term decarbonization goals, positioning Alphabet closer to future sources of baseload power that could support Google Cloud and Gemini. This move diversifies Alphabet's external partnerships into energy infrastructure, setting it on a slightly different path from peers like Microsoft and Amazon, which rely more heavily on traditional renewables and grid contracts today.

British trading billionaire Alex Gerko's firm XTX Markets has led a €411 million investment round in Germany's Proxima Fusion, Europe's largest ever nuclear fusion investment. Google and East X Ventures also participated in the round. Munich-based Proxima aims to demonstrate fusion power in the early 2030s and build a commercial plant by the end of the decade, positioning itself as Europe's champion against US rivals. The company is also seeking hundreds of millions of euros from German government bodies and has partnered with RWE to build a stellarator plant in Bavaria.

Alphabet is backing Germany-based Proxima Fusion in a $468 million funding round as Google deepens its bet on nuclear fusion. The round was led by XTX Ventures and East X Ventures, with Google and German utility RWE joining as strategic investors, valuing Proxima at about $2.7 billion. The financing will support construction of Alpha, the startup's net-energy stellarator demonstrator near Munich, developed alongside the state of Bavaria, the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics and RWE. Proxima aims to use Alpha to validate critical technologies before pursuing what it hopes will become Europe's first commercial fusion power plant later in the decade.