With a combined revenue of $21 trillion and $2.1 trillion in profits, the 2026 Fortune 500 is the definitive list of America's largest companies.

Fortune 500

Almost $20 trillion in revenue—and a record-breaking $1.87 trillion in profits. Introducing the 2025 Fortune 500, the definitive list of the biggest companies in America.

The 300 companies on this year’s list brought in over $12.6 trillion in revenue for the latest 12 months, with the median revenue figure at $22 billion.

America's Most Innovative Companies

Energy sector dominated this year for the first time since 2008, with 28 companies featured on the list.

100 Fastest-Growing Companies

Industries included in the sector are mining, oil and gas exploration and services, pipelines, refining, and utilities.

Fortune Sector Leaders: Energy

The Fortune 500, in its 70th year in 2024, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

The corporations on our annual list of the world’s largest companies delivered a record $41 trillion in aggregate revenues.

Fortune Global 500

The Fortune 500, in its 69th year in 2023, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 68th running of the list.

This year’s group delivered stellar revenue and profit growth, but it underperformed the broader stock market.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 67th running of the list.

F500-2021-333-NRG Energy

The energy company produces and distributes electricity and other utility services to a variety of clients, both residential and commercial, across the country. In May, NRG Energy announced it relocated its headquarters from New Jersey to Houston, and the city has committed to purchasing 100% renewable energy.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 66th running of the list.

F500 2020 324 NRG Energy

With headquarters in both Princeton, N.J. and Houston, this energy company serves about 3.7 million residential, small business, commercial, and industrial customers.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 65th running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 64th running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 63rd running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 62nd running of the list.

Business insiders have spoken: Asked which companies they most admire, more than 4,100 executives, directors, and analysts chose these top 50 All-Stars.

World's Most Admired Companies

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 61st running of the list. Wal-Mart claims the top spot again. See who made the list.

Wal-Mart stayed on top as its sales crept closer to half-a-trillion dollars. Apple moved into the top five. And UnitedHealth Group continued its steady climb. 

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NRG Energy has grown into a top power, electricity, and smart home corporation in Texas, the Northeast, the Midwest, and parts of California. With headquarters in Houston, NRG focuses on power generation from natural gas and coal, but the gas side of the business is rapidly growing. In May, NRG agreed to pay $10 billion for 18 natural-gas-fired power plants from LS Power, not including debt, in a move designed to prepare NRG for a domestic power market that’s set to soar. NRG also is focusing more on smart home and security offerings since acquiring Vivint Smart Home in 2023, rather than just selling retail electricity.

Q2 2026

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NRG Energy (NRG): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

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NRG Energy

nrg energy

Good day. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to NRG Energy, Inc's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during this session, you will need to press star one one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Brendan Mulhern, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning. Welcome to NRG Energy's second quarter 2026 earnings call. This morning's call is being broadcast live over the phone and via webcast. The webcast presentation and earnings release can be located in the Investors section of our website at www.nrg.com under presentations and webcasts. Please note that today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements, which are based upon assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. Actual results may differ materially. We urge everyone to review the safe harbor in today's presentation, as well as the risk factors in our SEC filings. We undertake no obligation to update these statements as a result of future events, except as required by law.

In addition, we'll refer to both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. For information regarding our non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, please refer to our earnings release and the non-GAAP reconciliations and supplemental data file located in the Investors section of our website.

With that, I will now turn the call over to Robert Gaudette, NRG's President and Chief Executive Officer.

Good morning. Thank you for joining us. From the beginning, we've been focused on serving the next wave of power demand the right way. For the largest new loads, new demand should be matched with new generation, with the customer supporting the investment. That's how growth at this scale should work. It protects existing customers, strengthens the grid, and creates durable value for the communities we serve and for our shareholders. The developments in Texas over the last 24 hours reinforce why that approach matters. States want the economic growth that data centers can bring, but they also expect new demand to bring new supply, support the infrastructure it requires, and strengthen, not strain, the power systems and the communities that make it possible. The environment has changed. Our strategy has not. In fact, the direction of policy is moving toward the model we've been building from the beginning.

