NRG Yield, Inc., together with its consolidated subsidiaries, or the Company, is a dividend growth-oriented company formed to serve as the primary vehicle through which NRG owns, operates and acquires contracted renewable and conventional generation and thermal infrastructure assets. The Company believes it is well positioned to be a premier company for investors seeking stable and growing dividend income from a diversified portfolio of lower-risk, high-quality assets.

The Company was formed by NRG Energy, Inc., or NRG, as a Delaware corporation on December 20, 2012. On July 22, 2013, the Company2012 and closed theits initial public offering of 22,511,250 shares of its Class A common stock at an offering price of $22.00 per share.on July 22, 2013. In connection with theits initial public offering, the Company’sCompany's shares of Class A common stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NYLD”. The net proceeds to the Company from the offering, after deducting underwriting discounts, were approximately $468 million, of which the Company used $395 million to purchase 19,011,250 NRG Yield LLC Class A units from NRG and $73 million to purchase 3,500,000 NRG Yield LLC Class A units directly from NRG Yield LLC. At the time of the offering, NRG owned 42,738,750 NRG Yield LLC Class B units.

Effective May 14, 2015, the Company completed a stock split in connection with whichwhereby each outstanding share of Class A common stock was split into one share of Class A common stock and one share of Class C common stock, and each outstanding share of Class B common stock was split into one share of Class B common stock and one share of Class D common stock. The stock split is referred to as the Recapitalization and all references to share or per share amounts in the accompanying consolidated financial statements and applicable disclosures have been retrospectively adjusted to reflect the Recapitalization. Following the Recapitalization, the Company's Class A common stock continued trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the new ticker symbol "NYLD.A" and the Class C common stock began trading under the ticker symbol "NYLD". In addition, on June 29, 2015, the Company completed the issuance of 28,198,000 shares of Class C common stock for net proceeds of $599 million and utilized the proceeds of the offering to acquire 28,198,000 Class C units of NRG Yield LLC."NYLD."

NRG, through its holdings of Class B common stock and Class D common stock, has a 55.1% voting interest in the Company and receives distributions from NRG Yield LLC through its ownership of Class B units and Class D units. The holders of the Company's issued and outstanding shares of Class A common stock and Class C common stock are entitled to dividends as declared and have 44.9% of the voting power in the Company.

As of December 31, 2015, NRG owned 42,738,750 NRG Yield LLC Class B units and 42,738,750 NRG Yield LLC Class D units and the Company owned 34,586,250 NRG Yield LLC Class A units and 62,784,250 NRG Yield LLC Class C units. As of December 31, 2015, the Company and NRG have 53.3% and 46.7% economic interests in NRG Yield LLC, respectively. The Company is the sole managing member of NRG Yield LLC and operates and controls all of its business and affairs and consolidates the financial results of NRG Yield LLC and its subsidiaries. NRG Yield LLC is a holding company for the companies that directly and indirectly own and operate the Company's business. As of December 31, 2016, the Company and NRG have 53.3% and 46.7% economic interests in NRG Yield LLC, respectively. As a result of the current ownership of the Class B common stock and Class D common stock, NRG continues at the present time to control the Company, and the Company in turn, as the sole managing member of NRG Yield LLC, controls NRG Yield LLC and its subsidiaries.

The Company's primary business strategy is to focus on the acquisition and ownership of assets with predictable, long-term cash flows in order that it may be able to increase the cash dividends paid to holders of the Company's Class A and Class C common stock over time without compromising the ongoing stability of the business. The Company's plan for executing this strategy includes the following key components:

Maintain sound financial practices to grow the dividend. The Company intends to maintain a commitment to disciplined financial analysis and a balanced capital structure to enable it to increase its quarterly dividend over time and serve the long-term interests of its stockholders. The Company's financial practices include a risk and credit policy focused on transacting with credit-worthy counterparties; a financing policy, which focuses on seeking an optimal capital structure through various capital formation alternatives to minimize interest rate and refinancing risks, ensure stable long-term dividends and maximize value; and a dividend policy that is based on distributing a significant portion of CAFD each quarter that the Company receives from NRG Yield LLC, subject to available capital, market conditions, and compliance with associated laws, regulations and other contractual obligations. The Company intends to evaluate various alternatives for financing future acquisitions and refinancing of existing project-level debt, in each case, to reduce the cost of debt, extend maturities and maximize CAFD. The Company believes it has additional flexibility to seek alternative financing arrangements, including, but not limited to, debt financings at a holding company level.and equity-like instruments.

Power generation is a capital-intensive business with numerous and diverse industry participants. The Company competes on the basis of the location of its plants and on the basis of contract price and terms of individual project.projects. Within the power industry, there is a wide variation in terms of the capabilities, resources, nature and identity of the companies with whom the Company competes with depending on the market. Competitors for energy supply are utilities, independent power producers and other providers of distributed generation. The Company also competes to acquire new projects with solarrenewable developers who retain solarrenewable power plant ownership, independent power producers, financial investors and other dividend, growth-oriented companies. Competitive conditions may be substantially affected by capital market conditions and by various forms of energy legislation and regulation considered by federal, state and local legislatures and administrative agencies.agencies, including tax policy. Such laws and regulations may substantially increase the costs of acquiring, constructing and operating projects, and it could be difficult for the Company to adapt to and operate under such laws and regulations.

The Company's thermal business has certain cost efficiencies that may form barriers to entry. Generally, there is only one district energy system in a given territory, for which the only competition comes from on-site systems. While the district energy system can usually make an effective case for the efficiency of its services, some building owners nonetheless may opt for on-site systems, either due to corporate policies regarding allocation of capital, unique situations where an on-site system might in fact prove more efficient, or because of previously committed capital in systems that are already on-site. Growth in existing district energy systems generally comes from new building construction or existing building conversions within the service territory of the district energy provider.

The CFTC, among other things, has regulatory oversight authority overregulates the trading of swaps, futures and many commodities under the Commodity Exchange Act, or CEA. Since 2010, there have been a number of reforms to the regulation of the derivatives markets, both in the U.S. and internationally.markets. These regulations, and any further changes thereto, or adoption of additional regulations, including any regulations relating to position limits on futures and other derivatives or margin for derivatives, could negatively impact the Company’s ability to hedge its portfolio in an efficient, cost-effective manner by, among other things, potentially decreasing liquidity in the forward commodity and derivatives markets or limiting the Company’s ability to utilize non-cash collateral for derivatives transactions.

