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Variable Interest Entities | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2017
Variable Interest Entities [Abstract] |
Variable Interest Entities | Variable Interest Entities (VIEs) At December 31, 2017, NEE had thirty-seven VIEs which it consolidated and had interests in certain other VIEs which it did not consolidate. FPL - FPL is considered the primary beneficiary of, and therefore consolidates, a VIE that is a wholly owned bankruptcy remote special purpose subsidiary that it formed in 2007 for the sole purpose of issuing storm-recovery bonds pursuant to the securitization provisions of the Florida Statutes and a financing order of the FPSC. FPL is considered the primary beneficiary because FPL has the power to direct the significant activities of the VIE, and its equity investment, which is subordinate to the bondholder's interest in the VIE, is at risk. Storm restoration costs incurred by FPL during 2005 and 2004 exceeded the amount in FPL's funded storm and property insurance reserve, resulting in a storm reserve deficiency. In 2007, the VIE issued $652 million aggregate principal amount of senior secured bonds (storm-recovery bonds), primarily for the after-tax equivalent of the total of FPL's unrecovered balance of the 2004 storm restoration costs, the 2005 storm restoration costs and to reestablish FPL's storm and property insurance reserve. In connection with this financing, net proceeds, after debt issuance costs, to the VIE (approximately $644 million) were used to acquire the storm-recovery property, which includes the right to impose, collect and receive a storm-recovery charge from all customers receiving electric transmission or distribution service from FPL under rate schedules approved by the FPSC or under special contracts, certain other rights and interests that arise under the financing order issued by the FPSC and certain other collateral pledged by the VIE that issued the bonds. The storm-recovery bonds are payable only from and are secured by the storm-recovery property. The bondholders have no recourse to the general credit of FPL. The assets of the VIE were approximately $148 million and $216 million at December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, and consisted primarily of storm-recovery property, which are included in both current and noncurrent regulatory assets on NEE's and FPL's consolidated balance sheets. The liabilities of the VIE were approximately $147 million and $214 million at December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, and consisted primarily of storm-recovery bonds, which are included in current maturities of long-term debt and long-term debt on NEE's and FPL's consolidated balance sheets. NEER - NEE consolidates thirty-six NEER VIEs. NEER is considered the primary beneficiary of these VIEs since NEER controls the most significant activities of these VIEs, including operations and maintenance, and has the obligation to absorb expected losses of these VIEs. A subsidiary of NEER is the primary beneficiary of, and therefore consolidates, NEP, which consolidates NEP OpCo because of NEP’s controlling interest in the general partner of NEP OpCo. NEP is a limited partnership formed to acquire, manage and own contracted clean energy projects with stable, long-term cash flows through a limited partner interest in NEP OpCo. At December 31, 2017, NEE owned a controlling non-economic general partner interest in NEP and a limited partner interest in NEP OpCo, and presented limited partner interests in NEP as a noncontrolling interest in NEE's consolidated financial statements. At December 31, 2017, NEE owned common units of NEP OpCo representing noncontrolling interest in NEP’s operating projects of approximately 65.1%. The assets and liabilities of NEP were approximately $8.4 billion and $6.2 billion, respectively, at December 31, 2017, and $7.2 billion and $5.0 billion, respectively, at December 31, 2016, and primarily consisted of property, plant and equipment and long-term debt. During the third quarter of 2017, changes to NEP's governance structure were made that, among other things, enhanced NEP unitholder governance rights. As a result of these governance changes, NEP was deconsolidated from NEE in January 2018. A NEER VIE consolidates two entities which own and operate natural gas/oil electric generation facilities with the capability of producing 110 MW. These entities sell their electric output under power sales contracts to a third party, with expiration dates in 2018 and 2020. The power sales contracts provide the offtaker the ability to dispatch the facilities and require the offtaker to absorb the cost of fuel. The entities have third-party debt which is secured by liens against the generation facilities and the other assets of these entities. The debt holders have no recourse to the general credit of NEER for the repayment of debt. The assets and liabilities of the VIE were approximately $89 million and $29 million, respectively, at December 31, 2017 and $95 million and $42 million, respectively, at December 31, 2016, and consisted primarily of property, plant and equipment and long-term debt. Two indirect subsidiaries of NEER each contributed, to a NEP subsidiary, an approximately 50% ownership interest in three entities which own and operate solar photovoltaic (PV) facilities with the capability of producing a total of approximately 277 MW. Each of