We have the commercial structure, the equipment, and the capabilities to deliver it at scale. Today, we'll walk you through the commercial framework we are pursuing, the 1.2 GW project advancing under it, and the broader opportunity in front of us. We are aligned on the principal commercial terms with a leading global cloud and AI hyperscaler, including their capital commitment to support 1.2 GW of new generation in Texas, with the potential to expand to 2.4 GW. This is expected to be our first bring your own power project and reflects our strategy for large load growth. We believe it should be the industry standard, supporting economic growth, meeting our customers' expanding power needs, and protecting families and small businesses. The commitment will be long-term. The credit quality is strong. The economics support both the investment and our targeted return.

This is disciplined growth at meaningful scale, structured around a large investment-grade customer and a clear path to do more. We also delivered solid second quarter results and are reaffirming our 2026 financial guidance. Bruce will cover the quarter in detail. As I mentioned, we're advancing a 1.2 GW project in Texas with a leading global cloud and AI hyperscaler. We're aligned on the principal commercial terms. With negotiations and remaining land-related matters progressing in parallel, the customer has made a financial commitment to advance the project. Importantly, the project is designed to bring more new generation to Texas than the data center is expected to require. We believe its design positions it well to meet the state's power and reliability objectives. Any final investment decision will be subject to the customary conditions, including required internal approvals.

These are highly complex transactions with work to be done, but we're confident in the way we've structured and what we expect to deliver with our partner. NRG plans to develop, own, and operate the new combined cycle gas plant. The facility is planned to support a 1 GW data center load with additional Texas development opportunities that could expand the relationship to as much as 2.4 GW. The project is supported by the turbine and EPC capacity we secured through GE Vernova and Kiewit. This investment also has to work for the surrounding community. We expect more than 1,400 high-paying construction jobs, 30 permanent roles at the plant, and significant new tax revenue for local governments and schools. NRG has operated power plants in Texas for decades, and our employees live in these communities.

We know that water matters, and we and our customer are committed to responsible water stewardship and to working closely with local stakeholders as development advances. We also understand the broader concerns surrounding data center growth. Communities expect that growth to be responsible, to respect local resources, and to create real, lasting benefits. That's how we're approaching this opportunity. The project's initial term is at least 15 years from commercial operation, with potential for extensions. Based on the current development schedule, commercial operations is targeted for late 2029, with full run rate earnings thereafter. At full operation, we expect $500 million of annual adjusted EBITDA and $375 million of annual free cash flow before growth. Those figures reflect a 1.2 GW project and do not include the potential expansion. These are high-quality, long-duration earnings supported by an exceptional investment-grade counterparty.

The project is expected to deliver attractive returns that achieve our required investment hurdles on a standalone basis and are even more compelling on a risk-adjusted basis. It also represents a build multiple below where NRG trades today. The contemplated facility is expected to require $3.2 billion of investment. Bruce will provide more detail on the capital requirements and how we're thinking about funding the project. Let me be clear. Our commitment to return at least $1 billion to shareholders through share repurchases each year is unchanged. We have the financial flexibility to fund this project as it advances, manage our path to target leverage, and continue executing our capital allocation framework. The economics are compelling, and our commercial structure is what gives us confidence in their durability. Let me walk you through it.

On slide six, the commercial framework has two components. The capacity payment is designed to recover the capital we invest and deliver the return we require. A separate operating payment recovers natural gas and plant operating costs. Put simply, we're paid for the megawatts we build and make available, not for how much the data center runs. That distinction is critical. The commercial structure provides for 95% of the project's free cash flow to be supported by capacity payments over the term, independent of data center utilization. Fuel and operating costs are recovered separately, and the customer's commitment will be supported by an investment-grade parent guarantee. The result is durable, visible cash flow. Our return is established upfront and is not dependent on merchant power prices or natural gas prices. The more important point is that this structure is not unique to one project.