FERC, among other things, regulates the transmission and the wholesale sale of electricity in interstate commerce under the authority of the FPA. The transmission of electric energy occurring wholly within ERCOT is not subject to FERC’s jurisdiction under Sections 203 or 205 of the FPA. Under existing regulations, FERC determines whether an entity owning a generation facility is an EWG, as defined in the PUHCA. FERC also determines whether a generation facility meets the ownership and technical criteria of a QF under the PURPA. Each of the Company’s non-ERCOT U.S. generating facilities qualifies as an EWG.

The FPA gives FERC exclusive rate-making jurisdiction over the wholesale sale of electricity and transmission of electricity in interstate commerce of public utilities (as defined by the FPA). Under the FPA, FERC, with certain exceptions, regulates the owners of facilities used for the wholesale sale of electricity or transmission in interstate commerce as public utilities, and establishes market rules that are just and reasonable.

Public utilities are required to obtain FERC’s acceptance, pursuant to Section 205 of the FPA, of their rate schedules for the wholesale sale of electricity. All of the Company’s non-QF generating entities located outside of ERCOT make sales of electricity pursuant to market-based rates, as opposed to traditional cost-of-service regulated rates. Every three years FERC will conduct a review of the Company’s market based rates and potential market power on a regional basis.

In accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005, FERC has approved the NERC as the national Energy Reliability Organization, or ERO. As the ERO, NERC is responsible for the development and enforcement of mandatory reliability standards for the wholesale electric power system. In addition to complying with NERC requirements, each NRG entity must comply with the requirements of the regional reliability entity for the region in which it is located.

The PURPA was passed in 1978 in large part to promote increased energy efficiency and development of independent power producers. The PURPA created QFs to further both goals, and FERC is primarily charged with administering the PURPA as it applies to QFs. Certain QFs are exempt from regulation, either in whole or in part, under the FPA as public utilities.

The PUHCA provides FERC with certain authority over and access to books and records of public utility holding companies not otherwise exempt by virtue of their ownership of EWGs, QFs, and Foreign Utility Companies. The Company is exempt from many of the accounting, record retention, and reporting requirements of the PUHCA.

Certain of the Company's conventional and renewable assets are newly constructed. The ability of these facilities to meet the Company's performance expectations is subject to the risks inherent in newly constructed power generation facilities and the construction of such facilities, including, but not limited to, degradation of equipment in excess of the Company's expectations, system failures, and outages. The failure of these facilities to perform as the Company expects could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows and its ability to pay dividends to holders of the Company's common stock.

The Company expects to distribute all or substantially all of the CAFD each quarter and to rely primarily upon external financing sources, including the issuance of debt and equity securities and, if applicable, borrowings under the Company's amended and restated revolving credit facility to fund acquisitions and growth capital expenditures. The Company may be precluded from pursuing otherwise attractive acquisitions if the projected short-term cash flow from the acquisition or investment is not adequate to service the capital raised to fund the acquisition or investment, after giving effect to the Company's available cash reserves. The Company's growth may not be as fast as that of businesses that reinvest their available cash to expand ongoing operations. To the extent the Company issues additional equity securities in connection with any acquisitions or growth capital expenditures, the payment of dividends on these additional equity securities may increase the risk that the Company will be unable to maintain or increase its per share dividend. The incurrence of bank borrowings or other debt by NRG Yield Operating LLC or by the Company's project-level subsidiaries to finance the Company’s growth strategy will result in increased interest expense and the imposition of additional or more restrictive covenants, which, in turn, may impact the cash distributions the Company receives to distribute to holders of the Company’s common stock.

The Company's business strategy includes growth through the acquisitions of additional generation assets (including through corporate acquisitions). This strategy depends on the Company’s ability to successfully identify and evaluate acquisition opportunities and consummate acquisitions on favorable terms. However, the number of acquisition opportunities is limited. In addition, the Company will compete with other companies for these limited acquisition opportunities, which may increase the Company’s cost of making acquisitions or cause the Company to refrain from making acquisitions at all. Some of the Company’s competitors for acquisitions are much larger than the Company with substantially greater resources. These companies may be able to pay more for acquisitions and may be able to identify, evaluate, bid for and purchase a greater number of assets than the Company’s financial or human resources permit. If the Company is unable to identify and consummate future acquisitions, it will impede the Company’s ability to execute its growth strategy and limit the Company’s ability to increase the amount of dividends paid to holders of the Company’s common stock.

The Company's amended and restated revolving credit facility contains financial and other restrictive covenants that limit the Company’s ability to return capital to stockholders or otherwise engage in activities that may be in the Company’s long-term best interests. The Company’s inability to satisfy certain financial covenants could prevent the Company from paying cash dividends, and the Company’s failure to comply with those and other covenants could result in an event of default which, if not cured or waived, may entitle the related lenders to demand repayment or enforce their security interests, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In addition, failure to comply with such covenants may entitle the related lenders to demand repayment and accelerate all such indebtedness.

The agreements governing the Company’s project-level financing contain financial and other restrictive covenants that limit the Company’s project subsidiaries’ ability to make distributions to the Company or otherwise engage in activities that may be in the Company’s long-term best interests. The project-level financing agreements generally prohibit distributions from the project entities to the Company unless certain specific conditions are met, including the satisfaction of certain financial ratios. The Company’s inability to satisfy certain financial covenants may prevent cash distributions by the particular project(s) to it and, the Company’s failure to comply with those and other covenants could result in an event of default which, if not cured or waived may entitle the related lenders to demand repayment or enforce their security interests, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, failure to comply with such covenants may entitle the related lenders to demand repayment and accelerate all such indebtedness. If the Company is unable to make distributions from the Company’s project-level subsidiaries, it would likely have a material adverse effect on the Company’s ability to pay dividends to holders of the Company’s common stock.

