— 25.65 megawatt (AC) solar installation will reduce dependence on
costly fuel imports, produce immediate cost savings and create cleaner
environment for Guamanians beginning in 2014 —
CARLSBAD, Calif. & HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul. 15, 2013--
NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG), through its wholly-owned subsidiary NRG
Solar, today announced the acquisition of a 25.65-megawatt (AC) solar
project on the island of Guam from Quantum Guam Power Holdings, LLC, a
wholly-owned affiliate of Quantum Utility Generation, LLC (QUG).
Guam, a U.S. territory subject to U.S. law and environmental
regulations, currently relies on expensive imported residual fuel oil
and diesel to generate 100 percent of its power requirements. In order
to help mitigate Guam’s exposure to fuel price volatility future
environmental regulations, NRG Solar will construct, own and operate the
solar project which will sell all of its power output to the Guam Power
Authority (GPA), the island’s sole electric utility, under two
twenty-five year power purchase agreements (PPA). The PPAs will allow
GPA to supply its customer’s power more cleanly and cost-effectively
than any other generation source currently in operation on Guam.
According to the GPA estimates, the project is expected to generate
enough clean solar power during the PPAs to offset consumption of almost
2 million barrels of residual fuel oil and diesel, representing total
fuel cost savings to GPA of over $300 million and net savings of
approximately $100 million.
“NRG Solar has been focused on reducing the levelized cost of solar
energy in both the utility and distributed solar markets,” said Tom
Doyle, President and CEO of NRG Solar. “Our focus has been on driving
down the balance of system costs through in-house engineering,
procurement and construction, as well as through creative financing
strategies on well-developed projects. The result of this effort
provides us with opportunities like the Guam project which was
successfully-developed by QUG and is now ready for NRG Solar to assume
long-term ownership of the project. We are proud to partner with GPA in
paving the road for the development of this and other renewable energy
capacity on Guam.”
“GPA has been an excellent partner during the development phase of
Guam’s first utility-scale renewable project,” said Sean O’Donnell, CFO
of QUG. “We are pleased to bring the development phase to a successful
close and facilitate the transfer of the project to a highly-capable
renewable energy company like NRG Solar to continue with construction
and operations. We are confident that the good working relationships
established with GPA and other island stakeholders will result in the
successful commissioning of the project and in additional solar
development on the island.”
About NRG and NRG Solar
NRG is at the forefront of changing how people think about and use
energy. We deliver cleaner and smarter energy choices for our customers,
backed by the nation’s largest independent power generation portfolio of
fossil fuel, nuclear, solar and wind facilities. A Fortune 500 company,
NRG is challenging the U.S. energy industry by becoming the largest
developer of solar power, building the first privately-funded electric
vehicle charging infrastructure, and providing customers with the most
advanced smart energy solutions to better manage their energy use. In
addition to 47,000 megawatts of generation capacity, enough to supply
nearly 40 million homes, our retail electricity providers – Reliant,
Green Mountain Energy and Energy Plus – serve more than two million
customers. More information is available at www.nrgenergy.com.
Connect with NRG Energy on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @nrgenergy.
NRG Solar LLC, a subsidiary of NRG, has more than 2,000 MW of
photovoltaic and solar thermal projects in operation, under construction
or in development across the southwestern United States. More
information is available at www.nrgsolar.com.
About Quantum Utility Generation, LLC
Quantum Utility Generation, LLC is an operating company based in
Houston, Texas that was established to invest in the North American
power generation space, and is co-funded by Quantum Energy Partners, a
private equity fund with more than $6.5 billion in commitments, the
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which manages $183 billion on
behalf of the Canada Pension Plan, and management. QUG’s approach to
investments and operations capitalizes on the deep industry experience
of our team to provide investor-owned and public power customers with a
unique set of physical, financial and commercial options through
structured transactions involving our portfolio of operating and
development assets. QUG’s current portfolio interests include
approximately 1,400 MW of conventional generating assets and several
wind and solar development projects. For more information, please see
our website at www.quantumug.com.
Quantum Utility Generation, LLC
Sean
O’Donnell
713.485.8600
NRG Safe Harbor Disclosure
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning
of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements are
subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions and include
NRG’s expectations regarding the Company’s Guam solar project and
forward-looking statements typically can be identified by the use of
words such as “will,” “expect,” “believe,” and similar terms. Although
NRG believes that its expectations are reasonable, it can give no
assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct, and
actual results may vary materially. Factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those contemplated above include,
among others, general economic conditions, hazards customary in the
power industry, competition in wholesale power markets, the volatility
of energy and fuel prices, failure of customers to perform under
contracts, changes in the wholesale power markets, changes in government
regulation of markets and of environmental emissions, and our ability to
achieve the expected benefits and timing of our electric vehicle
projects. NRG undertakes no obligation to update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise. The foregoing review of factors that could
cause NRG’s actual results to differ materially from those contemplated
in the forward-looking statements included in this news release should
be considered in connection with information regarding risks and
uncertainties that may affect NRG’s future results included in NRG’s
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov.
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Source: NRG Energy, Inc.
NRG
Media:
Jeff Holland, 281-714-1223
or
Investors:
Chad
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