We do not need to reinvent the model each time. The customer, location, and project size may change, but the fundamentals remain the same. The commercial structure supports the investment. NRG develops, owns, and operates the generation, and the economics are established before construction begins. What differentiates NRG is our ability to bring the full solution together. We provide an integrated path to power from bridge solutions through permanent combined cycle generation with the flexibility to operate in island mode, grid connected, or transition between the two. Pairing generation with a load can also reduce the amount of incremental transmission infrastructure required to serve that demand, another important benefit of the BYOP model. We also bring the in-house capabilities to develop, engineer, interconnect, commission, and operate the assets across their full life cycle. That gives the customer one experienced partner accountable from initial design through decades of operation.

It reduces handoffs and helps lower execution risk across a highly complex power development. We've built those capabilities over decades and are proving them today. Our 1.5 GW Texas Energy Fund portfolio remains on track, including T.H. Wharton, which we delivered on time and on budget. We moved early to secure both turbine and EPC capacity through GE Vernova and Kiewit, giving us the equipment and the execution capability required to continue building at scale. Few companies can bring all of those elements together. I am proud to say that NRG can. That is why this opportunity came to us and why we're positioned to do it again. On the next slide, the market setup is increasingly compelling. Across ERCOT and PJM, projected demand growth is materially ahead of the supply currently expected to come online.

We do not need every forecasted project to materialize for both markets to require substantial new generation. That imbalance is changing the market. Customers need executable power solutions. Policy makers are pushing growth towards customer-backed supply, and the value is moving toward companies with real development positions and the ability to deliver. Our BYOP framework answers the reliability and affordability concerns of elected officials and regulators. Our ability to design, build, own, and operate a power plant for decades is a differentiator for our solutions. We have a history of working in and living in the community. We are a responsible operator and community member. In today's world, that matters. That's where NRG is positioned today. Let me put the scale of the opportunity into perspective. The 1.2 GW project discussed today is the first step in bringing the full potential into perspective.

It represents the first 1.2 GW of the 5.4 GW of turbine and EPC capacity we've secured through 2032, with line of sight to the critical labor required to execute that build-out. Our broader development pipeline is more than twice the 5.4 GW of capacity we have secured, with every turbine slot tied to an active customer discussion. Customers recognize the value and scarcity of the development position we have assembled and our technical expertise and capabilities. As you'd expect, engagement across that pipeline continues to build. Potential capital partners also recognize the value of what we've assembled, providing additional pathways to advance the broader opportunity through capital-efficient structures while preserving balance sheet flexibility and continuing our disciplined and consistent return of capital to shareholders. We also have about 2 GW of operate opportunities across our PJM fleet.

Together, that gives us a substantial runway to apply the model we just described. Let me be clear about how we will pursue that opportunity. We will not trade discipline for scale. Each project must stand on its own, meet our risk-adjusted return thresholds, and be supported by the commercial and credit protections appropriate to the capital we deploy. Combining the established base with a 1.2 GW BYOP project creates an illustrative 2030 contracted free cash flow opportunity of $1.2 billion. For purposes of this illustration, we hold current capacity auction prices constant through 2033. That is an assumption, not a forecast of future auction outcomes.

If we're successful in bringing this project to fruition, and I strongly believe we will be, then together with contracting the remaining new build opportunities and executing the upgrades, the free cash flow supported by long-term agreements and capacity revenues can reach 95% of the midpoint of our company-wide 2026 free cash flow guidance by 2033. That would only be one part of NRG. The rest of the business would continue to generate cash flow and create value alongside it. As a reminder, before any data center opportunities, our core business is expected to deliver 14%+ adjusted EPS CAGR through 2030. That is the opportunity to materially expand NRG while fundamentally improving the quality of its cash flow.

We intend to help build the power infrastructure behind America's digital economy while protecting communities and customers, both large and small, all while creating a larger, stronger, and higher quality NRG in the process. This is an important step. We intend for it to be the first of many.

