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NRG Energy
From SourceWatch
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| Type | Public (NYSE: NRG) |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | 211 Carnegie Center Dr. Princeton, NJ 08540 |
| Key people | David W. Crane, CEO |
| Industry | Electric Producer & Distributor |
| Products | Electricity |
| Revenue | $5.99 billion (2007)[1] |
| Net income | ▲ $586.0 million (2007)[1] |
| Employees | 3,412 (2007) |
| Subsidiaries | NRG Thermal NRG Engine Services Padoma Wind Power |
| Website | NRGEnergy.com |
NRG Energy, based in Princeton, NJ, is a wholesale power generation company with ownership in 47 coal, oil, and natural gas plants worldwide. The company's portfolio of projects totals approximately 22,735 megawatts (MW) in the United States, about half of which is generated in Texas. NRG also has plants in Australia, Europe, and Latin America with a total of about 1,216 MW of generation.[2]
On June 19, 2006 NRG Energy filed a Letter Of Intent with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build two 1358-MWe ABWRs at the South Texas Project site. This was the first nuclear plant license application filed in the United States in 29 years.[3]
For the year ending December 31, 2007, NRG announced earnings of US$569 million in net income, as compared with US$543 million in 2006.[4]
In March 2008, the company announced a 10-year purchase agreement with Southern California Edison to provide 550MW of power from its natural gas-fueled El Segundo Generating Station.[5]
In May 2009, NRG completed the purchase of Reliant Energy's Texas retail business. With the purchase, Reliant changed its name to RRI Energy and became purely a wholesale power generator.[6]
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NRG closes Somerset Power Generating Station; announces conversion project
In November, 2009, NRG Energy announced that it will close the Somerset Power Generating Station on January 2, 2010. A company spokesman cited "market forces" and a "requirement that we close down or repower [by] September of 2010." NRG plans to convert the plant from burning coal to a plasma gasification process, which breaks down coal into its component parts before converting it into energy. No timetable for that conversion has been announced.[7]
NRG considering biomass
In September 2009, NRG announced it was replacing some coal at its Big Cajun II Power Plant with switchgrass and sorgham. The company said the project could eventually lead to commercial-scale biomass fuel projects as a means of dealing with potential greenhouse gas regulations.[8]
CEO compensation
In May 2007, Forbes listed NRG CEO David W. Crane as receiving $12.29 million in total compensation for the latest fiscal year, with a three-year total compensation of $18.49 million. He ranked 6th on the list of CEOs in the Utilities industry, and 151st out of all CEOs in the United States.[9]
Lobbyists
NRG Energy spent $230,000 on in-house lobbying costs in 2008 and a further $50,000 to date in 2009.[10] The registered lobbyists were Scott Fisher, Steve Corneli and John O'Brien.
NRG Energy also spent $120,000 on the Alpine Group in 2008 and a further $30,000 to date in 2009.[10] The registered lobbyists were James Massie and Charles Barnett.
NRG Energy also spent $230,000 on The Rhoads Group in 2008 and a further $60,000 to date in 2009.[10] The registered lobbyists were Thomas Dennis and Johanna Polsenberg.
Total Lobbying expenditures for 2008: $580,000
Total Lobbying expenditures to date for 2009: $140,000
Power portfolio
Out of its total 27,895 MW of electric generating capacity in 2005 (2.61% of the U.S. total), NRG produced 52.9% from natural gas, 31.0% from coal, 15.9% from oil, and 0.2% from biomass. NRG owns power plants in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas; 49.9% of the company's generating capacity comes from plants in Texas.[11]
Coal projects sponsored by NRG
Active
- Big Cajun I (Louisiana)
- Big Cajun II Unit 4 (Louisiana)
- Huntley Generating Station (New York)
- Limestone 3 (Texas)
Cancelled
- Indian River (Delaware)
Existing coal-fired power plants
NRG owned 26 coal-fired generating stations in 2005, with 8,657 MW of capacity. Here is a list of NRG's coal power plants with capacity over 100 MW:[11][12][13]
| Plant Name | State | County | Year(s) Built | Capacity | 2007 CO2 Emissions | 2006 SO2 Emissions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parish | TX | Fort Bend | 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982 | 2697 MW | 20,000,000 tons | 56,438 tons |
| Big Cajun 2 | LA | Pointe Coupee | 1981, 1982, 1983 | 1871 MW | 14,300,000 tons | 44,556 tons |
| Limestone | TX | Limestone | 1985, 1986 | 1706 MW | 13,300,000 tons | 15,917 tons |
| Huntley | NY | Erie | 1942, 1948, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1958 | 816 MW | 3,659,000 tons | 12,299 tons |
| Indian River | DE | Sussex | 1957, 1959, 1970, 1980 | 782 MW | 3,558,000 tons | 20,705 tons |
| Dunkirk | NY | Chautauqua | 1950, 1959, 1960 | 592 MW | 3,786,000 tons | 10,072 tons |
| Somerset | MA | Bristol | 1951, 1959 | 174 MW | 844,000 tons | N/A |
In 2006, NRG's 7 major coal-fired power plants emitted 59.4 million tons of CO2 (1.00% of all U.S. CO2 emissions) and at least 160,000 tons of SO2 (1.07% of all U.S. SO2 emissions).
Articles and resources
Related SourceWatch articles
- David W. Crane
- Delaware and coal
- Exelon
- Louisiana and coal
- Massachusetts and coal
- New Jersey and coal
- New York and coal
- Texas and coal
- United States and coal
- Global warming
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 NRG Energy Inc., BusinessWeek Company Insight Center, accessed July 2008.
- ↑ Overview, NRG corporate website, accessed March 2008. (Pdf)
- ↑ "NRG announces new nuclear build programme," Nuclear Engineering International, June 23, 2006.
- ↑ "NRG Energy, Inc. Reports 2007 Fourth Quarter and Full-Year Results; Announces Management Changes", press release, February 28, 2008. (Pdf)
- ↑ "NRG Executes Purchase Deal With SCE", Associated Press, March 7, 2008.
- ↑ "RRI Energy Posts 1Q Loss On Revenue Slump, Cuts View," Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2009.
- ↑ Marc Munroe Dion, "Somerset's NRG plant closing down," The Herald News, 11/4/09
- ↑ "Utility Replaces Some Coal With Switchgrass," New York Times, October 1, 2009.
- ↑ CEO Compensation: #151 David W Crane, Forbes.com, May 3, 2007.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "NRG Energy", Center for Public Integrity, accessed July 2009.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Existing Electric Generating Units in the United States, 2005, Energy Information Administration, accessed April 2008.
- ↑ Environmental Integrity Project, Dirty Kilowatts: America’s Most Polluting Power Plants, July 2007.
- ↑ Dig Deeper, Carbon Monitoring for Action database, accessed June 2008.
External resources
External articles
- Edwin Chan, "NRG blasts rival Exelon's hostile bid again," Reuters, March 12, 2009.
Wikipedia also has an article on NRG Energy. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the GFDL.