Letter of credit facilities to support project-level contractual obligations generally need to be renewed after five to seven years, at which time the Company will need to satisfy applicable financial ratios and covenants. If the Company is unable to renew the Company’s letters of credit as expected or replace them with letters of credit under different facilities on favorable terms or at all, the Company may experience a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition, or results of operations and cash flows. Furthermore, such inability may constitute a default under certain project-level financing arrangements, restrict the ability of the project-level subsidiary to make distributions to it and/or reduce the amount of cash available at such subsidiary to make distributions to the Company.

In addition, the Company’s ability to arrange financing, either at the corporate level or at a non-recourse project-level subsidiary, and the costs of such capital, are dependent on numerous factors, including:

The Company may not be successful in obtaining additional capital for these or other reasons. Furthermore, the Company may be unable to refinance or replace project-level financing arrangements or other credit facilities on favorable terms or at all upon the expiration or termination thereof. The Company's failure, or the failure of any of the Company’s projects, to obtain additional capital or enter into new or replacement financing arrangements when due may constitute a default under such existing indebtedness and may have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

A significant portion of the Company's revenues are derived from long-term bilateral contracts with utilities that are regulated by their respective states, and have been entered into pursuant to certain state programs. Certain long-term contracts that other companies have with state-regulated utilities have been challenged in federal court and have been declared unconstitutional on the grounds that the rate for energy and capacity established by the contracts impermissibly conflicts with the rate for energy and capacity established by FERC pursuant to the FPA. To date, federal district courts in New Jersey and Maryland have struck down contracts on similar grounds, and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Third and Fourth Circuits, respectively, have affirmed the lower court decisions. On October 19, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in the Fourth Circuit case, and the Court heard oral argument on February 24, 2016. The outcome of this litigation could affect future capacity prices

If solar or wind conditions are unfavorable, the Company's electricity generation and revenue from renewable generation facilities may be substantially below the Company's expectations. The electricity produced and revenues generated by a solar electric or wind energy generation facility is highly dependent on suitable solar or wind conditions, as applicable, and associated weather conditions, which are beyond the Company's control. Furthermore, components of the Company's systems, such as solar panels and inverters, could be damaged by severe weather, such as hailstorms or tornadoes. In addition, replacement and spare parts for key components may be difficult or costly to acquire or may be unavailable. Unfavorable weather and atmospheric conditions could impair the effectiveness of the Company's assets or reduce their output beneath their rated capacity or require shutdown of key equipment, impeding operation of the Company's renewable assets. In addition, climate change may have the long-term effect of changing wind patterns at our projects. Changing wind patterns could cause changes in expected electricity generation. These events could also degrade equipment or components and the interconnection and transmission facilities’ lives or maintenance costs.

Although the Company bases its investment decisions with respect to each renewable generation facility on the findings of related wind and solar studies conducted on-site prior to construction or based on historical conditions at existing facilities, actual climatic conditions at a facility site, particularly wind conditions, may not conform to the findings of these studies and may be affected by variations in weather patterns, including any potential impact of climate change. Therefore, the Company's solar and wind energy facilities may not meet anticipated production levels or the rated capacity of the Company's generation assets, which could adversely affect the business, financial condition, and results of operations and cash flows.

The ongoing operation of the Company's facilities involves risks that include the breakdown or failure of equipment or processes or performance below expected levels of output or efficiency due to wear and tear, latent defect, design error or operator error or force majeure events, among other things. Operation of the Company's facilities also involves risks that the Company will be unable to transport its products to its customers in an efficient manner due to a lack of transmission capacity. Unplanned outages of generating units, including extensions of scheduled outages due to mechanical failures or other problems, occur from time to time and are an inherent risk of the business. Unplanned outages typically increase operation and maintenance expenses, capital expenditures and may reduce revenues as a result of selling fewer MWh or require the Company to incur significant costs as a result of obtaining replacement power from third parties in the open market to satisfy forward power sales obligations. The Company's inability to operate its electric generation assets efficiently, manage capital expenditures and costs and generate earnings and cash flow from the Company's asset-based businesses could have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. While the Company maintains insurance, obtains warranties from vendors and obligates contractors to meet certain performance levels, the proceeds of such insurance, warranties or performance guarantees may not cover the Company's lost revenues, increased expenses or liquidated damages payments should it experience equipment breakdown or non-performance by contractors or vendors.

In addition to natural risks such as earthquake, flood, lightning, hurricane and wind, other hazards, such as fire, explosion, structural collapse and machinery failure are inherent risks in the Company's operations. These and other hazards can cause significant personal injury or loss of life, severe damage to and destruction of property, plant and equipment and contamination of, or damage to, the environment and suspension of operations. The occurrence of any one of these events may result in the Company being named as a defendant in lawsuits asserting claims for substantial damages, including for environmental cleanup costs, personal injury and property damage and fines and/or penalties. The Company maintains an amount of insurance protection that it considers adequate but cannot provide any assurance that the Company's insurance will be sufficient or effective under all circumstances and against all hazards or liabilities to which the Company may be subject. Furthermore, the Company's insurance coverage is subject to deductibles, caps, exclusions and other limitations. A loss for which the Company is not fully insured (which may include a significant judgment against any facility or facility operator) could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. Further, due to rising insurance costs and changes in the insurance markets, the Company cannot provide any assurance that its insurance coverage will continue to be available at all or at rates or on terms similar to those presently available. Any losses not covered by insurance could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The Company's facilities may require periodic upgrading and improvement. Any unexpected operational or mechanical failure, including failure associated with breakdowns and forced outages, could reduce the Company's facilities' generating capacity below expected levels, reducing the Company's revenues and jeopardizing the Company's ability to pay dividends to holders of its common stock at expected levels or at all. Degradation of the performance of the Company's solar facilities above levels provided for in the related offtake agreements may also reduce the Company's revenues. Unanticipated capital expenditures associated with maintaining, upgrading or repairing the Company's facilities may also reduce profitability.