Thank you, Rob. Turning to slide 10, NRG delivered a solid quarter with adjusted EBITDA of $1.2 billion, up $308 million or 34% from the prior year period. Adjusted net income was $315 million compared to $339 million a year ago, and adjusted EPS was $1.49 compared to $1.73. Free cash flow before growth was $1.025 billion, up $111 million year-over-year. This was our first full quarter with the portfolio we acquired from LS Power, and we are exceptionally pleased with the quality of the assets and the contribution they are making to the business. The year-over-year increase in adjusted EBITDA was driven primarily by the acquired portfolio, higher PJM capacity values, and continued growth in Smart Home. Adjusted net income and adjusted EPS were modestly lower as acquisition-related interest expense and D&A offset the higher EBITDA contribution.

That is the expected near-term net income and EPS profile during the deleveraging period. As we reduce debt and associated interest expense, more of the portfolio's earnings contribution will flow through to EPS. Turning to segment results, Texas adjusted EBITDA declined $131 million year-over-year, primarily reflecting lower load and power prices. ERCOT Houston around-the-clock prices averaged $33/MWh during the quarter, 8% lower than last year, and well below our 2026 planning assumption of $52. With prices low and volatility limited, our fleet had fewer opportunities to run, and our commercial team had fewer opportunities to optimize the portfolio. East adjusted EBITDA increased $370 million year-over-year, driven primarily by the contribution from the portfolio acquired from LS Power.

Energy margins from those assets did not fully realize the increase in PJM power prices because some preexisting hedges were in place when we closed the transaction. Results also reflected higher supply costs in our retail businesses. One additional item in the East is Virginia's return to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative or RGGI. After we acquired the portfolio from LS Power, Virginia enacted legislation requiring the state to rejoin the program effective July 1. That change applies to the 1.2 GW of Virginia assets in the acquired portfolio and creates an estimated $70 million of incremental cost in 2026 that was not included in our underwriting. In the West, adjusted EBITDA increased $27 million year-over-year, primarily due to lower operating expenses following the expiration of a facility lease last year.

Smart Home adjusted EBITDA increased $42 million, driven by continued customer growth and higher recurring service margin per customer. The business ended the quarter with 2.45 million customers, up 8% year-over-year, and continues to deliver growth well ahead of the pace assumed in our long-term outlook. With solid second quarter results, we are reaffirming our 2026 guidance ranges. Through the first half of 2026, softer load and power prices in Texas and higher regional power supply costs incurred during Winter Storm Fern have us tracking below the midpoint of the ranges. While PJM prices have strengthened, preexisting hedges on the acquired portfolio and higher RGGI costs have limited the near-term benefit. Our first half results largely reflect the impacts of weather and market conditions, not a change in the underlying performance of the business.

We plan for outcomes like these when establishing our guidance ranges and actively manage the portfolio to align expected supply with committed customer load to ensure we deliver results within those guidance ranges. As a result, as we move through the balance of the year, we have limited unhedged exposure, and our outlook does not rely on a material recovery in commodity prices, thereby giving us confidence that we will deliver within our guidance ranges. Moving to slide 11, we have updated our 2026 capital allocation plan to incorporate the initial investment in the 1.2 GW Texas data center new build project Rob discussed. As you can see from the chart, aside from the reallocation of a portion of planned liability management to the new build investment, all other elements of our 2026 capital allocation remain unchanged.

Importantly, this investment does not change our previously announced commitment to repurchase at least $1 billion of shares annually. The primary update is a new data center new build investment category reflecting $721 million of expected project investment in 2026. Of that amount, $40 million was previously included in plant and other investments and has been reclassified, so the full project investment is presented in one place. The remaining $681 million is the incremental change to the plan and will be funded through lower liability management, resulting in less net debt reduction in 2026 than previously planned. It is important to note that the vast majority of the expected spend in 2026 relates to equipment-related procurement.

Not only is this spend critical to the currently contemplated project, but it is also critical to the preservation of the increasingly valuable option the equipment represents given the prominence that new generation will have in the data center build-out. Since this spend is largely equipment-related, it represents spend that can be pointed to other viable projects and therefore is not sunk cost. Our approach to facilitating the data center build-out, combined with the pipeline of prospective opportunities we are pursuing, gives us confidence that these are prudent investments that will derive appropriate returns. As a reminder, in April, we advanced our post-acquisition deleveraging plan through a series of refinancing transactions. We retired substantially all of the $1.5 billion of Lightning senior secured notes we assumed in the acquisition and repaid a portion of the revolver borrowings used to fund the transaction.