the two indirect subsidiaries of NEER is considered a VIE since the non-managing members have no substantive rights over the managing members, and is consolidated by NEER. These three entities sell their electric output to third parties under power sales contracts with expiration dates in 2035 and 2036. The three entities have third-party debt which is secured by liens against the assets of the entities. The debt holders have no recourse to the general credit of NEER for the repayment of debt. The assets and liabilities of these VIEs were approximately $548 million and $594 million, respectively, at December 31, 2017 and $571 million and $487 million, respectively, at December 31, 2016, and consisted primarily of property, plant and equipment and long-term debt. NEER consolidates a special purpose entity that has insufficient equity at risk and is considered a VIE. The entity provided a loan in the form of a note receivable (see Note 4 - Fair Value of Financial Instruments Recorded at Other than Fair Value) to an unrelated third party, and also issued senior secured bonds which are collateralized by the note receivable. The assets and liabilities of the VIE were approximately $490 million and $502 million, respectively, at December 31, 2017, and $502 million and $511 million, respectively at December 31, 2016, and consisted primarily of notes receivables (included in other investments and classified as held for sale at December 31, 2017) and long-term debt. The other thirty-one NEER VIEs that are consolidated relate to certain subsidiaries which have sold differential membership interests in entities which own and operate wind electric generation and solar PV facilities with the capability of producing a total of approximately 8,197 MW and 374 MW, respectively. These entities sell their electric output either under power sales contracts to third parties with expiration dates ranging from 2018 through 2051 or in the spot market. Certain investors that have no equity at risk in the VIEs hold differential membership interests, which give them the right to receive a portion of the economic attributes of the generation facilities, including certain tax attributes. Certain entities have third-party debt which is secured by liens against the generation facilities and the other assets of these entities or by pledges of NEER's ownership interest in these entities. The debt holders have no recourse to the general credit of NEER for the repayment of debt. The assets and liabilities of these VIEs totaled approximately $13.1 billion and $6.9 billion, respectively, at December 31, 2017. Twenty-seven of the thirty-one were VIEs at December 31, 2016 and were consolidated; the assets and liabilities of those VIEs totaled approximately $10.9 billion and $6.9 billion, respectively, at December 31, 2016. At December 31, 2017 and 2016, the assets and liabilities of the VIEs consisted primarily of property, plant and equipment, deferral related to differential membership interests and long-term debt. Other - At December 31, 2017 and 2016, several NEE subsidiaries have investments totaling approximately $2,634 million ($2,195 million at FPL) and $2,505 million ($2,049 million at FPL), respectively, which are included in special use funds and other investments on NEE's consolidated balance sheets and in special use funds on FPL's consolidated balance sheets. These investments represented primarily commingled funds and mortgage-backed securities. NEE subsidiaries, including FPL, are not the primary beneficiary and therefore do not consolidate any of these entities because they do not control any of the ongoing activities of these entities, were not involved in the initial design of these entities and do not have a controlling financial interest in these entities. Certain subsidiaries of NEE have noncontrolling interests in entities accounted for under the equity method. These entities are limited partnerships or similar entity structures in which the limited partners or nonmanaging members do not have substantive rights, and therefore are considered VIEs. NEE is not the primary beneficiary because it does not have a controlling financial interest in these entities, and therefore does not consolidate any of these entities. NEE’s investment in these entities totaled approximately $248 million and $234 million at December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, which are included in other investments on NEE’s consolidated balance sheets. Subsidiaries of NEE had committed to invest an additional approximately $75 million in three of the entities at December 31, 2017 and $30 million in two of the entities at December 31, 2016.

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- Definition Variable Interest Entities [Abstract] + References No definition available. + Details
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- Definition The entire disclosure for a variable interest entity (VIE), including but not limited to, judgments and assumptions in determining whether to consolidate and in identifying the primary beneficiary, gain (loss) recognized on the initial consolidation of the VIE, terms of arrangements, amounts and classification of the VIE's assets and liabilities, and the entity's maximum exposure to loss. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 810 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2197479 + Details
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