NRG Energy, Inc. has completed the acquisition of the Cottonwood Generating Station, a 1,279 megawatt (MW) natural gas-fueled plant in the Entergy zone of East Texas, from Kelson Limited Partnership.
“Cottonwood gives us the ability to follow South Central customer load economically with modern, efficient and flexible generation,’’ said Jeff Baudier, President of NRG Energy’s South Central Region.Prior to this purchase, NRG was already contracted with Cottonwood, one of the newest and most efficient plants in the region, to support regional customer demand.
“Cottonwood’s unique configuration and low-carbon profile, combined with its location on the transmission system, gives us greater capability to support our current long-term contracts and future growth, and to provide balancing and ancillary services,’’ said Jeff Baudier, President of NRG Energy’s South Central region. Initially, Cottonwood will help support 600 MW of new load contracts in Arkansas and East Texas that NRG recently secured, and will reduce cycling stress on the Company’s Big Cajun II coal units.
NRG will explore with regional customers the potential to sell a portion of Cottonwood’s capacity by direct equity sell-downs, power purchase agreements or a combination of the two. The Cottonwood Generating Station consists of four highly efficient natural gas-fueled combined cycle turbines and is capable of powering more than one million homes. The plant began commercial operations in December 2003 and was designed and built with many of the most environmentally and operationally advanced technologies available. The plant’s administration building was developed and certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.