These actions extended our average maturities, reduced secured debt, and are expected to generate more than $10 million of annual interest savings. Our long-term leverage target of 3x remains unchanged. We are also executing against our 2026 return of capital plan. Throughout the first half, we completed $921 million of share repurchases and paid $202 million in common dividends. For the full year, we continue to expect $1 billion of share repurchases and $407 million of common dividends. Turning to slide 12, Rob covered the contemplated commercial structure. Let me focus on what it means financially and how we plan to fund the project. The commercial structure of the new build project protects the return we underwrite through an availability-based capacity payment, separate recovery of fuel and operating costs, and limited commodity exposure. The customer is investment-grade, and its obligations will be backed by appropriate credit support.

At full operation, the initial 1.2 GW project is expected to generate at least $500 million of annual adjusted EBITDA and approximately $375 million of annual free cash flow before growth. On $3.2 billion of total investment, we expect the project to deliver a pre-tax unlevered IRR within our 12%-15% target range. At the expected run rate EBITDA, that implies a build multiple of approximately 6x. These earnings are not included in the long-term framework we provided earlier this year. That framework, including our expectation for 14%+ adjusted EPS CAGR through 2030, is supported by the base business alone. This project represents substantial additional earnings power. We plan to fund the project through operating cash flow and balance sheet capacity, including lower liability management, resulting in less net debt reduction than previously planned over the construction period.

We remain committed to long-term net leverage of 3x, which we believe is consistent with investment-grade credit metrics. We believe the expected cash flows and counterparty credit quality are constructive from a credit and ratings perspective. The funding plan preserves the capital allocation commitments we have previously made as we expect to continue to execute at least $1 billion of annual share repurchases through the construction period. Lastly, we expect the project to qualify for bonus depreciation upon COD, thereby further extending our cash tax runway. Moving to the next slide, total investment for the 1.2 GW project is expected to be $3.2 billion, or $2,700 a kW. With capital deployed over four years and the largest outlays following key development and construction milestones. Cumulative investment through the end of 2026 is expected to be $0.8 billion, including previously made reservation payments.

From there, we expect to invest $1 billion in 2027, $1.1 billion in 2028, and the remaining $0.3 billion in 2029, ahead of the expected late 2029 COD. 60% of the investment relates to EPC, and the remainder relates to turbine equipment and other project costs. The investment profile is deliberately phased. Capital follows project progress, with the largest outlays occurring after key milestones. We retain meaningful flexibility throughout development and construction. As I mentioned earlier, much of the 2026 spend relates to equipment, which, if necessary, could be redeployed at other viable projects. As such, we see this investment as less project-specific and more an investment in NRG's unique capabilities to deliver solutions that work for customers.

Our current plan assumes NRG funds and owns the project. As development advances, we will evaluate opportunities to improve capital efficiency, including financial partners, while preserving the economics and strategic value of the investments. In closing, we delivered solid second quarter results and reaffirmed our 2026 guidance. The data center new build project adds a substantial new stream of contracted earnings beyond our existing framework, with returns protected by a robust commercial structure and a funding plan that preserves the commitments we have made to shareholders.

Thank you, Bruce. Let me close with where we stand. We delivered solid second quarter results, reaffirmed our 2026 guidance, and made significant progress on our large load strategy through the 1.2 GW BYOP opportunity discussed today. At the start of the year, we said we were targeting at least 1 GW of large load agreements in 2026. We're advancing an opportunity that would deliver that objective with principal commercial terms aligned and negotiations and remaining land-related matters progressing. Any final investment decision will be subject to customary conditions, including required internal approvals. As I said at the outset, the environment has changed. Our strategy has not. Texas has made it clear that how large load growth is served matters. New demand must bring the power infrastructure required to support it, strengthen the system, and avoid shifting the investment burden to families and small businesses.

