Background
NRG Energy, Inc. is an American wholesale energy company based in Princeton, New Jersey. NRG’s power plants have more than 25,000 megawatts of generation capacity, with the ability to supply power to more than 20 million homes. Founded in 1989, the company is primarily engaged in the ownership and operation of power generation facilities and the sale of energy, capacity and related products in the United States and abroad. Operations include competitive energy production and cogeneration facilities, power marketing, district heating and cooling production, thermal energy production and resource recovery facilities. The company is currently working to transition to a clean energy economy by investing more heavily in solar and wind, as well as electric vehicle infrastructure. NRG’s portfolio includes projects in North America, Europe and Australia.
In late 2005, NRG Energy bought Texas-based Texas Genco from a group of private equity firms for roughly $5.9 billion. In May 2009, NRG acquired the retail operations of Reliant Energy, also based in Texas. Reliant’s retail operations have continued to operate under the Reliant Energy name as part of NRG, while the remainder of the former Reliant Energy became a separate company, RRI Energy. Following the Reliant acquisition, NRG bought Austin-based Green Mountain Energy in November 2010, making it the largest green power retailer in the country. Reliant Energy and Green Mountain Energy Company combined serve nearly 1.9 million residential, businesses, commercial and industrial customers in Texas and the Northeast. NRG provides all of Green Mountain’s and many of Reliant’s customers with energy derived from 100% renewable sources.
NRG is one of the leading developers of solar power in the United Sates and has taken a leading role in the deployment of no and low-carbon technologies such as wind, solar, biomass and high efficiency natural gas-fueled electricity generation. NRG is currently involved in several ambitious clean energy projects, including: large-scale solar generation in California, Arizona and New Mexico; eVgosm, the nation’s first privately funded electric vehicle charging network; and smaller-scale efforts that bring the benefits of renewable energy directly to consumers.
NRG currently owns eight large-scale operational clean energy facilities including four wind farms in Texas, three solar fields in California and New Mexico and 44 percent interest in the South Texas Project (STP), a nuclear power plant in Texas. The company also has thermal businesses in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and San Francisco. In 2010, NRG acquired several solar development projects from US Solar Ventures and the Cottonwood Generating Station, a 1,279 megawatt (MW) natural gas-fueled plant in the Entergy zone of East Texas.
Through its eVgo brand, NRG EV Services is creating the nation’s first “comprehensive, privately-funded, competitive and sustainable” electric vehicle ecosystem of home charging stations and high-powered, fast charging stations. The charging stations will be strategically placed at retailers and work places across an eVgo city, giving electric vehicle drivers better driving range, increased confidence in their investment and more convenience. eVgo’s first “Freedom Station” was unveiled in Houston in September 2011.
