Listeners to Bloom Energy's (BE -1.93%) second-quarter 2020 conference call heard principal co-founder and CEO K.R. Sridhar proclaim that his company has a "new financing partner" in NextEra Energy (NEE 0.54%). But John Ketchum, president and CEO of NextEra Energy Resources -- the clean energy business under NextEra Energy -- later denied the statement from the Bloom executive was true.
Ketchum said that "Bloom Energy incorrectly asserted" that NextEra Energy Resources was a financing partner, and that it has "no such relationship" with Bloom. He clarified that the relationship is "limited to a recently acquired small fuel cell with an existing power purchase agreement on Long Island, New York." Ketchum continued that the purchase came on attractive terms, and that Bloom only provides operational and technical support to NextEra for this one system, and that it has no plans for any further business arrangements with Bloom Energy.
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But Bloom Energy responded, and said that it is reaffirming its comments on the relationship with NextEra Energy Resources. The response explained that NextEra Energy Resources purchased a six megawatt fuel cell project from Bloom. It clarified that "Bloom uses the term 'financing partner' to refer to the purchaser of our fuel cells for use by an end consumer."
Bloom also disputed Ketchum's comment regarding any future relationship. It said, "NextEra contacted us recently to discuss future collaborations, which resulted in our two companies being actively engaged in discussions regarding several future projects."
Bloom concluded that the comments made on the conference call were "true and accurate in all respects."