That direction plays directly to the model we have built. This project is designed to bring more generation than the data center is expected to require, reduce the need for incremental transmission, and place the investment burden on the customer. That's why we believe the project is well-positioned in Texas and why NRG is well-positioned to lead. There is still work ahead. We will stay focused on advancing the project, executing across the broader business, and maintaining the discipline that brought us to this point. We have made meaningful progress against what we set out to do. We are going to keep our heads down and finish the work.

Operator, we're now ready to open the line for questions.

Thank you. At this time, we will conduct a question and answer session. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Julien Dumoulin-Smith of Jefferies. Your line is now open.

Hey, good morning, team. Congratulations, guys, on getting this across the finish line. Nicely done, Rob and gang.

Yeah, absolutely. You know what I'm going to always ask here. Nicely done here. Very curious about an expansion of this site. It seems as if some of your sites have the opportunity to expand to that full two four. How are you doing with the timeline to make that happen? I noticed, not to nitpick on the slides, it looks like it could be up to 18 months between the first and the second in terms of the COD. How do you think about just setting expectations on the cadence around these incremental 1.2 GW chunks, whether at that site or elsewhere?

Also, if you can you speak to the returns? Is this kind of a build model, shall we say, the new norm as to how you think about what these other projects are going to be? Are they going to be slightly less favorable given that this is the first one and potentially the cheapest?

Yeah. There's a lot in there, Julien, thank you. I'm going to try to answer everything you said. Let start with returns. The returns that we showed today on this particular project that we're moving forward, that's our expectation. That's what we've committed to our shareholders. When we have conversations with customers, that's it. This is what it's going to be. Everyone will flow a little bit here and there, but generally, that's what we expect to return to our shareholders for the capital they deploy. As far as how to think about timing and where projects go, the thing that gets set on delivery of these projects is the CODs of construction and the turbine deliveries themselves, right?

Depending on how the customer wants to go, where the sites we're going to go to, and when we can get the turbine on the ground, that will determine the speed that we go to. What we've laid out historically is consistent with what we see across our pipeline, because it's determined by what we see out of our GEV agreement. We have those conversations with customers. Then the last piece I would, just in response to your statements, the one thing I would think about is, the 1.2 GW on a site to expand to 2.4, that doesn't rule out taking 2.4 somewhere. That doesn't rule out 4.8 somewhere, right? As we talk to customers and we think across these turbines, we have multiple customers looking for multiple turbines.

The project that we put forward today, the one that we have the most alignment around, is at a site, right? Don't get tied up on trying to sort out where or how, because that's not the important part. What we're trying to get across is the commercial structure we put forward, so that you guys can see how it works. That is the conversation that we are having with every customer as to how we structure these deals, because it's the right way to do it. We're working hard on it. We're not done. We believe that this is an important piece of information for all of you guys to see.

Julien, on the COD point, I'll just add. This first one is late 2029. What we've said previously is the way that the GEV, Kiewit structure is organized, you can assume there's another block, 1.2 GW to come on serially each year after the 2029 COD for the first one.

Got it. Okay. 12 months cadence. Nice. Just a couple nuances. First, just with the contract duration, is that typically to complement the return, that duration is the new norm? Also, how are you doing with the Texas governor's announcement yesterday? Again, I know not necessarily specific and germane to this project per se, but how does that impact just the timeline as far as you're concerned?

Okay. On the contract duration, we've told you guys 15-20 years. This particular structure is 15. We're not going to go less than that, or I wouldn't expect to, because that would dramatically change the price of the customer. On the Texas governor's stuff, look, I understand where the politicians and regulators are in Texas. I tried to make that point in what I said earlier in my scripted remarks. Our project answers those questions, right? It is the right project to meet the concerns of the communities and the elected officials because it doesn't strain the grid and because it also can reduce the need for some transmission out there. As far as timing goes, Texas is a get-things-done state. I expect them to work through stuff, to get to a higher quality understanding of the projects to be put down over time.

The last part I would point out is, remember, this is a COD in 2029. I think we're okay.