If the Company makes any major modifications to its conventional power generation facilities, it may be required to install the best available control technology or to achieve the lowest achievable emission rates as such terms are defined under the new source review provisions of the CAA in the future. Any such modifications could likely result in substantial additional capital expenditures. The Company may also choose to repower, refurbish or upgrade its facilities based on its assessment that such activity will provide adequate financial returns. Such facilities require time for development and capital expenditures before commencement of commercial operations, and key assumptions underpinning a decision to make such an investment may prove incorrect, including assumptions regarding construction costs, timing, available financing and future fuel and power prices. These events could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

A significant portion of the electric power the Company generates is sold under long-term offtake agreements with public utilities or industrial or commercial end-users, with a weighted average remaining duration of approximately 1416 years (based on net capacity under contract)CAFD). As of December 31, 2015,2016, the largest customers of the Company's power generation assets, including assets in which the Company has less than a 100% membership interest, were SCE and PG&E, which represented 46%45% and 23%25%, respectively, of the net electric generation capacity of the Company's facilities.

If, for any reason, any of the purchasers of power under these agreements are unable or unwilling to fulfill their related contractual obligations or if they refuse to accept delivery of power delivered thereunder or if they otherwise terminate such agreements prior to the expiration thereof, the Company's assets, liabilities, business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, to the extent any of the Company's power purchasers are, or are controlled by, governmental entities, the Company's facilities may be subject to legislative or other political action that may impair their contractual performance.

The power generation industry is characterized by intense competition and the Company's electric generation assets encounter competition from utilities, industrial companies and other independent power producers, in particular with respect to uncontracted output. In recent years, there has been increasing competition among generators for offtake agreements and this has contributed to a reduction in electricity prices in certain markets characterized by excess supply above designated reserve margins. In light of these market conditions, the Company may not be able to replace an expiring or terminated agreement with an agreement on equivalent terms and conditions, including at prices that permit operation of the related facility on a profitable basis. In addition, the Company believes many of its competitors have well-established relationships with the Company's current and potential suppliers, lenders and customers, and have extensive knowledge of its target markets. As a result, these competitors may be able to respond more quickly to evolving industry standards and changing customer requirements than the Company will be able to. Adoption of technology more advanced than the Company's could reduce its competitors' power production costs resulting in their having a lower cost structure than is achievable with the technologies currently employed by the Company and adversely affect its ability to compete for offtake agreement renewals. If the Company is unable to replace an expiring or terminated offtake agreement, the affected facility may temporarily or permanently cease operations. External events, such as a severe economic downturn, could also impair the ability of some counterparties to the Company's offtake agreements and other customer agreements to pay for energy and/or other products and services received.

The Company's inability to enter into new or replacement offtake agreements or to compete successfully against current and future competitors in the markets in which the Company operates could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Approximately 375378 net MWt of capacity from certain of the Company's thermal assets are sold at rates approved by one or more federal or state regulatory commissions, including the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission for the thermal assets. Similarly, the revenues related to approximately 380 MW of capacity from the GenConn assets are established each year by the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority. While such regulatory oversight is generally premised on the recovery of prudently incurred costs and a reasonable rate of return on invested capital, the rates that the Company may charge, or the revenue that the Company may earn with respect to this capacity are subject to authorization of the applicable regulatory authorities. There can be no assurance that such regulatory authorities will consider all of the costs to have been prudently incurred or that the regulatory process by which rates or revenues are determined will always result in rates or revenues that achieve full recovery of costs or an adequate return on the Company's capital investments. While the Company's rates and revenues are generally established based on an analysis of costs incurred in a base year, the rates the Company is allowed to charge, and the revenues the Company is authorized to earn, may or may not match the costs at any given time. If the Company's costs are not adequately recovered through these regulatory processes, it could have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The Company often relies on a single contracted supplier or a small number of suppliers for the provision of fuel, transportation of fuel, equipment, technology and/or other services required for the operation of certain facilities. In addition, certain of the Company's suppliers provide long-term warranties with respect to the performance of their products or services. If any of these suppliers cannot perform under their agreements with the Company, or satisfy their related warranty obligations, the Company will need to utilize the marketplace to provide or repair these products and services. There can be no assurance that the marketplace can provide these products and services as, when and where required. The Company may not be able to enter into replacement agreements on favorable terms or at all. If the Company is unable to enter into replacement agreements to provide for fuel, equipment, technology and other required services, it would seek to purchase the related goods or services at market prices, exposing the Company to market price volatility and the risk that fuel and transportation may not be available during certain periods at any price. The Company may also be required to make significant capital contributions to remove, replace or redesign equipment that cannot be supported or maintained by replacement suppliers, which could have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition, results of operations, credit support terms and cash flows.

In addition, potential or existing customers at the Company’s district energy centers and combined heat and power plants, or the Energy Centers, may opt for on-site systems in lieu of using the Company’s Energy Centers, either due to corporate policies regarding the allocation of capital, unique situations where an on-site system might in fact prove more efficient, because of previously committed capital in systems that are already on-site, or otherwise. At times, the Company relies on a single customer or a few customers to purchase all or a significant portion of a facility's output, in some cases under long-term agreements that account for a substantial percentage of the anticipated revenue from a given facility.

The failure of any supplier to fulfill its contractual obligations to the Company or the Company’s loss of potential or existing customers could have a material adverse effect on its financial results. Consequently, the financial performance of the Company's facilities is dependent on the credit quality of, and continued performance by, the Company's suppliers and vendors and the Company’s ability to solicit and retain customers.

TheAs described in Item 15 — Note 5, Investments Accounted for by the Equity Method and Variable Interest Entities, the Company has limited control over the operation of GenConn, Avenal, CVSR and Desert Sunlightcertain of its assets, because the Company beneficially owns 50%, 50%, 48.95% and 25%, respectively,less than a majority of the membership interests in such assets. The Company may seek to acquire additional assets in which it owns less than a majority of the related membership interests in the future. In these investments, the Company will seek to exert a degree of influence with respect to the management and operation of assets in which it owns less than a majority of the membership interests by negotiating to obtain positions on management committees or to receive certain limited governance rights, such as rights to veto significant actions. However, the Company may not always succeed in such negotiations. The Company may be dependent on its co-venturers to operate such assets. The Company's co-venturers may not have the level of experience, technical expertise, human resources management and other attributes necessary to operate these assets optimally. In addition, conflicts of interest may arise in the future between the Company and its stockholders, on the one hand, and the Company's co-venturers, on the other hand, where the Company's co-venturers' business interests are inconsistent with the interests of the Company and its stockholders. Further, disagreements or disputes between the Company and its co-venturers could result in litigation, which could increase expenses and potentially limit the time and effort the Company's officers and directors are able to devote to the business.

