generation. An unplanned outage at Salem unit 2 in late December 2022 occurred during a PJM region-wide generation emergency action and resulted in capacity performance penalties. The net financial impact of the outage, including replacement power, capacity penalties, as well as bonuses earned by the other operating PSEG units, is not expected to be material.
For the full-year, the nuclear fleet operated at an average capacity factor of 92.2% and produced 31.3 TWh of carbon-free, base load power. PSEG is forecasting total baseload nuclear generation of approximately 31 TWh for the full year of 2023, hedged 95%-100% at an average price of $31 per MWh – an increase of approximately $4 per MWh compared to 2022. For 2024, total nuclear generation is forecast to be approximately 31 TWh and is 55%-60% hedged at an average price of $32 per MWh.
PSEG Power had net cash collateral postings of $1.5 billion at December 31, primarily related to out-of-the-money hedge positions because of higher energy prices throughout 2022. As of February 17, 2023, net cash collateral postings were approximately $700 million, reflecting recent declines in power prices.
In January 2023, PSEG announced it would sell its 25% equity interest in the Ocean Wind 1 offshore wind generation project to Ørsted. The sale is expected to close in the first half of 2023. PSEG has also decided not to exercise its option to purchase 50% of Ørsted’s two Skipjack generating projects in Maryland or pursue an ownership interest in Ørsted’s Ocean Wind 2 project or other offshore wind generation projects. PSEG is evaluating its options for the potential sale of its 50% interest in Garden State Offshore Energy, which holds rights to an offshore wind lease area south of New Jersey.
We have narrowed our forecast of non-GAAP Operating Earnings for Carbon-Free, Infrastructure and Other to $200 million - $225 million from our prior guidance of $185 million - $235 million.
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PSEG will host a conference call to review its Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2022 results with the financial community at 11AM EDT today. You can register to access this event by visiting https://investor.pseg.com/investor-news-and-events.
Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) (NYSE: PEG) is a predominantly regulated infrastructure company focused on a clean energy future. Guided by its Powering Progress vision, PSEG aims to power a future where people use less energy, and it’s cleaner, safer and delivered more reliably than ever. PSEG’s commitment to ESG and sustainability is demonstrated in our net-zero 2030 climate vision and participation in the U.N. Race to Zero, as well as our inclusion on the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index and the list of America’s most JUST Companies. PSEG’s businesses include Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G), PSEG Power and PSEG Long Island (https://corporate.pseg.com).
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Management uses non-GAAP Operating Earnings in its internal analysis, and in communications with investors and analysts, as a consistent measure for comparing PSEG’s financial performance to previous financial results. Non-GAAP Operating Earnings exclude the impact of returns (losses) associated with the Nuclear Decommissioning Trust (NDT), Mark-to-Market (MTM) accounting and material one-time items.
See Attachments 8 and 9 for a complete list of items excluded from Net Income/(Loss) in the determination of non-GAAP Operating Earnings. The presentation of non-GAAP Operating Earnings is intended to complement, and should not be considered an alternative to the presentation of Net Income/(Loss), which is an indicator of financial performance determined in accordance with GAAP. In addition, non-GAAP Operating Earnings as presented in this release may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies.
Due to the forward-looking nature of non-GAAP Operating Earnings, PSEG is unable to reconcile this non-GAAP financial measure to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure because comparable GAAP measures are not reasonably accessible or reliable due to the inherent difficulty in forecasting and quantifying measures that would be required for such reconciliation. Namely, we are not able to reliably project without unreasonable effort MTM and NDT gains (losses), for
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