Yeah, indeed. Awesome. Thank you again, guys. Appreciate it, all right? Talk soon.

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Shar Pourreza of Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Morning. Rob, can you just maybe, just a little bit higher level, just elaborate on the actual progress that's being made and kind of what drove the confidence to announce the principal terms at this stage? I guess, what types of final approvals could be outstanding, and when can those be expected? Thanks.

Okay. We'll address why we talked at all. It's important for our shareholders to understand both the structure of what we're pursuing, the strategy of how we're delivering on our GEV and Kiewit turbines. We found that we were in a material place to have a conversation about progress so that each of you could understand where we're at. As far as things that are what we've stated today, right? We are commercially aligned, meaning that they've seen the structure, they agree to the structure. We are close and in close conversations every day about specific timing or a piece of land or whatever those things are. The things that we're still subject to is we're still subject to negotiation. Moving forward is not done. We will continue to push until we are, and we'll continue to have conversations with multiple customers until we are.

It's obviously the required internal approvals and all of the things that go with that. The last thing I would say around timing, the next time we'll come back to you, Shar, is we're going to tell you when we have another material piece of information to talk about. I'm not going to set myself or the negotiation team up with a timeline to work against. I feel very strongly that we will continue to push forward, and I believe that we will meet our objectives, both for the short term and the long term for this company.

Got it. That's perfect. Just lastly, just given some of the noise around collateral requirements that we're seeing and stuff, can you just maybe elaborate a little bit on the counterparties? It's obviously investment grade, but is it BBB? Is it A? Can you just maybe elaborate a little bit on the credit quality of the counterparty? Thanks.

I can see Larry right now shaking his head saying, "Don't answer that, Rob. Don't answer that.

He is so happy with that answer. Invest in Investment grade, Shar. That's what you're doing.

All right, I'll see you guys soon. Thanks.

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Nick Campanella of Barclays. Your line is now open.

Hey, good morning. Thanks for all the updates.

Appreciate all the updates on the BYOP deal. Just to follow up on the contract details. You used to talk about when you were outlining for investors how to think about this targeted pricing. I know you talked about +$80/MWh. Just with the returns on the slide that you're looking at, and the CapEx cost being a little biased higher since you've given that update, just is the PPA equivalent now north of $90, north of $100? Any comments there? I know it's kind of like a fixed capacity charge pass through. How would you think about that? Thanks.

Given the structure, the dollar per megawatt hour thing doesn't really matter, because of the way we've structured it. I think if you were to do the math and expect an expected usage off the data center, it's in the probably $85-$90+ range. We really don't focus on that, right? It's all about, it's good for the customer to not focus that way, and it's good for us to not focus that way. That this structure provides the certainty and the returns that we need for our investors, and it also provides flexibility and ways for the customer to think about managing their own risks depending on what their views look like. We could hedge up that variable piece if they wanted, and that collateral would be their requirement.

We built as much flexibility in here because we started from the beginning with what do our shareholders need, how do we serve our customer, and how do we serve the communities around it? That's how we've approached data centers.

Thanks for those thoughts. Maybe pivoting quick to just PJM. You've kind of outlined in your contracted cash flow visibility walk, the potential to do something with the 2 GW of uprates in PJM. Just maybe an update on how you're thinking about the bilateral process or the procurement and how to think about that. Thanks.

It's a multi-pronged approach, right? There is the long-term auction opportunity, which we will bid into. We're also in the bilateral conversations as we speak. The additional capacity that those uprates offer are going to be valuable to anybody who wants to connect inside of PJM and not be subject to curtailments. We know that it's valuable, and we are continuing to monitor, and we will bid in through any process. The way to think about it is, I am going to invest capital for this company in a place where we can get long-term durable cash flows. 15-year auction proceeds, that makes sense, so would a bilateral conversation of the like term.

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Carly Davenport of Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open.

Hey, good morning. Thank you for taking the questions. To start, maybe just a quick follow-up on Nick's question there. As you think about the uprate opportunities, are you able to share how much of the 2 GW is kind of economic at the $555/MW day cap, just to sort of size the opportunity on the central procurement side?