The approval of co-venturers may also may be required for the Company to receive distributions of funds from assets or to sell, pledge, transfer, assign or otherwise convey its interest in such assets, or for the Company to acquire NRG's interests in such co-ventures as an initial matter. Alternatively, the Company's co-venturers may have rights of first refusal or rights of first offer in the event of a proposed sale or transfer of the Company's interests in such assets. These restrictions may limit the price or interest level for interests in such assets, in the event the Company wants to sell such interests.

Furthermore, certain of the Company's facilities are operated by third-party operators, such as First Solar. To the extent that third-party operators do not fulfill their obligations to manage operations of the facilities or are not effective in doing so, the amount of CAFD may be adversely affected.

The Company uses interest rate swaps to manage interest rate risk. In addition, the Company uses forward fuel purchase contracts to hedge its limited commodity exposure with respect to the Company's district energy assets. If the Company elects to enter into such commodity hedges, the related asset could recognize financial losses on these arrangements as a result of volatility in the market values of the underlying commodities or if a counterparty fails to perform under a contract. If actively quoted market prices and pricing information from external sources are not available, the valuation of these contracts would involve judgment or the use of estimates. As a result, changes in the underlying assumptions or use of alternative valuation methods could affect the reported fair value of these contracts. If the values of these financial contracts change in a manner that the Company does not anticipate, or if a counterparty fails to perform under a contract, it could harm the business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The Company is subject to various federal, state and local environmental and health and safety laws and regulations. In addition, the Company may be held primarily or jointly and severally liable for costs relating to the investigation and clean-up of any property where there has been a release or threatened release of a hazardous regulated material as well as other affected properties, regardless of whether the Company knew of or caused the release. In addition to these costs, which are typically not limited by law or regulation and could exceed an affected property's value, the Company could be liable for certain other costs, including governmental fines and injuries to persons, property or natural resources. Further, some environmental laws provide for the creation of a lien on a contaminated site in favor of the government as security for damages and any costs the government incurs in connection with such contamination and associated clean-up. Although the Company generally requires its operators to undertake to indemnify it for environmental liabilities they cause, the amount of such liabilities could exceed the financial ability of the operator to indemnify the Company. The presence of contamination or the failure to remediate contamination may adversely affect the Company's ability to operate the business.

The Company does not own all of the land on which its power generation or thermal assets are located and the Company is, therefore, subject to the possibility of less desirable terms and increased costs to retain necessary land use if it does not have valid leases or rights-of-way or if such rights-of-way lapse or terminate. Although the Company has obtained rights to construct and operate these assets pursuant to related lease arrangements, the rights to conduct those activities are subject to certain exceptions,

Solar and wind projects generally are, and are likely to be, located on land occupied by the project pursuant to long-term easements and leases. The ownership interests in the land subject to these easements and leases may be subject to mortgages securing loans or other liens (such as tax liens) and other easement and lease rights of third parties (such as leases of oil or mineral rights) that were created prior to the project’s easements and leases. As a result, the project’s rights under these easements or leases may be subject, and subordinate, to the rights of those third parties. The Company performs title searches and obtains title insurance to protect itself against these risks. Such measures may, however, be inadequate to protect the Company against all risk of loss of its rights to use the land on which the wind projects are located, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations.

The Company's electric generation business is subject to extensive U.S. federal, state and local laws and regulation.regulations. Compliance with the requirements under these various regulatory regimes may cause the Company to incur significant additional costs, and failure to comply with such requirements could result in the shutdown of the non-complying facility, the imposition of liens, fines, and/or civil or criminal liability. Public utilities under the FPA are required to obtain FERC acceptance of their rate schedules for wholesale sales of electric energy, capacity and ancillary services. Except for generating facilities within the footprint of ERCOT which are regulated by the PUCT, all of the Company’s assets make wholesale sales of electric energy, capacity and ancillary services in interstate commerce and are public utilities for purposes of the FPA, unless otherwise exempt from such status. FERC's orders that grant market-based rate authority to wholesale power marketers reserve the right to revoke or revise that authority if FERC subsequently determines that the seller can exercise market power in transmission or generation, create barriers to entry, or engage in abusive affiliate transactions. In addition, public utilities are subject to FERC reporting requirements that impose administrative burdens and that, if violated, can expose the company to criminal and civil penalties or other risks.

The Company's market-based sales will be subject to certain rules prohibiting manipulative or deceptive conduct, and if any of the Company's generating companies are deemed to have violated those rules, they will be subject to potential disgorgement of profits associated with the violation, penalties, suspension or revocation of market based rate authority. If such generating companies were to lose their market-based rate authority, such companies would be required to obtain FERC's acceptance of a cost-of-service rate schedule and could become subject to the significant accounting, record-keeping, and reporting requirements that are imposed on utilities with cost- basedcost-based rate schedules. This could have a material adverse effect on the rates the Company is able to charge for power from its facilities.

Most of the Company's assets are operating as EWGs as defined under the PUHCA, or QFs as defined under the PURPA, as amended, and therefore are exempt from certain regulation under the PUHCA and the PURPA. If a facility fails to maintain its status as an EWG or a QF or there are legislative or regulatory changes revoking or limiting the exemptions to the PUHCA, then the Company may be subject to significant accounting, record-keeping, access to books and records and reporting requirements and failure to comply with such requirements could result in the imposition of penalties and additional compliance obligations.

