NRG Energy Highlights Green Projects at USCAP’s Clean Technology Showcase

USCAP’s Clean Technology Showcase demonstrates innovative methods of reducing carbon intensity

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG) participated in the United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) Clean Technology Showcase held today in Washington, DC. Legislative staffers and Members of the US Senate were able to learn about NRG’s investments in nuclear, solar, biomass, clean coal technology and other green energy technologies, including smart grid technology.

“Climate change is the defining issue for our generation of American leadership, and further delay in addressing this challenge will be self-defeating in that it would require a severity of policy that would be damaging to the American public in a way that addressing the challenge now would not be”

“Climate change is the defining issue for our generation of American leadership, and further delay in addressing this challenge will be self-defeating in that it would require a severity of policy that would be damaging to the American public in a way that addressing the challenge now would not be,” said David Crane, President and CEO, NRG Energy, Inc. “Sound federal climate change legislation has many important components but a bedrock principle of such legislation must be that it will promote private sector investment in vital low and no carbon technologies that will create new jobs and provide a foundation for economic recovery. Legislation must also protect consumers, vulnerable communities and businesses while ensuring economic sustainability and environmental effectiveness.”

NRG’s no and low carbon initiatives include:

ABWR nuclear technology—NRG, along with Toshiba Corporation, formed Nuclear Innovation North America (NINA) to bring proven Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) technology to North America. NINA is currently permitting two additional nuclear units at the South Texas Project in Bay City, Texas. Expected to be online in 2016 and 2017, these new units will produce 2,700 megawatts of carbon-free baseload power—enough to support more than two million homes—while offsetting more than 21 million tons of greenhouse gases annually. For more information, please visit www.nuclearinnovation.com.

Solar—NRG is developing solar thermal power plants in California and New Mexico using eSolar technology. This technology uses a field of small, flat mirrors and a revolutionary calibration system to track the sun during the day and then concentrate that sunlight onto a thermal receiver mounted on 195-foot-high “power towers.” The captured sunlight heats water to produce high-pressure steam that powers a turbine electric generator. Using solar thermal technology, NRG will produce zero-emission, zero-fuel cost electricity that is coincident with peak demand on the hottest summer days.

Carbon capture and sequestration—NRG’s post-combustion carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) demonstration project at WA Parish near Houston, Texas, will be among the first of its kind and is expected to begin operating in 2013. Using Fluor’s Econamine FG PlusSM (EFG+) technology, the project will process flue gas from the plant, capturing approximately 90 percent (or just under half a million tons) of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the flue gas annually. Captured CO₂ will be either used for enhanced oil recovery or sequestered deep underground at geological storage sites.

Biomass—NRG recently launched a 20-acre test farm at the Company’s Big Cajun II plant in New Roads, Louisiana to evaluate the ability of the local environment to grow dedicated energy crops that can offset a portion of the fossil fuels consumed by the plant. Since the carbon emitted from the grasses was previously absorbed from the atmosphere during the growing season, when the biomass is used as a fuel, it is carbon neutral. NRG is also pursuing biomass co-firing at existing facilities in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York. For more information, please visit www.nrg-econrg.com/biomass.html

Wind—NRG currently owns directly or through a joint venture two west Texas wind farms and is currently constructing a third which is expected to be online by the end of the year. This third wind farm will help Texas meet its energy needs by bringing additional zero-emission, zero-fuel cost electricity to the State. For more information, please visit www.padoma.com.

Smart grid/Electric vehicle—NRG, through its Reliant subsidiary, is developing Smart Grid offerings such as a new time-of-use rate structure that provides customers with an incentive to shift their usage to nights and weekends when electricity is less expensive, and an in-home display that provides real-time visibility into how much electricity is being used and how much it is costing. Smart Grid deployments will eventually enable the integration of more intermittent generation sources such as wind and solar and establish the infrastructure necessary to support an electric vehicle ecosystem.

About NRG

NRG Energy, Inc., a Fortune 500 company, owns and operates one of the country’s largest and most diverse power generation portfolios. Headquartered in Princeton, NJ, the Company’s power plants provide more than 24,000 megawatts of generation capacity—enough to supply more than 20 million homes. NRG’s retail business, Reliant Energy, serves more than 1.6 million residential, business, commercial and industrial customers in Texas. A past recipient of the energy industry’s highest honors—Platts Industry Leadership and Energy Company of the Year awards, NRG is a member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), a group of business and environmental organizations calling for mandatory legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. More information is available at www.nrgenergy.com or www.nrg-econrg.com.

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 with respect to no and low carbon initiatives and typically can be identified by the use of words such as “will,” “expect,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “forecast,” “plan,” “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, hazards customary in the power industry, competition in wholesale power markets, the volatility of energy and fuel prices, general economic conditions, permitting and regulatory obstacles, construction delays, ability to access capital markets, and changes in government regulation of environmental emissions.

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.