Cuộc họp công bố kết quả kinh doanh Q3 2026 của Dominion Energy (D): Định hướng, CVOW và nhu cầu trung tâm dữ liệu

Điểm tin chính

• Lợi nhuận hoạt động quý 3/2026 đạt 1,28 USD/cổ phiếu, bao gồm 0,05 USD/cổ phiếu từ tín dụng RNG 45Z và 0,05 USD/cổ phiếu nhờ thời tiết thuận lợi hơn bình thường. Lợi nhuận GAAP đạt 1,30 USD/cổ phiếu.
• Dominion Energy hiện kỳ vọng kết quả cả năm sẽ nằm trong nửa trên của khoảng dự báo ban đầu, nhờ doanh số bán hàng tăng mạnh hơn, thời tiết thuận lợi, thu nhập từ tín dụng 45Z cao hơn dự kiến và hiệu quả thực thi hoạt động.
• Dự án điện gió ngoài khơi Coastal Virginia (CVOW) đã hoàn thành khoảng 85%. Công ty vẫn giữ nguyên ngân sách 11,65 tỷ USD và dự kiến hoàn thành vào cuối năm 2027.
• Dominion báo cáo có hơn 54 GW công suất trung tâm dữ liệu ở các giai đoạn hợp đồng khác nhau, bao gồm hơn 12 GW theo các thỏa thuận dịch vụ điện lực.
• Thỏa thuận sáp nhập đề xuất với NextEra Energy vẫn hướng tới mục tiêu hoàn tất trong nửa cuối năm 2027, tùy thuộc vào sự phê duyệt của cơ quan quản lý tiểu bang và liên bang.
• Kế hoạch nguồn lực cập nhật tại Virginia của Dominion đã bổ sung và đẩy nhanh 4 GW điện mặt trời và 2 GW lưu trữ bằng pin so với kế hoạch ưu tiên trước đó.

Dữ liệu tài chính quan trọng

Kết quả kinh doanh và hoạt động

Nhu cầu tiêu thụ điện vẫn ở mức mạnh mẽ trên toàn bộ các khu vực dịch vụ của Dominion. Toàn bộ 10 ngày có nhu cầu đỉnh điểm mùa hè của vùng DOM đều diễn ra trong năm 2026, trong khi DESC đã lập đỉnh tiêu thụ điện kỷ lục mới mọi thời đại vào tháng 8.

Công ty cho biết khung phụ tải lớn tại Virginia được thiết kế nhằm bảo đảm các khách hàng trung tâm dữ liệu gánh chịu phần chi phí đầu tư tương ứng để hỗ trợ tăng trưởng, làm giảm rủi ro chuyển dịch chi phí và chi phí mắc kẹt cho các khách hàng hiện hữu. Công suất trung tâm dữ liệu đã ký hợp đồng đã tăng thêm hơn 6 GW, tương đương 13%, kể từ cuối năm trước.

CVOW đã lắp đặt 44 tuabin, đại diện cho hơn 640 MW công suất phát điện, với tuabin thứ 45 đang được lắp đặt tại thời điểm diễn ra cuộc họp. Việc chế tạo toàn bộ vỏ tuabin, tháp và cánh tuabin đã hoàn tất.

Thời gian lắp đặt tuabin gần đây đạt trung bình khoảng 38 giờ đối với 9 tuabin mới nhất, so với 69 giờ đối với 10 tuabin đầu tiên. Ban quản lý cho biết thời tiết và việc bảo trì tàu Charybdis đã làm chậm tiến độ trong tháng 9 và tháng 10, nhưng các ảnh hưởng vẫn nằm trong khoảng dự phòng tiến độ đã thiết lập trước đó.

Dominion ước tính rằng CVOW có thể mang lại khoảng 5 tỷ USD tiền tiết kiệm chi phí nhiên liệu cho khách hàng trong 10 năm vận hành đầu tiên. Chi phí điện năng san bằng của dự án vẫn ở mức dưới ngưỡng pháp định áp dụng, với doanh thu từ chứng chỉ năng lượng tái tạo được tính giảm trừ vào chi phí dự án trong tính toán.

