NRG solar investments drive 850 MW of solar power capacity under construction

NRG Energy Inc. has released results for the second quarter of 2012, reporting an EBITDA of USD 9 million in its Alternative Energy division, an increase of USD 12 million from the second quarter of 2011.

The company notes that this increase was driven by the addition of the first 170 MW of the Agua Caliente solar photovoltaic (PV) plant, which reached commercial operations on June 30th, 2012. The remaining 100 MW of the plant is still under construction.

NRG states that its solar construction progress is ahead of plan and on budget, with over 260 MW in operation and more than 850 MW under construction.

Other projects under construction are the 250 MW California Valley Solar Ranch PV plant and the 370 MW Ivanpah concentrating solar power (CSP) project, which recently reached the halfway completion mark.

NRG also owns a number of smaller PV projects under construction including the 66 MW Alpine project and distributed scale generation projects including PV plants on NFL stadiums.

Overall, NRG achieved revenues of USD 2.17 million during the quarter with an EBITDA of USD 539 million and an operating margin of 18%. The company provides both retail power to customers and wholesale electricity through fossil fuel, renewable and nuclear generation.