DealBook: NRG Energy Buys Solar Start-Up Goal Zero

Photo Goal Zero makes small solar-charged battery packs. This model is from 2012.Credit Steve Marcus/Reuters

NRG Energy, one of the country's largest independent power producers, is getting into the mobile solar business with the acquisition of a start-up called Goal Zero, company executives said on Thursday.

Goal Zero makes solar-charged battery packs that can fit in a handbag and mobile generators that could run the main components of a home. The purchase, for an undisclosed sum, is one of a flurry of changes at NRG aimed at repositioning itself in a fast-moving utility market, said David Crane, its chief executive.

"It makes really cool solar-driven portable products that anyone with a little bit of cash can afford and will find use for, and it allows us to expand the opportunity of solar," he said by phone. "Our ultimate goal is to energize people wherever they are."

Photo David Crane is the chief executive of NRG Energy.Credit Richard Carson/Reuters

Toward that end, Mr. Crane recently announced he was reorganizing the company into three main units. NRG Business will house the company's conventional wholesale energy enterprises, including coal, nuclear and gas power plants. NRG Renew will focus on developing renewable energy sources and infrastructure – including large-scale wind and solar farms and microgrids – for commercial customers like businesses or governments. The third, NRG Home, will focus on residential customers, offering solar and home energy products, anchored in part by the recent acquisitions of Roof Diagnostics, a fast-growing residential solar installation company based in New Jersey, and the retail electricity business of Dominion Resources.

Goal Zero, which grew from the humanitarian efforts of Robert Workman, an entrepreneur active in bringing renewable power to remote parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, fits into that division. It sells portable solar power and battery pack products and accessories that have found an audience among campers and adventure sports enthusiasts. But Mr. Crane said that under NRG's umbrella Goal Zero could expand its reach into the mainstream and its technology to a host of other applications – like, say, a ski gondola, to allow for smartphone recharging while riding the lift between runs.

The changes at NRG come as the electric power industry is struggling to cope with the spread of so-called distributed generation, like rooftop solar, or smart appliances like Nest that allow customers to make their own energy and more closely control its use. Although the company reported a recent loss, some analysts have responded positively to its new direction.

"In this environment, utilities have to change their business model and become more customer-oriented or actually get into distributed generation or microgrids themselves," said Aditya Ranade, who leads green-building analysis at Lux Research. "Competitors like Duke have so far stayed away because it's too far out of their comfort zone. That has left that field open to smaller, more nimble competitors like NRG."

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