Tại Virginia, kế hoạch nguồn lực tích hợp cập nhật của Dominion đã tăng công suất pin dự kiến giai đoạn 2030-2034 từ 850 MW lên 3,3 GW. Ban quản lý đánh giá mỗi gigawatt là một cơ hội đầu tư vốn tiềm năng trị giá 2,5 tỷ đến 3 tỷ USD, mặc dù một số dự án có thể sử dụng các thỏa thuận mua bán điện thay vì đưa vào cơ sở tính giá cước của Dominion.

Tại Millstone, ban quản lý cho biết thỏa thuận mua bán điện hiện tại dự kiến sẽ tiết kiệm cho khách hàng tại Connecticut hơn 245 triệu USD trong năm 2026, bao gồm 200 triệu USD tính từ đầu năm đến nay. Dựa trên đường cong kỳ hạn hiện tại, Dominion ước tính tổng số tiền tiết kiệm lũy kế của khách hàng sẽ đạt hơn 900 triệu USD trong thời hạn 10 năm của hợp đồng.

Dự báo của Ban quản lý

Dominion kỳ vọng kết quả hoạt động cả năm sẽ rơi vào nửa trên của khoảng dự báo ban đầu. Triển vọng này bao gồm sự thận trọng đối với thời tiết tháng 11 và tháng 12 cùng các hành động tiềm năng nhằm giảm thiểu rủi ro cho hiệu quả tài chính trong tương lai.

Công ty tái khẳng định dự báo hiện tại về tín dụng, cổ tức và tăng trưởng dài hạn. Ban quản lý cũng cho biết năm 2027 và 2028 dự kiến vẫn là những năm có nhu cầu phát hành cổ phiếu tương đối thấp, đồng thời lưu ý rằng các dự báo cập nhật vẫn chưa được cung cấp.

Đối với CVOW, Dominion duy trì kỳ vọng hoàn thành dự án vào cuối năm 2027 và đóng điện trạm biến áp ngoài khơi thứ ba cũng là trạm cuối cùng vào cuối năm 2026.

Ban quản lý tiếp tục kỳ vọng giao dịch với NextEra Energy sẽ hoàn tất trong nửa cuối năm 2027. Quyết định pháp lý cuối cùng của Virginia dự kiến đưa ra trước ngày 11 tháng 1, trong khi của South Carolina là trước ngày 29 tháng 1 năm 2027. Các phiên điều trần tại North Carolina dự kiến bắt đầu vào ngày 23 tháng 2 năm 2027.

Rủi ro và các yếu tố cần theo dõi

• Phê duyệt sáp nhập: Giao dịch với NextEra vẫn đang chờ các thủ tục pháp lý. Các nhà phân tích tập trung vào các điều kiện đề xuất liên quan đến khoanh vùng tài chính, hạn chế cổ tức và bảo vệ khách hàng, nhưng ban quản lý từ chối thảo luận chi tiết các lập luận phản bác trước khi có các văn bản nộp chính thức.
• Thực thi CVOW: Thời tiết, việc bảo trì tàu, thời gian vận chuyển, bốc xếp tại cảng và các vị trí lắp đặt khó khăn có thể ảnh hưởng đến tiến độ. Ban quản lý ước tính rằng kế hoạch còn lại vẫn có khoảng 30 đến 95 ngày cho thời tiết, bảo trì và các tình huống dự phòng khác.
• Định giá REC: Ban quản lý cho biết giá chứng chỉ năng lượng tái tạo rất khó dự báo. Những thay đổi về giá REC ảnh hưởng đến chi phí điện năng san bằng tính toán của CVOW.
• Ký kết hợp đồng Millstone: Các cơ quan quản lý tại Connecticut đã cho biết quyết định trong quy trình yêu cầu đề xuất năng lượng không phát thải carbon sẽ có vào cuối năm, nhưng ban quản lý cho biết thời điểm và phạm vi thông tin công khai vẫn chưa chắc chắn.
• Mức độ nhạy cảm với thời tiết: Dự báo cả năm đã tính đến sự thận trọng xung quanh yếu tố thời tiết trong hai tháng cuối năm 2026.

