The story
1980s–1990s
NRG Energy was formed in 1989 as one of NSP's wholly owned subsidiaries. In 1997, NRG Energy, Inc. had 2,650 MW of generation and operational responsibility for a supplementary 5,374 MW. By 1998, the company began an aggressive acquisition campaign. It bought plants from Niagara Mohawk, San Diego Gas and Electric, Consolidated Edison, Montauk Electric, Rochester Gas and Electric, and Connecticut Light & Power. It continued to grow through acquisitions and in 2000, acquired Cajun Electric Power Cooperative's facilities.
2000s
In 2001, NRG Energy had a net ownership of 24,357 MW of generation globally, with 19,077 MW in the United States. From 1996 to 2001, the operating revenue increased from $104 million to $3 billion, and the debt increased from $212 million to $8.3 billion. By 2002, the debt had reached $9.4 billion, and NRG Energy sold its power plants in Hungary and the Czech Republic. To avert default by NRG, Xcel sold $500 million in stock in July 2002. In 2003, Xcel Energy paid NRG Energy $752 million for the benefit of NRG Energy's creditors and took a $2 billion write-off.
On May 14, 2003, NRG Energy filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. In the company's reorganization, Xcel Energy relinquished its ownership interest, and NRG Energy became an independent, public company after bankruptcy. David W. Crane joined NRG as the chief executive in December. The reorganized NRG Energy eliminated about $5.2 billion of corporate debt along with $1.2 billion of additional claims by giving equity and cash to unsecured creditors.
By 2005, NRG Energy expanded again and added 7,600 MW of domestic capacity to its portfolio. The company acquired Dynegy's 50% of 1,800 MW of generation in California. They also acquired Texas GenCo in 2006, Reliant Energy in 2009, and Green Mountain Energy in 2010. The company began to focus on domestic markets and retreated from international electricity markets.
2010s
By 2011, NRG Energy's generation portfolio had 25,135 MW, with only 1,000 MW outside of the United States. In 2012, they added GenOn Energy for $1.7 billion and in 2013, they added Edison Mission for $2.6 billion. This gave the company 46,000 MW total of generation capacity. In 2013, they also added a demand response company: Energy Curtailment Specialists, Inc. The business later became NRG Curtailment Solutions, Inc.
During December 2015, NRG Energy released David Crane of his duty and Mauricio Gutierrez, the Chief Operating Officer at the time, was brought on as Chief Executive and President of NRG Energy. That same month, NRG's shares rose by 63% and closed at $17.90 after it had fallen by 60% in 2015. For the first three months of 2016, the company posted a net income of $47 million in comparison to the net loss of $136 million the first quarter of 2015. Gutierrez stated that paying down debt was a top priority.
NRG Energy announced in February 2018 the sale of the company's stake in NRG Yield, a tax-advantaged renewable energy investment pass-through vehicle, to Global Energy Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and the sale of its Louisiana assets to Cleco Corporate Holdings. This included the 1,300 MW Cottonwood natural gas plant (1.3 GW), the 1,500 MW Big Cajun II coal and gas-fired plant (1.5 GW), and three other gas-fired peaking plants. In August, NRG Yield changed its name to Clearway Energy and began trading under the new name and ticker symbol (CWEN and CWEN.A) in the New York Stock Exchange on September 17. These sales are estimated to reduce NRG Energy's debt by $7 billion and reduce their energy generation portfolio from 50,000 MW (50 GW) to 24,000 MW (24 GW). In March 2018, the company planned to hasten its transition from an independent power producer model (IPP) to a customer driven integrated power model that favored retail businesses. After GenOn's exit in 2018, the NRG fleet shrunk to 23 GW but retained 2.9 million retail customers. The new fleet has 11.5 GW of generation (46% natural gas generation, 31% coal generation, and 15% oil generation) in Texas, 9.7 GW of generation in the East, and 2.6 GW of generation in the West. In March 2018, NRG Energy acquired XOOM Energy, a retail electricity provider, for $210 million. XOOM Energy served 300,000 customers in the East, which was added to NRG Energy's retail profile.
In a partnership with Cypress Creek Renewables, NRG is offering a long-term, fixed price, consumer solar energy project in June 2018. The first customer of the project is Sysco, who has signed a 10-year renewable energy agreement. Cypress Creek Renewables will build, own, and operate three solar gardens in Texas that will have a combined power capacity of 25 MW. NRG Energy will buy the energy and schedule, distribute and manage the energy for Sysco. The solar project is expected to come online by the first quarter of 2019. The solar installations are expected to provide 10 percent of Sysco's electricity nationwide by generating 25 megawatts of power. NRG Energy is offering solar renewable program contracts for 7–10 years, with the ability to customize the program. The company also assumes the risk of wholesale pricing fluctuation.
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In July 2018, NRG and GenOn consummated the NRG settlement resulting in NRG Energy paying GenOn Energy $125 million in a net payment during GenOn's chapter 11 bankruptcy agreement. The deal would help GenOn revamp its capital structure and reemerge with new debt instruments.
2020s
In November 2023, Mauricio Gutierrez resigned from his role as CEO. Larry Coben was named Interim President and CEO.
From Wikipedia’s article on NRG Energy, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.8