Competitive Scholarship Program  Awards Up To $240,000 for Excellence in Classroom and Community

Princeton, NJ – July 6, 2015 – NRG Energy today announced the recipients of the  fifth annual Howard E. Cosgrove Academic Scholarship. The scholarship provides  the four winners up to $60,000 each in pursuit of a four year undergraduate  degree. The winners were determined based on outstanding academic achievements  and activities outside of the classroom as children of NRG employees.

Funded by NRG and established in  2011, the NRG Howard E. Cosgrove Academic Scholarship is named after NRG’s  Chairman of the Board in recognition of his lifetime of support for educational  organizations. Cosgrove has served as chair of the United Negro College Fund  Annual Campaign of Delaware, on the Delaware State School Board and Chair of the  Board of Trustees for the University of Delaware.

This year’s winners were chosen  on the basis of merit by the NRG Howard Cosgrove Scholarship Committee, a  select group of prominent community leaders in the areas of education,  philanthropy and private industry.

These young inspiring leaders  from the NRG family are full of incredible ideas and drive that will inevitably  make our world a better place,” said David Crane, CEO of NRG. “All of us who  work at NRG should be proud of the Cosgrove winners and the other find young  women and men who applied for the scholarship.”

The recipients of this year’s  Cosgrove Scholarship are:

• Shilpa Sadagopan, will attend the University of Pennsylvania as a Benjamin  Franklin Scholar pursuing an integrated studies program. A graduate of the High  School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Shilpa received classical  music training and was a participant in Golden Voices of America: a classical  music competition for which she was selected to perform at the renowned  Carnegie Hall. A founder of her high school’s Glee Club, Shilpa also performed  the national anthem at an NBA Houston Rockets game after winning the regional  Let Freedom Sing competition. Shilpa’s father, Rishi Sadagopan works in NRG’s  Houston office in the Engineering and Construction Accounting department. An  aspiring performing artist, Shilpa has also sung at Houston’s Jones Hall with  the Houston Symphony Orchestra.

• Luke Bonanni,  will attend Johns Hopkins University pursuing studies in Science and Economics.  As a senior at Cherry Hill High School in Cherry Hill, NJ, Luke conducted a  study looking at the effects of fracking and how to minimize its impacts on tap  water. The study won first place in the lauded Coriell Institute Science Fair,  which awards young scientists for exceptional performance in demonstrating their  passion for topics ranging from biochemistry to computer science. The son of  NRG’s John Bonanni, who works in the Princeton, NJ office in Settlements, Luke  spent four years as a volunteer tutor to middle school students, founded his  high school’s Economics and Investing clubs and participated for three years in  DECA-- a competition designed to prepare students for careers and education in  business, winning first place in his final year of competition. Luke was also a  member of the first place regional team in the University of North Carolina’s  National High School Ethics Bowl for their work on an ethics case focusing on a  morally complex situation.

• James Rose,  will attend University of California, San Diego and will pursue a degree in  Computer Engineering. A graduate of Eastlake High School, James is academically  recognized as both a Principal’s Honors Student and a Scholar of Distinction  for passing five Advance Placement exams. James has also built a computer from  scratch and earned a first degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. The son of David  Rose, an employee at NRG’s Encina Power Station in Carlsbad, CA, James is an  active member of the American Red Cross Club, where he donates blood and takes  the time to honor veterans through written correspondence. As a hobby, James  has put his engineering prowess to task, having built his own metal furnace,  used to smelt recyclable metals. He plans to use his developed byproduct to  produce art.

• Shashank Vura,  will pursue studies in Business and Politics at Cornell University this fall.  The son of Nanda Vura who works in the Process Improvement department at NRG’s  Houston office, Shashank attended John Foster Dulles High School in Sugar Land,  TX. Graduating with high honors as member of the National Honor Society,  Shashank was also inducted into the National Spanish Honor Society and Mu Alpha  Theta’s Math Honors Society. As part of his extraordinary efforts outside of  the classroom, Shashank volunteered to educate impoverished students on a wide  range of subjects at a youth hospital in Hyderabad, India. For a year and a  half, Shashank also served as Historian of the Texas Mayor’s Youth Council,  where he engaged students in civic life and was also a three-year participant  in the World Affairs Councils of America’s Academic World Quest competition,  for which his team was ranked fourth nationally for their acumen in global  affairs and U.S. foreign policy. Shashank also completed an internship with  Rice University’s Ecology and Evolutionary Biology lab.

NRG is honored to recognize and  support the academic careers of these accomplished students.

About NRG
NRG is leading a customer-driven  change in the U.S. energy industry by delivering cleaner and smarter energy  choices, while building on the strength of the nation’s largest and most  diverse competitive power portfolio. A Fortune 200 company, we create  value through reliable and efficient conventional generation while driving  innovation in solar and renewable power, electric vehicle ecosystems, carbon  capture technology and customer-centric energy solutions. Our retail  electricity providers serve almost 3 million residential and commercial  customers throughout the country. More information is available at  www.nrgenergy.com. Connect with NRG Energy on Facebook and follow us on Twitter  @nrgenergy.

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