Những điểm chính trong phần Hỏi & Đáp với Chuyên gia Phân tích

Về vụ sáp nhập với NextEra, ban quản lý nhấn mạnh rằng tiêu chuẩn pháp lý điều chỉnh của Virginia là liệu giao dịch có làm suy giảm hoặc đe dọa dịch vụ đầy đủ với mức giá hợp lý và công bằng hay không. Dominion lập luận rằng các khoản tín dụng cho khách hàng, hỗ trợ năng lượng, đầu tư lực lượng lao động và các cam kết với nhà cung cấp được đề xuất của họ đã vượt vượt trên tiêu chuẩn 'không gây hại'.

Về tiến độ CVOW, ban quản lý cho biết còn 132 tuabin cần được lắp đặt trong khoảng 425 đến 427 ngày theo lịch tính đến cuối năm 2027. Với tốc độ 1,5 đến 2 ngày mỗi tuabin, việc lắp đặt sẽ mất khoảng 200 đến 265 ngày, trong khi 33 lượt bốc xếp tại cảng có thể mất khoảng 130 ngày.

Khi được hỏi về việc thực thi các dự án lớn, ban quản lý đã nhấn mạnh các đội ngũ thi công giàu kinh nghiệm, mối quan hệ đối tác lâu năm với các nhà thầu, sự giám sát chuỗi cung ứng và sự am hiểu về thủ tục cấp phép. Công ty cũng đề cập đến những cải thiện theo đường cong học tập trong quá trình lắp đặt tuabin, cọc ống đơn (monopile) và đoạn chuyển tiếp (transition piece).

Về khoản đầu tư lưu trữ năng lượng tại Virginia, ban quản lý cho biết hầu hết công suất dự kiến có khả năng sẽ do công ty tự xây dựng theo Đạo luật Kinh tế Sạch Virginia, trong khi một số dự án sẽ sử dụng cấu trúc hợp đồng PPA và do đó không đưa vào cơ sở tính giá cước.

Toàn văn Biên bản Cuộc họp Báo cáo Kết quả Kinh doanh

Toàn văn cuộc gọi công bố kết quả kinh doanh

Phần trình bày của ban lãnh đạo

Operator

Welcome to the Dominion Energy Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to turn the call over to David McFarland, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations, and Treasurer.

David McFarland

Good morning, and thank you for joining Dominion Energy's Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. Earnings materials, including today's prepared remarks, contain forward-looking statements and estimates that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Please refer to our SEC filings, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for a discussion of factors that may cause results to differ from management's estimates and expectations.

This morning, we will discuss some measures of our company's performance that differ from those recognized by GAAP. Reconciliation of our non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, which we can calculate, are contained in the Earnings Release Kit. I encourage you to visit our Investor Relations website to review webcast slides as well as the Earnings Release Kit.

Joining today's call are Bob Blue, Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer; Steven Ridge, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and other members of senior management. I will now turn the call over to Steven.

Steven Ridge

Thank you, David, and good morning, everyone. We continue to be focused on 3 top priorities: first, consistent achievement of our financial commitments; second, continued achievement of major construction milestones for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project; and third, constructive achievement of regulatory outcomes that demonstrate our ability to work cooperatively with regulators and stakeholders to benefit both customers and shareholders. As we'll discuss today, we continue to demonstrate success against these priorities, extending our track record of high-quality and consistent execution. I'll cover financial results in my remarks. Bob will provide updates on the NextEra Energy combination, CVOW and other business items in his remarks.

Turning first to third quarter results, as shown on Slide 3. Third quarter operating earnings were $1.28 per share, including $0.05 from RNG 45Z credits and $0.05 from better-than-normal weather. Third quarter GAAP results were $1.30 per share. A summary of earnings drivers relative to the prior year period is included in Schedule 4 of the Earnings Release Kit, and a summary of all adjustments between operating and GAAP results is included in Schedule 2 of the Earnings Release Kit.

Turning now to guidance. Year-to-date operating EPS has benefited from better-than-budgeted sales, better-than-normal weather and higher-than-expected 45Z credit income, combined with strong overall financial and operational execution. Inclusive of conservatism for balance of year weather as well as potential opportunities to derisk future financial performance, we now expect full year results to be in the top half of our original guidance range. We've provided year-over-year drivers for the fourth quarter in the appendix of today's materials for your reference. Additionally, we are reaffirming all other existing financial guidance provided on our fourth quarter earnings call, including credit, dividend and long-term growth guidance.

