AES beats first quarter profit estimates on renewables demand

May 2 (Reuters) - AES Corp beat Wall Street estimates for first-quarter profit on Thursday, as the utility firm benefited from higher contributions from renewables projects and lower cost of sales.

The Virginia-based company said its renewables unit grew from last year, benefiting from a global push to adopt cleaner methods of power generation.

Companies and residents have been looking to capitalize on the Inflation Reduction Act, a key policy of the Biden administration, which provides generous tax credits for clean energy technologies like EVs and solar panels.

The company's earnings were also helped by lower quarterly cost of sales, down 6.8% to $2.47 billion from the previous year.

AES mainly operates in the renewables, utilities, energy infrastructure, and new energy technologies segments in Ohio, Indiana, and El Salvador.

The Virginia-based company posted an adjusted profit of 50 cents per share in the first quarter, compared to analysts' estimate of 34 cents per share, according to LSEG data. (Reporting by Vallari Srivastava and Tanay Dhumal in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Tasim Zahid)