Depending on how you interpret that $555 cap, meaning, can they procure above or not? The way I think about it, Carly, is it's probably about less than half of that 2,000 would go through that auction that way. We continue to have bilateral conversations on all 2,000 MW.

Got it. Okay. Thank you for that. Very helpful.

Maybe just on the capital allocation side, as you talked about in prepared, it's kind of largely through the buyback program for the year at this point. How are you thinking about potential for incremental capital to be allocated there, just as you think about where the equity is trading from a valuation standpoint?

Carly, I think as we sit here today, to the extent that we have the ability to upsize the program, that'll somewhat depend on where we land from a cash flow perspective for the year. If we're executing against this project and spending the capital that we had outlined, that's where we would see our money going, because we see this project as being really valuable at the end of the day. Certainly, if the opportunity exists to be able to upsize the program with incremental cash flow, we'll definitely do that.

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Michael Sullivan of Wolfe. Your line is now open.

Hey. I was going to ask if you could just elaborate a little more on what you're looking at on the funding side of things. I think you alluded to potential capital partners. We've seen Williams do something like that relatively recently, and then just what that can do for you from a balance sheet flexibility credit metric standpoint.

Yeah. Sullivan, right now the base case is that we just fund all of this on balance sheet, and all that really results in is, we had previously spoken about being able to hit our 3x leverage ratio in 2028. If we were to do this project and fund it on balance sheet, that just gets extended out to 2029. There still would be deleveraging over the period for sure, even while we're funding the project. Obviously, if we pursue something that involves a partner, whether it be the Williams type structure or any other structure, that creates some incremental capacity, honestly, that probably provides for more opportunity to increase the annual buyback program more than anything else.

Okay, in terms of making that decision, is it just you need to leg into more of these agreements? It's just irrespective of that, it's its own conversation?

Making that decision is really just a function of having the concerted conversations with potential partners and coming up with a structure that we think makes a lot of sense for us economically. We certainly intend to do that. Clearly, having the contract is important because the partners need to understand what they're theoretically investing into. I think we're definitely getting to a point where those conversations can really start to happen in earnest.

Okay. Very helpful. Rob, if you could just give us your latest thoughts on the ERCOT market pricing dynamic. I think people watching all-time peaks, limited volatility this year. At the same time, a lot of folks following this batch process, which seems to have a lot of load coming, but forward's not really reacting. Curious, you think what's kind of driving the pricing action there?

Yeah. Sullivan, you're referring to the fact that the ERCOT market is not valuing anything right now? Prices are low. They're low out the curve. People thought that maybe some announcements around batch would have driven those curves up. What we've seen in markets over the last couple of decades is until it's real, it's not. Things like concerns around delays, things like when is this stuff going to hit the ground? That's impacting call it the 2027, 2028 timeframe, in the curves today. At the end of the day, Texas is still a growing market, and it's got some battery and solar development to absorb, through call it 2026, 2027, and maybe into a little bit into 2028. If the data center development slows down, that inflection point changes or gets pushed out.

The fundamental doesn't change. ERCOT needs generation in the medium term, because we can't get back to the place where we were five years ago. Given the tax implications or subsidies for batteries and solar going away in call it 2027, that build will dramatically reduce over time and the market tightens. Remember, you don't need all 500 GW. You don't even need a third of that to really tighten this market up to a place where everybody will be grateful that they have generation to support their customer loads.

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Angie Storozynski of Seaport. Your line is now open.

Thank you. I just wanted to talk a little bit more about financing of the growth, and how that's going to flow into your free cash flow. Basically, as we sit here today, I'm assuming that $1.5 billion out of the $3.2 billion of total CapEx is financed with debt. Is that fair? That is assuming that 3x net debt EBITDA for the project. And then how does that interest flow through the free cash flow that you will be reporting? And I understand that it's pre-growth, just the mechanics of the accounting for that interest.

Angie, the interest expense will be IDC, so it'll be capitalized.

That wouldn't have an impact on our free cash flow before growth at the end of the day.

NRG Energy (NRG) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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