Turning to financing on Slide 4. We made significant progress on our financing plan during the quarter, successfully executing several planned transactions while continuing to manage the balance sheet, consistent with our robust credit guidance. In September, the Virginia State Corporation Commission approved our fuel securitization financing petition, representing the balance of approximately $900 million, helping mitigate near-term fuel-related impacts on customer bills.

Turning briefly to sales. We're continuing to see strong sales in our service areas with LTM weather normal electric sales growth of 3.4% across DEV and DESC. In addition, all 10 of the DOM zone's summer peak demand days have occurred in 2026. And in August, DESC set a new all-time electric peak.

Turning to Slide 5. Since our last update, we continue to see robust and durable demand from our differentiated, high-quality, low-risk data center customers across multiple localities in Virginia. And we're bringing these customers onto our system in the right way: protecting existing customers from cost shifts while mitigating stranded cost risk by utilizing a large load framework approved by the Virginia State Corporation Commission in our most recent biennial review that ensures these customers continue to pay their fair share of the investments required to support their growth.

We now have over 54 gigawatts of data center capacity in various stages of contracting, including over 12 gigawatts of capacity contracted under electric service agreements. To put that in context, we've added over 6 gigawatts of contracts or 13% since the end of last year.

In conclusion, I'm highly confident in our ability to deliver on our financial plan. We've built our plan to be appropriately but also not unreasonably conservative to weather unforeseen challenges that may occur.

And with that, I'll turn the call over to Bob.

Robert Blue

Thank you, Steven. I'll begin with safety on Slide 6. Through September, our employee OSHA injury recordable rate was 0.41, which remains well below industry average. Safety is our first core value, and we're always focused on driving workplace injuries to 0.

Turning next to our announced combination with NextEra Energy. As we detailed in May, this transaction represents a truly transformational opportunity to bring together 2 world-class utilities with 238 years of collective industry experience to even better serve millions of regulated customers across 4 states. Looking ahead, we believe we can accomplish far more on behalf of our customers together than we can apart.

In mid-September, NextEra and Dominion announced an enhanced Virginia benefits package that puts customers first and positions the Commonwealth as a global energy leader. That proposal doubled the duration of residential bill credits, expanded energy bill assistance by $100 million, included a $100 million workforce development fund, committed to creating at least 1,000 new jobs in the Commonwealth, building a new shareholder-funded co-headquarters tower in Richmond and supporting Virginia companies through a $1 billion annual 5-year Virginia supplier program. Over the longer term, customers and communities will benefit from a stronger company with the scale and capabilities to buy, build, finance and operate critical energy infrastructure more efficiently, helping support reliability, affordability and economic growth.

In Virginia, we've received testimony from parties which we will address through rebuttal testimony due November 2. Evidentiary hearings begin on November 17, and the final order is due by January 11 of next year. Ultimately, the State Corporation Commission will decide the case based on the record presented to it and on the legal standard, whether adequate service to the public at just and reasonable rates will not be impaired or jeopardized by the proposed transaction.

Another way of thinking about this is whether the transaction will do no harm to customers. We're confident that we have met that standard. In fact, we've exceeded the standard by proposing significant benefits in terms of customer affordability, jobs in our service area and development of needed energy resources.

In South Carolina, we've received testimony from parties which we will address through rebuttal testimony due November 18. Hearings begin on December 8, with a final order by January 29, 2027. In North Carolina, hearings begin on February 23, 2027. The time lines for each of the proceedings are shown on Slide 7.

Required federal approvals have all been filed and continue to progress. We continue to expect the transaction to close in the second half of 2027. I could not be more excited about the combination of these 2 companies. We'll continue to share updates as we progress through the regulatory process.

Turning next to offshore wind on Slide 8. CVOW continues to make significant progress, with the project approximately 85% complete and the fabrication of all nacelles, towers and blades now complete. We've installed 44 turbines representing more than 640 megawatts of generating capacity, with the installation of the 45th turbine happening now. Installation continues to average approximately 2 days from jack up to jack down, consistent with our assumptions.

July and August turbine installation cadence was in line with expectations, while September and October were below due to a combination of weather and Charybdis maintenance activities, which were completed earlier this month. Importantly, these impacts were within the types of risks contemplated when we added scheduled contingency last quarter. While we utilized a portion of that contingency, our outlook has not changed. We continue to expect project completion by the end of 2027 and energization of the third and final offshore substation by year-end 2026.