Substantially all of the Company's generation assets are also subject to the reliability standards promulgated by the designated Electric Reliability Organization (currently the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC) and approved by FERC. If the Company fails to comply with the mandatory reliability standards, it could be subject to sanctions, including substantial monetary penalties and increased compliance obligations. The Company will also be affected by legislative and regulatory changes, as well as changes to market design, market rules, tariffs, cost allocations, and bidding rules that occur in the existing regional markets operated by RTOs or ISOs, such as PJM. The RTOs/ISOs that oversee most of the wholesale power markets impose, and in the future may continue to impose, mitigation, including price limitations, offer caps, non-performance penalties and other mechanisms to address some of the volatility and the potential exercise of market power in these markets. These types of price limitations and other regulatory mechanisms may have a material adverse effect on the profitability of the Company's generation facilities acquired in the future that sell energy, capacity and ancillary products into the wholesale power markets. The regulatory environment for electric generation has undergone significant changes in the last several years due to state and federal policies affecting wholesale competition and the creation of incentives for the addition of large amounts of new renewable generation and, in some cases, transmission assets. These changes are ongoing and the Company cannot predict the future design of the wholesale power markets or the ultimate effect that the changing regulatory environment will have on the

The Company's assets are subject to numerous and significant federal, state and local laws, including statutes, regulations, guidelines, policies, directives and other requirements governing or relating to, among other things: protection of wildlife, including threatened and endangered species; air emissions; discharges into water; water use; the storage, handling, use, transportation and distribution of dangerous goods and hazardous, residual and other regulated materials, such as chemicals; the prevention of releases of hazardous materials into the environment; the prevention, presence and remediation of hazardous materials in soil and groundwater, both on and offsite; land use and zoning matters; and workers' health and safety matters. The Company's facilities could experience incidents, malfunctions and other unplanned events that could result in spills or emissions in excess of permitted levels and result in personal injury, penalties and property damage. As such, the operation of the Company's facilities carries an inherent risk of environmental, health and safety liabilities (including potential civil actions, compliance or remediation orders, fines and other penalties), and may result in the assets being involved from time to time in administrative and judicial proceedings relating to such matters. The Company has implemented environmental, health and safety management programs designed to continually improve environmental, health and safety performance. Environmental laws and regulations have generally become more stringent over time, and the Company expectsalthough this trend to continue.could change in the near term under the new U.S. presidential administration. Significant costs may be incurred for capital expenditures under environmental programs to keep the assets compliant with such environmental laws and regulations. If it is not economical to make those expenditures, it may be necessary to retire or mothball facilities or restrict or modify the Company's operations to comply with more stringent standards. These environmental requirements and liabilities could have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The Company's generation facilities that were acquired or those that the Company otherwise acquires or constructs and the facilities of third parties on which they rely may be targets of terrorist activities, as well as events occurring in response to or in connection with them, that could cause environmental repercussions and/or result in full or partial disruption of the facilities ability to generate, transmit, transport or distribute electricity or natural gas. Strategic targets, such as energy-related facilities, may be at greater risk of future terrorist activities than other domestic targets. Hostile cyber intrusions, including those targeting information systems as well as electronic control systems used at the generating plants and for the related distribution systems, could severely disrupt business operations and result in loss of service to customers, as well as create significant expense to repair security breaches or system damage.

Furthermore, certain of the Company's power generation thermal assets are located in active earthquake zones in California and Arizona, and certain project companies and suppliers conduct their operations in the same region or in other locations that are susceptible to natural disasters. In addition, California and some of the locations where certain suppliers are located, from time to time, have experienced shortages of water, electric power and natural gas. The occurrence of a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, drought, flood or localized extended outages of critical utilities or transportation systems, or any critical resource shortages, affecting the Company or its suppliers, could cause a significant interruption in the business, damage or destroy the Company's facilities or those of its suppliers or the manufacturing equipment or inventory of the Company's suppliers. Any such terrorist acts, environmental repercussions or disruptions or natural disasters could result in a significant decrease in revenues or significant reconstruction or remediation costs, beyond what could be recovered through insurance policies, which could have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Numerous functions affecting the efficient operation of the Company’s businesses are dependent on the secure and reliable storage, processing and communication of electronic data and the use of sophisticated computer hardware and software systems. The operation of the Company's generating assets are reliant on cyber-based technologies and, therefore, subject to the risk that such systems could be the target of disruptive actions, particularly through cyber-attack or cyber intrusion, including by computer hackers, foreign governments and cyber terrorists, or otherwise be compromised by unintentional events. As a result, operations could be interrupted, property could be damaged and sensitive customer information could be lost or stolen, causing the Company

The Company's growth strategy depends in part on government policies that support renewable generation and enhance the economic viability of owning renewable electric generation assets. Renewable generation assets currently benefit from various federal, state and local governmental incentives such as ITCs, cash grants in lieu of ITCs, loan guarantees, RPS, programs, modified accelerated cost-recovery system of depreciation and bonus depreciation. In December 2015, the U.S. Congress enacted an extension of the 30% solar ITC so that projects that beginbegan construction in 2016 through 2019 will continue to qualify for the 30% ITC.  Projects beginning construction in 2020 and 2021 will be eligible for the ITC at the rates of 26% and 22%, respectively.  The same legislation also extended the 10-year wind PTC for wind projects that beginbegan construction in years 2016 through 2019.  Wind projects that begin construction in the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 are eligible for PTC at 80%, 60% and 40% of the statutory rate per kWh, respectively.

Many states have adopted RPS programs mandating that a specified percentage of electricity sales come from eligible sources of renewable energy. However, the regulations that govern the RPS programs, including pricing incentives for renewable energy, or reasonableness guidelines for pricing that increase valuation compared to conventional power (such as a projected value for carbon reduction or consideration of avoided integration costs), may change. If the RPS requirements are reduced or eliminated, it could lead to fewer future power contracts or lead to lower prices for the sale of power in future power contracts, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company's future growth prospects. Such material adverse effects may result from decreased revenues, reduced economic returns on certain project company investments, increased financing costs, and/or difficulty obtaining financing. Furthermore, the ARRA included incentives to encourage investment in the renewable energy sector, such as cash grants in lieu of ITCs, bonus depreciation and expansion of the U.S. DOE loan guarantee program. It is uncertain what loan guarantees may be made by the U.S. DOE loan guarantee program in the future. In addition, the cash grant in lieu of ITCs program only applies to facilities that commenced construction prior to December 31, 2011, which commencement date may be determined in accordance with the safe harbor if more than 5% of the total cost of the eligible property was paid or incurred by December 31, 2011.

