Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
3/6/2015
Due to a shifting internal focus to low carbon energy generation, NRG Energy is well positioned to face what CEO David Crane described late last week as the unmistakable early stages of a “technology driven disruption of historic proportions” of the energy industry. NRG has invested heavily in clean energy innovation, including carbon capture storage at its Petra Nova WA Parrish CCS-EOR project currently under construction in Texas. “Our strategic actions in 2014 continue to lay the foundation for NRG as we build the future of our company in response to in a transition that we now believe to be clearly underway in our industry,” Crane said during NRG’s fourth quarter earnings call late last week.
Further, Crane stated, the company could stand to benefit from currently proposed regulations, including the Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon emissions standards for coal fired power plants. The proposed rule would require states to develop action plans to meet EPA set carbon emissions reduction goals and if they are implemented correctly, Crane said, NRG would have a foot up on their competition. “For us as long as the rules that are imposed are imposed in sort of a fair and reasonable way, tightening environmental regulations actually enhance us relative to our competition,” he said.
NRG reported a year end adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization [EBITDA} of $3.1 million, compared to a year end EBITDA in 2013 of $2.6 million. Net income for 2014 was $134 million, compared to a net loss of $386 million in 2013. NRG also reported several planed fuel conversions and updates within its fleet. “Assets undergoing planned fuel conversions or additions include Avon Lake 7 and 9, Big Cajun II Unit 2, Dunkirk Units 2-4, Joliet Units 6-8, New Castle Units 3-5, Portland Units 1-2, and Shawville 1-4. Additionally, and as part of the acquisition of Midwest Generation, NRG has elected to install [Dry Sorbent Injection] and [electrostatic precipitator] upgrades at both its 1,538 MW Powerton and 689 MW Waukegan coal facilities which, when combined with the fuel conversion at Joliet and the planned retirement of the 761 MW Will County 3 coal facility, will provide significant emissions improvement in Illinois,” the company reports.
