NRG Energy to Partner With BP on West Texas Wind Farm
NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG) through its wholly owned subsidiary, Padoma Wind Power LLC, has entered into a 50-50 joint venture with BP Alternative Energy North America Inc. to build the first phase of the Sherbino Wind Farm. The Sherbino I Wind Farm will be a 150-megawatt (MW) wind project, consisting of 50 Vestas 3 MW wind turbine generators, located approximately 40 miles east of Fort Stockton in Pecos County, Texas.
“Zero-fuel, zero-emission wind power is a critical component of RepoweringNRG’s efforts to build a diverse fuel generation portfolio that reduces NRG’s carbon intensity,” said David Crane, President and CEO of NRG Energy. “Padoma and NRG are pleased to partner on Sherbino with BP to combine our collective years of wind development and operations experience.”
The Sherbino I Wind Farm will be located on more than 9,000 acres on a mesa with an elevation of approximately 3,000 feet above sea level. The land is primarily used for low density sheep and cattle grazing with some oil and gas development.
Padoma is managing the construction, which began in late 2007, with Mortenson Construction as the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor. The project is scheduled to begin commercial operation during the second half of 2008 at which time BP will handle the operations and dispatch.
“Harnessing west Texas’ abundant wind adds to our country’s efforts to become more energy independent while helping further diversify the Texas fuel mix,” said Jan Paulin, President and CEO, Padoma Wind Power. “Later this year, we will be online, delivering electricity to Texans to help meet the ever increasing demand for additional power.”
In addition to the Sherbino project, Padoma Wind Power is in varying stages of development on other wind projects in Texas and California.
About NRG and Padoma Wind Power
A Fortune 500 company, NRG Energy, Inc. owns and operates a diverse portfolio of power-generating facilities, primarily in Texas and the Northeast, South Central and West regions of the United States and also in Australia, Germany and Brazil. NRG is a member of USCAP, a diverse group of business and environmental organizations calling for mandatory legislation to achieve significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. NRG is also a founding member of “3C–Combat Climate Change,” a global initiative with 42 business leaders calling on the global business community to take a leadership role in designing the road map to a low carbon society. More information on NRG is available at www.nrgenergy.com.
Padoma Wind Power LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NRG Energy, Inc. since 2006, is a wind farm development company whose principals have developed, financed, built and operated more than 40 wind farms in the United States and Europe. The company is based in La Jolla, California. More information on Padoma Wind Power is available at www.padoma.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 regarding the Sherbino project and forward-looking statements typically can be identified by the use of words such as “will,”"expect,”"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, 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, the inability to implement value enhancing improvements to plant operations and companywide processes, and our ability to achieve the expected benefits and timing of our RepoweringNRG projects.
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.
About BP Alternative Energy/BP America
BP Alternative Energy, launched in November 2005, combines all of BP’s interests in low and zero-carbon energy including wind, solar, hydrogen power with carbon capture and storage, natural gas-fired power generation, biofuels for low carbon transport and distributed energy for emerging markets. BP Alternative Energy is one of the leading wind developers in the US and has portfolios in Europe, Asia & Latin America. BP’s US wind portfolio includes the opportunity to develop almost 100 projects with a potential total generating capacity of 15,000 MW.