From a cost perspective, our current budget remains $11.65 billion, including $123 million of unused contingency. We also continue to see strong customer value. The project's LCOE remains well below the statutory threshold, as well as the range contemplated in our original filing, and we estimate CVOW will generate approximately $5 billion of fuel savings for customers during its first 10 years of operation. Our overall view of the project remains unchanged. CVOW installation has been significantly derisked and continues to make progress against its schedule and cost objectives while delivering significant long-term customer value.

Now I'll turn to other business updates, as shown on Slide 10. In mid-October, we filed our Virginia Integrated Resource Plan update, which included several possible generation build portfolios designed to meet robust customer demand growth. Relative to last year's company preferred plan, we've added and accelerated 4 gigawatts of solar and 2 gigawatts of battery storage. Importantly, under the company's preferred plan, we're meeting our customer needs, protecting system reliability, maintaining affordability with monthly residential electric bills forecasted to increase on average by about 2.3% annually.

We continue to see a growing role for energy storage in Virginia. Our recently filed IRP is an update and represents a snapshot in time, but it already reflects a meaningful increase in storage relative to our prior plan. Importantly, Virginia also enacted significant energy storage legislation this year that establishes substantially higher targets for both short- and long-duration storage. We expect storage to play an increasingly important role as use cases continue to broaden and the technology continues to advance.

We're actively evaluating both short-duration battery storage and emerging long-duration technologies through the lens of reliability, affordability and customer need. And looking longer term, the proposed combination with NextEra Energy would bring together significant capabilities and experience in energy storage. We believe that positions the combined company exceptionally well to deploy storage at scale as the technology matures and system needs evolve.

Finally, on Millstone. In September, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection provided an update on the zero carbon energy request for proposals, indicating that it intends to announce a decision later this year. The facility's existing PPA has delivered tremendous value to customers, lower costs and significantly reduced volatility.

Despite being priced at the time in 2019 above prevailing price outlooks, the contract is expected to save customers over $245 million this year, including $200 million year-to-date, in addition to the over $200 million in savings to customers last year. Based on current forward curves, the contract is expected to save customers in Connecticut over $900 million over the 10-year life, driven by lower energy pricing. We remain focused on achieving a constructive outcome for the facility, which has delivered tremendous value and produced bill reductions for customers in Connecticut through its existing contract. We will continue to provide updates as things develop.

With that, let me summarize our remarks on Slide 11 by reiterating our focus on our 3 top priorities: consistently achieving our financial commitments; continued achievement of major construction milestones for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project; and achieving constructive regulatory outcomes that demonstrate our ability to work cooperatively with regulators and stakeholders to deliver results that benefit both customers and shareholders. We remain committed to delivering reliable, affordable and increasingly clean power for our customers.

With that, we're ready to take your questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And we will take our first question from Shar Pourreza with Wells Fargo.

Phần hỏi đáp

Shahriar Pourreza

So Bob, just on -- just as we're thinking about the deal and sort of the staff, I mean, 57 conditions. I guess, can you highlight where you and the staff are kind of furthest apart? What's the deal breaker? Is it, like, the ring-fencing? Is it the dividend restrictions? Can you close any of these gaps before the hearings next month? And then maybe just lastly, comment on the governor's intervention, which kind of seems a little bit excessive to us. How is that dialogue going?

Robert Blue

Yes, Shar, great question. 57 conditions, a chunk of them are conditions that were ones that we had already voluntarily proposed. So I think it's important to keep that in mind.

But fundamentally, as you heard from John on NextEra's call a week or so ago, we're still focused on the statutory standard, which is no harm. That's what the judges are going to follow. We'll file our rebuttal testimony on Monday. Look forward to the hearing beginning on the 17th of November.

And we remain confident that our position goes beyond the statutory standard, will deliver benefits, not just no harm to Virginia customers, to employees and communities. It's going to keep our company locally led, still regulated by the SEC, fully accountable to them. John said it on their call, the judges of the SCC are going to follow the law. That's the best that we could possibly ask for. And we look forward to presenting our rebuttal testimony on Monday.

