NRG Energy, Inc. Enters Offshore Wind Business with Acquisition of Bluewater Wind

Leading offshore wind development company provides NRG with first-mover advantage and currently has the only long-term power purchase agreement in the country executed for an offshore wind park

• Press Release
• Source: NRG Energy, Inc.
• On 9:16 am EST, Monday November 9, 2009

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG - News) has acquired Bluewater Wind (Bluewater), one of nation’s leading offshore wind development businesses, from Babcock & Brown and Arcadia Windpower. This acquisition combines Bluewater’s strong project pipeline of offshore wind parks in the northeast—one of NRG’s core regions—with NRG’s own successful development, engineering, procurement and construction teams. The transaction was funded with cash on hand, for an undisclosed sum.

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“As public policy trends toward ever-increasing renewable portfolio standards at the state and federal levels, each region of the country will seek to comply with projects that tap the best renewable resource from within that region. There is no doubt that offshore wind is the highest potential renewable resource proximate to the population centers along the eastern seaboard of the United States,” said David Crane, President and CEO, NRG Energy, Inc. “Acquiring an experienced offshore developer like Bluewater, with good projects already in the development pipeline, gives NRG first mover advantage in this potentially lucrative market.”

Bluewater brings an experienced development team currently working on more than seven offshore projects in the Northeast, including projects in Delaware and New Jersey in advanced stages of development. Bluewater has a 25-year, 200 megawatt power purchase agreement (PPA) with Delmarva Power & Light Company that has been approved by the Delaware Public Service Commission and other state agencies. In New Jersey, the company is one of three preferred developers awarded a $4 million rebate from the state to build a meteorological tower, which collects wind data, for offshore projects. Bluewater also has proposed several offshore wind projects in other Northeast locations.

Bluewater’s existing development team will become NRG employees, working out of Bluewater’s office in Hoboken, NJ. The company’s President and founder, Peter Mandelstam, will remain President of Bluewater Wind and also serve as head of NRG’s offshore wind development efforts.

“Bluewater Wind is excited to continue developing our portfolio of offshore wind parks with a premier energy generation company like NRG,” said Mandelstam. “By joining forces with NRG, Bluewater Wind will enhance its development expertise, as well as access to capital for the development and construction of these projects. NRG’s commitment to increase its portfolio of low and no carbon generation assets, and its membership in the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, is a good fit with Bluewater Wind’s mission to provide clean, stable-priced, renewable energy.”

A telephonic press conference regarding this announcement will be held at 1pm ET/10am PT on Monday, November 9, and will be hosted by Drew Murphy, NRG’s EVP and Northeast Regional President, and Peter Mandelstam. Members of the media can access this call by dialing 866.831.6224 or 617.213.8853 (international). The passcode is: 28548389.

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.

About Bluewater Wind

Bluewater Wind is one of the nation's leading developers of offshore wind energy projects, and a tireless advocate of wind as a clean, safe, and stable-priced means to meet our energy needs. The Bluewater team has many years of combined experience in the wind, energy, environmental, finance, public policy, and marine sectors. More information is available at www.bluewaterwind.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 statements regarding Bluewater’s wind development and typically can be identified by the use of words such as “will,” “expect,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “forecast,” “plan,” “believe” and similar terms. Although the Company 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, weather conditions, 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, unanticipated outages at our generation facilities, adverse results in current and future litigation, and the inability to implement value enhancing improvements to plant operations and companywide processes.

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 herein 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.

NRG Energy, Inc.
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