NRG Energy beats quarterly profit estimates on strong power demand

Feb 24 (Reuters) - NRG Energy NRG.N beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday, as rising U.S. electricity consumption has spurred the independent power producer to double its generating footprint.

U.S. power demand reached record highs in 2025 and is projected to hit fresh highs as major tech companies boost consumption at their rapidly expanding data centers. Some of these use as much electricity as an entire city.

NRG and other independent power producers are trying to capture that surging data center demand by selling off power from existing generation and building new power plants to serve data centers exclusively.

NRG CEO Larry Coben said the company, which recently closed on its $12 billion purchase of LS Power, has doubled its generation footprint and added three Texas generation projects totaling 1.5  gigawatts.

The Houston, Texas-based company said it aims to sign at least 1 gigawatt of data center deals this year, and the company said it expects to add significant new capacity for data centers.

NRG further added in its earnings call that it now expects to spend about $18.3 billion in capital expenditures through 2030.

NRG produces power for over 8 million customers across the U.S. and Canada through its portfolio of power generation, natural gas, and smart energy solutions.

Texas is one of the biggest and fastest-growing data center markets in the country.

NRG posted an adjusted profit of $1.04 per share in the quarter, compared with analysts' estimates of 96 cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Shares of the company, which had risen by more than 1% in premarket trading, were down about 1% in midday trade.