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NRG Energy picks up nine new solar projects, doubles portfolio

By | June 22, 2010, 10:48 AM PDT

ArcLight Capital Partners announced on Monday that it would sell its solar portfolio to NRG Solar, a subsidiary of NRG Energy.

The portfolio, named US Solar Ventures Holdings, was founded in 2008 and consists of nine projects that will eventually total roughly 450 megawatts of capacity.

The portfolio consists of projects with capacities ranging from 20 to 99 megawatts each.

All are utility-scale projects in California and Arizona that use parabolic trough and photovoltaic solar technology. The acquisition almost doubles NRG Solar’s existing projects, totaling 1,150 MW.

None of them are online yet.

“The sale to NRG, an established leader in the independent power sector, will facilitate the commercial advancement of these projects,” US Solar principal Bob Mooney said in a statement. “These projects will help meet the growing needs for solar power in the Western United States.”

Quick facts about NRG’s portfolio:

  • In Texas, it owns 13 projects with a total capacity of 11,340 megawatts.
  • In the northeastern U.S., it owns 17 projects with a total capacity of 7,130 megawatts.
  • In the South and Midwest, it owns six projects with a total capacity of 2,850 megawatts.
  • In the West, it owns six projects with a total capacity of 2,150 megawatts.

But most of those projects are for coal and natural gas.

Only two NRG projects are for wind power, one for nuclear and just one — in Blythe, Calif., with a capacity of 21MW — for solar, recently purchased from First Solar.

In that way, the purchase makes sense. NRG has effectively bought its way into the solar-power generation business, fueled by federal tax incentives for the industry.

NRG’s official reasons:

  • The sites have “strong solar resources, potential for long-term power offtake agreements with load-serving entities and established, easily accessible connections to power grids.”
  • NRG wants to expand its portfolio of “low and no carbon generation assets with diverse technologies including new nuclear generation, onshore and offshore wind, biomass projects and a commercial-scale carbon capture project for fossil-fueled generation.”

“US Solar has developed a project pipeline that gives us strategic depth in promising solar markets in which there is a public policy commitment to use this zero-emission, domestic peak period energy source,” NRG president and CEO David Crane said in a statement.

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Andrew Nusca

About Andrew Nusca

Andrew Nusca is editor of SmartPlanet.

Andrew Nusca

Andrew Nusca

Editor

Andrew Nusca is editor of SmartPlanet and an associate editor for ZDNet. Previously, he worked at Money, Men's Vogue and Popular Mechanics magazines. He holds degrees from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and New York University. He based in New York but resides in Philadelphia.

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Andrew Nusca

Andrew Nusca
Andrew Nusca does not hold any investments in the companies he covers.
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RE: NRG Energy picks up nine new solar projects, doubles portfolio
There must be a way to auto dump spam such as Inlily88r above. Inlily88r please don a pair of UGG boots, fill and surround with concrete and take a short stroll from middle of Golden Gate bridge into the water.

Perhaps a script in submission module that will search for dollar sign, amount and/or brand names?
Peace, OUT (shields up a tad)
Posted by LostValley@...
23rd Jun 2010
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RE: NRG Energy picks up nine new solar projects, doubles portfolio
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including completed projects, projects in the work, and plans for
huge and visionary world changing future projects.

check out www.envisionsolar.com/video/ to learn more!
Posted by john marlin
29th Jun 2010
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