If the Company is unable to utilize various federal, state and local government incentives to acquire additional renewable assets in the future, or the terms of such incentives are revised in a manner that is less favorable to the Company, it may suffer a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The Company depends on electric interconnection and transmission facilities owned and operated by others to deliver the wholesale power it will sell from its electric generation assets to its customers. A failure or delay in the operation or development of these interconnection or transmission facilities or a significant increase in the cost of the development of such facilities could result in lost revenues. Such failures or delays could limit the amount of power the Company's operating facilities deliver or delay the completion of the Company's construction projects. Additionally, such failures, delays or increased costs could have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition and results of operations. If a region's power transmission infrastructure is inadequate, the Company's recovery of wholesale costs and profits may be limited. If restrictive transmission price regulation is imposed, the transmission companies may not have a sufficient incentive to invest in expansion of transmission infrastructure. The Company also cannot predict whether interconnection and transmission facilities will be expanded in specific markets to accommodate competitive access to those markets. In addition, certain of the Company's operating facilities' generation of electricity may be curtailed without compensation due to transmission limitations or limitations on the electricity grid's ability to accommodate intermittent electricity generating sources, reducing the Company's revenues and impairing its ability to capitalize fully on a particular facility's generating potential. Such curtailments could have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Furthermore, economic congestion on transmission networks in certain of the markets in which the Company operates may occur and the Company may be deemed responsible for congestion costs. If the Company were liable for such congestion costs, its financial results could be adversely affected.

Delivery of fossil fuels to fuel the Company's conventional and thermal generation facilities is dependent upon the infrastructure (including natural gas pipelines) available to serve each such generation facility as well as upon the continuing financial viability of contractual counterparties. As a result, the Company is subject to the risks of disruptions or curtailments in the production of power at these generation facilities if a counterparty fails to perform or if there is a disruption in the fuel delivery infrastructure.

NRG owns all of the Company's outstanding Class B and Class D common stock. The Company's outstanding Class B and Class D common stock is entitled to one vote per share and 1/100th of a vote per share, respectively. As a result of its ownership of the Class B and Class D common stock, NRG owns 55.1% of the combined voting power of the Company's common stock as of December 31, 2015.2016. NRG has also expressed its intention to maintain a controlling interest in the Company. As a result of this ownership, NRG has a substantial influence on the Company's affairs and its voting power will constitute a large percentage of any quorum of the Company's stockholders voting on any matter requiring the approval of the Company's stockholders. Such matters include the election of directors, the adoption of amendments to the Company's second amended and restated certificate of incorporation and third amended and restated bylaws and approval of mergers or sale of all or substantially all of its assets. This concentration of ownership may also have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control of the Company or discouraging others from making tender offers for the Company's shares. In addition, NRG has the right to appointelect all of the Company's directors. NRG may cause corporate actions to be taken even if their interests conflict with the interests of the Company's other stockholders (including holders of the Company's Class A and Class C common stock).

Furthermore, the Company depends on the management and administration services provided by or under the direction of NRG under the Management Services Agreement. NRG personnel and support staff that provide services to the Company under the Management Services Agreement are not required to, and the Company does not expect that they will, have as their primary responsibility the management and administration of the Company or to act exclusively for the Company and the Management Services Agreement does not require any specific individuals to be provided by NRG. Under the Management Services Agreement, NRG has the discretion to determine which of its employees perform assignments required to be provided to the Company. Any failure to effectively manage the Company's operations or to implement its strategy could have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. The Management Services Agreement will continue in perpetuity, until terminated in accordance with its terms.

The Company also depends upon NRG for the provision of management, administration and certain other services at all of the Company's facilities and contracts with NRG, or its subsidiaries, to procure fuel and sell power for certain of its operating facilities. Any failure by NRG to perform its requirements under these arrangements or the failure by the Company to identify and contract with replacement service providers, if required, could adversely affect the operation of the Company's facilities and have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The Company's ability to grow through acquisitions depends, in part, on NRG's ability to identify and present the Company with acquisition opportunities. NRG established the Company to hold and acquire a diversified suite of power generating assets in the U.S. and its territories. Although NRG has agreed to grant the Company a right of first offer with respect to certain power generation assets that NRG may elect to sell in the future, NRG is under no obligation to sell any such power generation assets or to accept any related offer from the Company. Furthermore, NRG has no obligation to source acquisition opportunities specifically for the Company. In addition, NRG has not agreed to commit any minimum level of dedicated resources for the pursuit of renewable power-related acquisitions. There are a number of factors which could materially and adversely impact the extent to which suitable acquisition opportunities are made available from NRG, including:

In making these determinations, NRG may be influenced by factors that result in a misalignment with the Company's interests or conflict of interest.

The Company depends on the diligence, skill and business contacts of NRG's professionals and the information and opportunities they generate during the normal course of their activities. Furthermore, approximately 27%30% of NRG's employees at the Company's generation plants are covered by collective bargaining agreements as of December 31, 2015.2016. The Company's future success will depend on the continued service of these individuals, who are not obligated to remain employed with NRG, or otherwise successfully renegotiate their collective bargaining agreements when such agreements expire or otherwise terminate. NRG has experienced departures of key professionals and personnel in the past and may do so in the future, and the Company cannot predict the impact that any such departures will have on its ability to achieve its objectives. The Management Services Agreement does not require NRG to maintain the employment of any of its professionals or to cause any particular professional to provide services to the Company or on its behalf. The departure of a significant number of NRG's professionals or a material portion of the NRG employees who work at any of the Company's facilities for any reason, or the failure to appoint qualified or effective successors in the event of such departures, could have a material adverse effect on the Company's ability to achieve its objectives. The Management Services Agreement does not require NRG to maintain the employment of any of its professionals or to cause any particular professional to provide services to the Company or on its behalf.

The Company's organizational and ownership structure involves a number of relationships that may give rise to certain conflicts of interest between the Company and holders of its Class A and Class C common stock, on the one hand, and NRG, on the other hand. Pursuant to the Management Services Agreement with NRG, eachcertain of the Company's executive officers are a shared NRG executiveexecutives and devote his or hertheir time to both the Company and NRG as needed to conduct the respective businesses. Although the Company's directors and executive officers owe fiduciary duties to the Company's stockholders, these shared NRG executives have fiduciary and other duties to NRG, which duties may be inconsistent with the Company's best interests and holders of the Company's Class A and Class C common stock. In addition, NRG and its representatives, agents and affiliates have access to the Company's confidential information. Although some of these persons are subject to confidentiality obligations pursuant to confidentiality agreements or implied duties of confidence, the Management Services Agreement does not contain general confidentiality provisions.

