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GenConna?s New 200 Megawatt Peaking Power Plant Now Operational in Middletown, Connecticut

^{Published on 2011-06-28 07:00:21 - Market Wire}
 

PRINCETON, N.J. & NEW HAVEN, Conn.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--GenConn Energy, a 50-50 joint venture between NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG) and The United Illuminating Company (UI), a subsidiary of UIL Holdings Corporation (NYSE: UIL), announced that its 200 megawatt peaking power plant at NRGa™s Middletown Station is operational and participating in the ISO-NE markets. The new units will provide power to Connecticut homes and businesses during periods of peak demand such as extreme weather conditions.

"Bringing the GenConn Middletown facility online provides peaking generation resources that provide system reliability within New England, especially when demand for electricity is high. This is especially beneficial to our customers because UIa™s peak demand is driven by air conditioning in the hot summer months."

aThe Middletown power plant is especially important to residents in Connecticut, where therea™s been a shortage of afast-starta™ units to respond to unexpected transmission and generation outages,a said Drew Murphy, President of NRGa™s Northeast Region. aMiddletown will help ensure a more flexible supply of power, and the additional capacity in this region should help moderate electricity prices when demand is high.a

Middletowna™s four new natural gas turbines can be fully operational within ten minutes, and will be among the cleanest electricity generators in New England. The site also includes NRGa™s existing four units.

According to Jim Torgerson, CEO of The United Illuminating Company and UIL Holdings Corporation, aBringing the GenConn Middletown facility online provides peaking generation resources that provide system reliability within New England, especially when demand for electricity is high. This is especially beneficial to our customers because UIa™s peak demand is driven by air conditioning in the hot summer months.a

In addition to Middletown, GenConn owns and operates an almost identical plant in Milford, Connecticut. Both facilities will provide cleaner, reliable energy that help support Connecticuta™s goal to meet the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone.

About GenConn

GenConn is a joint venture between NRG Energy, a leading wholesale power generation company, and UI, a well-respected Connecticut utility, formed to produce fast-start peaking generation in the state. NRG is Connecticuta™s second largest power generator, and UI is an investor-owned transmission and distribution utility with more than 324,000 customers in Southern Connecticut. The GenConn joint venture was created to address Connecticuta™s need for peaking power generation, and was developed in accordance with legislation passed by the State of Connecticuta™s General Assembly in 2007 (Public Act 07-242, Section 50), which sought a long-term solution to meet that peaking need.

About UI

The United Illuminating Company (UI) is a New Haven-based regional distribution utility established in 1899. UI is engaged in the purchase, transmission, distribution and sale of electricity and related services to more than 324,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in the Greater New Haven and Bridgeport areas. UIa™s World Wide Web address is [ http://www.uinet.com/ ]. UIa™s parent company, UIL Holdings Corporation, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol UIL.

Certain statements contained herein, regarding matters that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements (as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). These include statements regarding management's intentions, plans, beliefs, expectations or forecasts for the future. Such forward-looking statements are based on UIL Holdingsa™ expectations and involve risks and uncertainties; consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic conditions, legislative and regulatory changes, changes in demand for electricity and other products and services, unanticipated weather conditions, changes in accounting principles, policies or guidelines, and other economic, competitive, governmental, and technological factors affecting the operations, timing, markets, products and services of UIL Holdingsa™ subsidiary, UI. The foregoing and other factors are discussed and should be reviewed in UIL Holdingsa™ most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other subsequent periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements included herein speak only as of the date hereof and UIL Holdings undertakes no obligation to revise or update such statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events or circumstances.

About NRG

NRG Energy, Inc. is a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 Index company that owns and operates one of the countrya™s largest and most diverse power generation portfolios. Headquartered in Princeton, NJ, the Companya™s power plants provide 25,000 megawatts of generation capacitya"enough to supply approximately 20 million homes. NRGa™s retail businessesa"Reliant Energy and Green Mountain Energy Companya"serve more than 1.8 million residential, business, commercial and industrial customers. With major investments in solar and wind power, as well as electric vehicle infrastructure, NRG is working to help America transition to a clean energy economy. More information is available at [ www.nrgenergy.com ].

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 include expectations regarding NRGa™s Middletown Plant network and include statements which typically can be identified by the use of words such as awill,a aexpect,a aestimate,a aanticipate,a aforecast,a aplan,a abelievea 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, competition in wholesale and retail power markets, the volatility of energy and fuel prices, failure of customers to perform under contracts, changes in the wholesale and retail power markets, changes in government regulation of markets and of environmental emissions, and the condition of the capital markets.

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 NRGa™s actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in the forward-looking statements included herein should be considered in connection with information regarding risks and uncertainties that may affect NRGa™s future results included in NRGa™s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission at [ www.sec.gov ].