Earnings Recap — Q2 FY2026
CY Q3 2026 · Reported August 10, 2026 · Beat 5 of last 6 quarters
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Hallador's progress on Turtle Creek and the surge in forward sales underscore the accelerating demand for dispatchable capacity to support AI-driven load growth in MISO. The company's ability to contract capacity through 2040 at 2x historical pricing signals that data center demand is repricing capacity ahead of energy. The adjacent data center construction validates the regional demand thesis.
Q2 2026 results were pressured by a planned 60-day maintenance outage at Merom Unit 1, which included major reliability upgrades, and unplanned downtime at Unit 2 that coincided with high power prices, requiring expensive replacement power. Electric sales were $59.5M, third-party coal sales were $40.6M, and total operating revenue was $101.5M. Net loss was $15.2M and adjusted EBITDA was -$2.9M. The company drew $45M on its delayed draw term loan to maintain liquidity. Forward sales position jumped to $2.4B on a segment basis, including the 12-year capacity agreement signed in May.
Management reiterated a constructive outlook for capacity and energy markets, citing robust demand from data centers and other large loads in MISO Zone 6. They expect generation volumes to improve sequentially in Q3 as the Merom outage is complete and reliability investments take effect, though they noted a challenging YoY comparison due to favorable power prices last year. On Turtle Creek, they expect to receive MISO interconnection study results in mid-August, target FID and GIA execution in September, and maintain a COD in 2H 2028. They are pursuing additional forward sales of Merom capacity and energy before year-end, with a goal to sell out the remaining capacity on multi-year contracts. Financing for Turtle Creek is being structured to minimize equity dilution, using equipment financing, structured debt, and other traditional instruments.
“We are seeing robust demand for accredited capacity and energy from a growing and increasingly diverse set of counterparties and are working towards making additional forward sales before the end of the year.”
on Demand and forward sales
“We have now formally named that project Turtle Creek Gas, or Turtle Creek for short. Turtle Creek is a proposed 460-megawatt simple cycle natural gas-fired plant project that would meaningfully expand and diversify our dispatchable generation platform.”
on Turtle Creek project
“A large data center project has broken ground adjacent to our property, and another project is in the early stages of development on the other side of the plant. You do not need a consultant's report to see where power demand in our region is headed. You can see it from the parking lot.”
on Data center demand
What's driving costs below expectations for the gas project, and how are off-take conversations trending?
Costs came down as scopes firmed up; the project benefits from existing site infrastructure, not greenfield. Interest is high, with a larger buyer pool for gas than coal, and they expect to add contracts before year-end.
Any contingencies if turbine disassembly or logistics slip past September?
Not concerned about shipment timing; there's plenty of wiggle room. The long pole is not equipment delivery but interconnection and financing.
Should we expect incremental capacity contracts on coal or gas to be more executable in coming months?
Coal is further along because the plant exists and is running. Gas will take a few more steps, including receiving interconnection costs and FID. They expect to sell out Merom's remaining capacity this year.