Additionally, all of the Company's executive officers continue to have economic interests in NRG and, accordingly, the benefit to NRG from a transaction between the Company and NRG will proportionately inure to their benefit as holders of economic interests in NRG. NRG is a related partyperson under the applicable securities laws governing related partyperson transactions and may have interests which differ from the Company's interests or those of holders of the Class A and Class C common stock, including with respect to the types of acquisitions made, the timing and amount of dividends by the Company, the reinvestment of returns generated by the Company's operations, the use of leverage when making acquisitions and the appointment of outside advisors and service providers. Any material transaction between the Company and NRG will be subject to the Company's related partyperson transaction policy, which will require prior approval of such transaction by the Company's corporateboard committees. Those of the Company's executive officers who have economic interests in NRG may be conflicted when advising the Company's corporateboard committees or otherwise participating in the negotiation or approval of such transactions. These executive officers have significant project- and industry-specific expertise that could prove beneficial to the Company's decision-making process and the absence of such strategic guidance could have a material adverse effect on the corporateboard committees' ability to evaluate any such transaction. Furthermore, the creation of corporateboard committees and the Company's related partyperson transaction approval policy may not insulate the Company from derivative claims relatedwith respect to related partyperson transactions and the conflicts of interest described in this risk factor. Regardless of the merits of such claims, the Company may be required to expend significant management time and financial resources in the defense thereof. Additionally, to the extent the Company fails to appropriately deal with any such conflicts, it could negatively impact the Company's reputation and ability to raise additional funds and the willingness of counterparties to do business with the Company, all of which could have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The Management Services Agreement provides that the Company may terminate the agreement upon 30 days prior written notice to NRG upon the occurrence of any of the following: (i) NRG defaults in the performance or observance of any material term, condition or covenant contained therein in a manner that results in material harm to the Company and the default continues unremedied for a period of 30 days after written notice thereof is given to NRG; (ii) NRG engages in any act of fraud, misappropriation of funds or embezzlement that results in material harm to the Company; (iii) NRG is grossly negligent in the performance of its duties under the agreement and such negligence results in material harm to the Company; or (iv) upon the happening of certain events relating to the bankruptcy or insolvency of NRG. Furthermore, if the Company requests an amendment to the scope of services provided by NRG under the Management Services Agreement and is not able to agree with NRG as to a change to the service fee resulting from a change in the scope of services within 180 days of the request, the Company will be able to terminate the agreement upon 30 days prior notice to NRG. The Company will not be able to terminate the agreement for any other reason, including if NRG experiences a change of control, and the agreement continues in perpetuity, until terminated in accordance with its terms. If NRG's performance does not meet the expectations of investors, and the Company is unable to terminate the Management Services Agreement, the market price of the Class A and Class C common stock could suffer.

The Company relies on NRG to provide it with management services under the Management Services Agreement and does not havehas limited executive or senior management personnel independent from NRG. The Management Services Agreement provides that NRG may terminate the agreement upon 180 days prior written notice of termination to the Company if it defaults in the performance or observance of any material term, condition or covenant contained in the agreement in a manner that results in material harm and the default continues unremedied for a period of 30 days after written notice of the breach is given. If NRG terminates the Management Services Agreement or defaults in the performance of its obligations under the agreement, the Company may be unable to contract with a substitute service provider on similar terms or at all, and the costs of substituting service providers may be substantial. In addition, in light of NRG's familiarity with the Company's assets, a substitute service provider may not be able to provide the same level of service due to lack of pre-existing synergies. If the Company cannot locate a service provider that is able to provide substantially similar services as NRG does under the Management Services Agreement on similar terms, it would likely have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition, results of operation and cash flows.

Under the Management Services Agreement, NRG does not assume any responsibility other than to provide or arrange for the provision of the services described in the Management Services Agreement in good faith. In addition, under the Management Services Agreement, the liability of NRG and its affiliates is limited to the fullest extent permitted by law to conduct involving bad faith, fraud, willful misconduct or gross negligence or, in the case of a criminal matter, action that was known to have been unlawful. In addition, the Company has agreed to indemnify NRG to the fullest extent permitted by law from and against any claims, liabilities, losses, damages, costs or expenses incurred by an indemnified person or threatened in connection with the Company's operations, investments and activities or in respect of or arising from the Management Services Agreement or the services provided by NRG, except to the extent that the claims, liabilities, losses, damages, costs or expenses are determined to have resulted from the conduct in respect of which such persons have liability as described above. These protections may result in NRG tolerating greater risks when making decisions than otherwise wouldmight be the case, including when determining whether to use leverage in connection with acquisitions. The indemnification arrangements to which NRG is a party may also give rise to legal claims for indemnification that are adverse to the Company and holders of its common stock.

The market price of the Company's Class A or Class C common stock could decline as a result of sales by NRG of such shares (issuable to NRG upon the exchange of some or all of its NRG Yield LLC Class B or Class D units, respectively) in the market, or the perception that these sales could occur.

The amount of distributions that will be treated as taxable for U.S. federal income tax purposes will depend on the amount of the Company's current and accumulated earnings and profits. It is difficult to predict whether the Company will generate earnings or profits as computed for federal income tax purposes in any given tax year. Generally, a corporation's earnings and profits are computed based upon taxable income, with certain specified adjustments. Distributions will constitute ordinary dividend income to the extent paid from the Company's current or accumulated earnings and profits, and a nontaxable return of capital to the extent of a stockholder's basis in his or her Class A or Class C common stock. Distributions in excess of the Company's current and accumulated earnings and profits and in excess of a stockholder's basis will be treated as gain from the sale of the common stock. 

For U.S. tax purposes, NRG Yield, Inc.'s 2015the Company's distributions to its shareholdersstockholders in 2016 and 2015 are classified for U.S. federal income tax purposes as a nontaxable return of capital and reduction of a U.S. shareholder'sstockholder's tax basis, to the extent of a U.S. shareholder'sstockholder's tax basis in each of its NRG Yield, Inc’sthe Company's common shares, with any remaining amount being taxed as capital gain.