Shahriar Pourreza

Got it. And then just the governor, how is that dialogue going? Just, I guess, I don't want to say behind closed doors, but is what we're seeing publicly different than what conversations you're having privately?

Robert Blue

Well, the governor is participating as an intervenor in the case as she is obviously entitled to do, and we welcomed her intervention. We're participating in the case through the filings that we make in the case. We obviously talk to parties as makes sense. But really, our focus right now is the testimony that we're filing on Monday, making sure that we're all very focused on the no harm legal standard.

Shahriar Pourreza

Got it. Perfect. And then just lastly, on CVOW, I mean, obviously, we saw a little bit of a healthy drop in the LCOE to $62. Obviously, a lot of that was driven by RECs going to $38. I guess, what are you seeing in the RECs market that drive that? And is sort of $38 kind of sustainable in your view?

Steven Ridge

Sure. It's Steve. It's hard to predict the price. We obviously reflect it quarterly when we update the filing, and very transparent about it. What we're seeing is a tightening of supply and demand, sort of unsurprisingly. And remember that a large portion of those RECs need to be generated by Virginia resources. And so that obviously adds an additional constraint, which pushes prices up. And remember, the way that math works is that we credit the revenue from those REC-generated sales by CVOW against the LCOE. That's why you see that price come down.

But we've seen it kind of go up and down. It was a little higher. Now it's back down a little lower in terms of the LCOE. I think the most important thing is we continue to believe CVOW will provide significant value to our customers.

Operator

Our next question comes from Nicholas Campanella with Barclays.

Nicholas Campanella

Maybe just sticking with the merger, similar question just on South Carolina. Any reactions to testimony there that recently came in? Is there a path forward to settle South Carolina? And any thoughts on just the bill credit, 4 years versus 2 years?

Robert Blue

Yes. I'll give a similar answer, Nick, to the question I gave on Virginia. We're in the process, in the regulatory process there. We continue to work our way through. You all have the procedural time lines in front of you. Next step for us is for us to file our rebuttal testimony and then go into the hearing.

We continue to believe that we've presented a very strong package in South Carolina the same way we did in Virginia, and we look forward to an opportunity to demonstrate that to the commission. Obviously, we work with parties in all the states and all the regulatory proceedings that we're involved in to try to find a good outcome.

Nicholas Campanella

Okay. And then maybe moving to Millstone. I know you're saying there's a decision here potentially by year-end. Can you just remind folks of the general time line? Do you get term and price by then? Or is that just that Millstone could have been selected as part of this wider process? Maybe just a little mark-to-market on those discussions.

Steven Ridge

Nick, we're encouraged and constructively engaged with the parties in that process. A little difficult to say with certainty as to sort of what would be public at the end of the year. We don't -- certainly don't want to speak for or get ahead of the regulators in this case. But I do think we'll feel like we've got a little bit better sense of where that process is going by the end of the year. And then of course, as we have announcements to make, we'll be excited to make that public to folks.

Operator

Our next question is from Paul Zimbardo with Jefferies. We'll move to our next question from Anthony Crowdell with Mizuho.

Anthony Crowdell

How about now? Can you hear me? Sorry, has that worked?

Robert Blue

Yes, it works. We were starting to get a little worried there.

Anthony Crowdell

I know. I think Paul is out trick or treating. So he's just probably getting his last candy.

Robert Blue

We're glad to know you waited until the call was over.

Anthony Crowdell

I just have one quick question. You guys gave great clarity on CVOW, continuing to derisk it, I think you're 85% complete. I think maybe it's more of a sector-wide question. The sector is now approaching some large generating project construction. You guys have clearly plowed through this project, which is maybe one of the bigger ones going across the country.

I guess, how should investors think about execution risk across the sector as we're starting to see utilities pursue like larger generating units? You guys have plowed through it, you continue to derisk it. But I don't know if it's lessons learned or something, or what would you tell us we should focus on as you guys are successful with CVOW and we're seeing now other utilities go down this path?

Robert Blue

Yes, that's a great question, Anthony. And I wouldn't limit our experience just to CVOW. It hasn't been that long since we finished some sizable combined cycles here in Virginia. And our focus is having an experienced project construction team that is working with contractors that we have familiarity with. They know the risks to look at. Our Board has become quite comfortable asking us questions about the risks that we should be focused on. Not surprisingly, those line up often around what are your potential labor constraints, how does the supply chain look, and having familiarity with all of that is really valuable.

