NRG Energy

NRG Energy, Inc.
Public
Traded as NYSE: NRG
S&P 500 Component
Industry Wholesale and retail electricity generation and distribution
Headquarters West Windsor, New Jersey (financial), Houston, Texas (operations)[1]
Area served
 USA, 11 states
Key people
 David W. Crane
(President and CEO)
Number of employees
 ~10,000[2]
Website www.nrg.com

NRG Energy, Inc. is a large American energy company, dual-headquartered in West Windsor Township, New Jersey,[3][4] and Houston, Texas.[1][5][6] It was formerly the wholesale arm of Xcel Energy, and was spun off in bankruptcy in 2004.[7]

Acquisitions

In late 2005, NRG Energy bought Texas-based Texas Genco from a group of private equity firms for roughly $5.9 billion.[8] When the state of Texas deregulated the electricity market, the former Houston Lighting & Power (HL&P) was split into several companies.[9] In 2003 HL&P was split into Reliant Energy, Texas Genco, and CenterPoint Energy.[10]

In May 2009, NRG entered this market by acquiring the retail operations of Reliant Energy. NRG's retail service serves 1.6 million customers in Texas. The retail operations continue to operate under the Reliant Energy name while the remainder of the former Reliant Energy became RRI Energy. Reliant, along with TXU Energy, has experienced a declining share of the Texas retail electricity market due to provider diversification and new market entrants.[11]

Following the acquisition of Reliant, NRG extended its retail footprint with the acquisition of Green Mountain Energy in November 2010.[12] In doing so, NRG also became the largest retailer of green power in the nation, providing all of its Green Mountain and many of its Reliant customers with energy derived from 100% renewable resources.[13] Through its acquisition of Dominion Retail in 2014, NRG added the Cirro Energy brand to its Texas retail electric portfolio.[14]

NRG Energy completed its acquisition of GenOn Energy in December 2012[1] for $1.7 billion in stock and cash.[15] The GenOn name was retired in the merger, but the combined company retained GenOn's Houston headquarters to coordinate operations.[1]

In August 2013, NRG acquired Energy Curtailment Specialists, a Buffalo, New York based Demand response company.[16] The terms of the deal were not disclosed [17]

a Goal Zero battery, lamp and solar panel

In September 2014, NRG acquired Goal Zero, an manufacturer of personal solar power products.[18]

Naming rights

NRG Energy holds the naming rights to the NRG Park campus in Houston, Texas, home to the NRG Astrodome, NRG Stadium, NRG Arena and NRG Center.

On March 12, 2014, NRG Energy announced that they would be re-branding Reliant Park to replace "Reliant" on all signages to "NRG".

Wholesale generation

After the GenOn merger, NRG has 47,000 MW of total generation capacity, enough to power approximately 40 million homes.[2] Its nearly 100 power plants are located in 18 states in the Northeast, Chicago area, Gulf Coast, Southwest, Nevada, and California.[2] Generation facilities include mostly fossil fuel power plants powered by natural gas, oil, and coal; plus four wind farms (in Texas) and six solar farms (in California, Arizona, and New Mexico).[19] NRG also has a 44% ownership stake in the South Texas Nuclear Generating Station and a 37.5% stake in a coal power plant in Gladstone, Queensland, Australia.[19] Some facilities use cogeneration and the company also owns 28MW of solar distributed generation.[19] Despite the name, neither NRG nor Green Mountain Energy own the Green Mountain Wind Energy Center.

Retail electricity

NRG's Retail Power services provide electricity services to more than 2 million homes and businesses, mostly in Arizona and the Northeast.

Green energy initiatives

Nissan Leaf recharging from an eVgo network charging station in Houston, Texas

Beginning in 2009, NRG began a major initiative to become the leading green energy producer in the United States and started investing very large amounts of money in clean energy projects.[20][21] They include onshore and offshore wind power, solar thermal energy, photovoltaic, and distributed solar power facilities, and repowering of some of their traditional coal plants with biomass.[20]

In late 2010, NRG made news by launching the "eVgo" network, the first completely private public car charging station network for electric power vehicles.

NRG continued the trend of leading in the green power market in 2011 by becoming the largest green power retailer in New York City. The company also signed a two-year agreement beginning in January 2011 to provide 100% renewable energy for the Empire State Building.[22][23]

Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas has been chair of a coalition to support the utility in their plan to replace its "decades-old, dirty" power plant in Astoria with a newer generator.[24] The company wants to replace 31 generators with new ones that will increase the megawatts of power while reducing emissions.[24][25] Emissions would be reduced because the new plants will use natural gas, while the current generators run primarily on oil.[25]

Ad agency

In September 2014, NRG named Huntington Beach, CA-based advertising agency INNOCEAN as its agency of record. The first campaign was designed to raise consumer awareness of NRG's role in clean energy, particularly solar power.[26]

See also


References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "NRG and GenOn Complete Merger, Creating Nation’s Largest Competitive Power Generator". Business Wire (Press Release). Retrieved 2012-02-23.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "A New, 21st Century Energy Company". Retrieved 2013-02-23.
  3. ↑ http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2014/08/west_windsor_officials_tout_sustainability_elements_of_nrg_energys_new_40m_headquarters.html#incart_river
  4. ↑ http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2014/11/officials_break_ground_on_nrg_energys_new_headquarters_in_west_windsor.html#incart_river
  5. ↑ "Contact Us." NRG Energy. Retrieved on July 25, 2010. "211 Carnegie Center Princeton, NJ 08540-6213."
  6. ↑ "Township of West Windsor, New Jersey Zoning Map." Township of West Windsor. Retrieved on July 25, 2010.
  7. ↑ Exit revisited: NRG Energy Inc.
  8. ↑ SEC Form 8-K, Accession No. 0000950123-05-011735
  9. ↑ "Exelon bids for major Texas power producer NRG." Houston Chronicle. October 20, 2008. Retrieved on April 14, 2014. "The plants were originally part of the former Houston Lighting & Power, the integrated utility that served the Houston area until it was broken up into three separate companies as the state deregulated its power markets."
  10. ↑ Fowler, Tom. "8 Houston power plants to be sold to NRG." Houston Chronicle. October 2, 2005. Retrieved on April 14, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Texas Electricity Provider Market Share". ElectricityMatch.com. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  12. ↑ Green Mountain Energy to be acquired for $350 million, 2010-09-16
  13. ↑ NRG Completes Acquisition of Green Mountain Energy
  14. ↑ "Cirro Energy Review". ElectricityMatch.com. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  15. ↑ NRG Energy to Buy GenOn for $1.7 Billion
  16. ↑ NRG Acquires Energy Curtailment Specialists
  17. ↑ NRG Acquires Energy Curtailment Specialists, Works with ThinkEco
  18. ↑ http://www.rechargenews.com/solar/1377246/NRG-seals-Goal-Zero-acquisition
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 "Generation Assets". Retrieved 2013-02-23.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 http://nrgenergy.com
  21. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/21/business/energy-environment/nrg-sets-goals-to-cut-carbon-emissions.html
  22. ↑ Empire State Building To Purchase 100% Renewable Power, 01/07/2011 Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. ↑ Green Mountain Signs Up New York's Empire State Building
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Trapasso, Clare (May 8, 2012). "NRG hopes to replace 31 generators in Astoria". New York Daily News. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Henely, Rebecca (April 30, 2012). "Officials support Astoria repowering to grow jobs". Times Ledger. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
  26. ↑ "NRG Energy Taps Innocean As AOR; Launches 'Power' Campaign". MediaPost.com. 2014-09-17. Retrieved 2014-10-14.

External links