So at least in our case, we're comforted by the fact that we have an experienced team that has handled big projects. Not just on the gen side, by the way, but on the transmission side of the house as well because we've done an awful lot of that work over the last few years to put that experienced team, combined with strong counterparties where we have confidence in the supply chain.

And then finally, familiarity with the permitting process. I mean, I think we all know that there could be challenges in these projects when permits get off track. And so having the relationships necessary in order to work your way through the permitting process is critical as well.

Operator

Our next question is from Carly Davenport with Goldman Sachs.

Carly Davenport

Maybe just to go back to CVOW. I appreciate the time from jack up to jack down is tracking in line with your expectations. I guess, could you just help us think about the other items that can impact the overall timing and how you expect those to trend as we look over the next few months just as we think about weather, et cetera, moving towards the end of the year?

Robert Blue

Yes. I mean, beyond the jack up to jack down time, other factors that we think about that we've identified are weather, maintenance, transit and loadout time. We've made assumptions regarding weather. We don't have the ability to control that, obviously. And then on the other items, our loadout times continue to improve. Our transit times are defined by where we're going on the project. And I think the team has put together a very good schedule to minimize those transit times so that we are putting turbines up close to each other rather than crisscrossing across the project. And maintenance is a factor that we put in, and everything gets a little bit better as we move along.

So if you think about, Carly, when everything we've done on this project, we get quite a bit faster as we go along. Just give you a few statistics on the installation time. So our first 10 turbines took an average of 69 hours each to install. The next 25 took an average of 45 hours, so that's a 35% improvement. And then the most recent 9 averaged 38 hours, which is a 45% improvement to the first 10.

So we're improving on the installations of turbines the same way we improved our timing on monopiles, the same way we improved our timing on transition pieces. As I mentioned, we continue to get faster on the turns at port. Obviously, we don't do as many of those because we're loading 4 turbines each time. But we're getting faster with that as well. I think our plan is good on transit time. And any maintenance we have to do, if we've done it before, it will be faster the next time we do it, as we found going along.

Steven Ridge

Carly, I think it's a really fair question. If I can put some numbers around what I think you're asking about, in addition to the great answer Bob just provided. If you think about the last 3 months, we had about 91 days in that period. 14 were impacted by weather and about 36 by the vessel maintenance we've described, which means we installed about 13 turbines over about 41 available days, which equates to about 3.2 calendar days per turbine, which again is a little higher than the 2 because that doesn't include transit. And looking forward, we have about 425 calendar days left through the end of '27 to install the remaining 132 turbines, which, by coincidence, is also 3.2 days per turbine.

And I think what's important to note, as Bob just mentioned, is the timing for the jack up and jack down, even though our base assumption is 2 days, as he just mentioned, our most recent 9 have been closer to 1.5 days. If you were at 1.5 days, you'd be able to do the remaining turbine installations in about 200 days. If you stayed that 2 days per turbine, you'd be 265. And we expect about 33 of those loadouts at the port, each take about 4 days or 130 days in total.

So if you put all that together, 427 days, 200 to 265 days for turbine installation, 130 days for port turns, that leaves somewhere between 30 and 95 days for weather, maintenance and if you need more time for some of the more difficult locations for turbine installation. So I think that gives folks a little bit of a sense of sort of how much contingency is in the plan from a timing perspective, and that's what gives us that confidence. In addition to what Bob described, which is as we go through the various iterations of construction, it gets faster every single time.

Carly Davenport

Great. That's incredibly helpful context. And then the follow-up is just a housekeeping item. It looks like just for the 4Q drivers, O&M has shifted from being a drag to a help. Anything in particular that you flag as driving that? And is there any read-through on that into 2027 O&M trends with that in mind?

Steven Ridge

No, Carly, nothing specific. We obviously reevaluate those drivers quarter-by-quarter to reflect the latest perspective on the forecast. I would say we gave our guidance to be in the top half, and I think I put in my prepared remarks that, that includes some conservatism around November and December weather, as well as potential opportunities to derisk financial performance. So we're going to have that lever available to us as we go out to the last 2 months of the year to make sure we land solidly where our guidance is, updated guidance, but also take steps necessary to derisk future years.

Operator

Our next question comes from Paul Zimbardo with Jefferies.

Paul Zimbardo

I'm back. I think Anthony was ringing my doorbell, trick or treating.

Robert Blue

Good to hear from you, Paul.

Paul Zimbardo

And I appreciate there's a lot of math in that last answer. So hopefully, an easier one. Could you describe the nuclear upgrade opportunities, more so the regulated fleet, but also the unregulated asset? And just kind of where you are in exploring some of these potential expansions?

Robert Blue

Yes. Paul, good question. We've got some limited opportunities, we think, at Millstone, as we've discussed before. The regulated fleet, we've done a lot of upgrade work over the years. Our focus at the regulated fleet is the investments necessary for subsequent license renewal. We're extending the lives of those plants for another 20 years. So that's really where the work is going on right now. We always look for opportunities for updates where it makes sense we can do it safely within the appropriate safety margin.

Paul Zimbardo

Okay. Understand that. And then one last on kind of Virginia and the new IRP. I think you mentioned the 4 gigawatts and 2 gigawatts of incremental pull forward. Just -- if you could frame like what could that do to the capital plan, the rate base growth? Any kind of color you could provide there would be helpful.

Steven Ridge

Absolutely, Paul. So if you look at 2025's IRP relative to the latest IRP, it effectively through 2034 increases the battery on the system by about 4x. So for instance, in the 2025 IRP, 2030 through '34, battery was 850 megawatts. In the 2026 update, it's 3.3 gigawatts. And think about the capital cycle around that is about a 2-year time frame where you're spending that capital leading up to the actual COD.

So obviously, as we roll forward and pick up '31 in our 5-year plan, we'll be picking up 1 additional year of not just what the existing battery capital opportunity was, but actually this enhanced battery capital opportunity. And we framed that as every gigawatt being sort of $2.5 billion to $3 billion of opportunity.

Now keep in mind, some of the IRP would be under a PPA structure. Obviously, we don't -- wouldn't include that in our rate base, but the majority of it is under self-build, consistent with the Virginia Clean Economy Act. So I think as we think about roll forward, there's a very meaningful opportunity for capital enhancement in order to comply with the legislative and policy intent of the state.

Operator

We will take our next question from Nick Amicucci with Evercore ISI.

Nicholas Amicucci

Sorry, I did want to just kind of revert back to the merger quickly, if I could. There was one point of contention just within the SCC's staff testimony there. And I just wanted to kind of clarify it to understand it, I guess.

Just as we think about the ring-fencing and the bankruptcy remote special purpose vehicle, I guess, what are they really looking for there? Like, I understand kind of like the protection for Dominion. But just, I guess, how would -- how does that structure kind of -- like what should -- how should we think about that structure?

Robert Blue

Yes. Totally understand why you'd ask that question. But as I mentioned, we're working our way through the regulatory process now, which involves filing a rebuttal testimony on Monday and then a hearing just a few weeks away. So we're going to continue to present what we think is a very strong package through that regulatory process. But I can hope you understand why I wouldn't want to be getting into the details of that on the Friday before we file our rebuttal testimony.

Nicholas Amicucci

Very fair. Very fair. And then just wanted to think through to just the funding requirement. Like as we think about that as we move into 2027, just how much flexibility exists if we have some load kind of acceleration and a potential, like, delay in any closing?

Steven Ridge

Are you asking, Nick, about our -- sort of where our 2027 financing needs might be and how that could be impacted?

Nicholas Amicucci

Yes. If you think about it specifically on the equity issuance side.

Steven Ridge

Yes. So when we did our call in the fourth quarter, we gave a 5-year look. And we indicated that from -- at least from an equity perspective, it was very back-end loaded in sort of the last couple of years of our plan. I don't want to get out ahead of our sort of updates to the forecast. But generally speaking, we were seeing '27 and '28 as relatively lighter equity years. And I haven't seen anything that suggests that would be necessarily different.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes our question-and-answer session, so I'll turn it back to Bob Blue for closing remarks.

Robert Blue

Thanks, everybody, for taking the time to join the call today. Enjoy the rest of the day. Thanks.

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.