Constellation Energy, which owns a diversified fleet of generating units located in the US and Canada, has completed a $1.1 bn deal to acquire five power plants with a total generating capacity of 2950MW in the Boston area of New England, USA.
The deal was first flagged up in August when CEG signed an asset purchase agreement to acquire the 2950 MW fleet from Boston Generating. The five plants are four natural gas fired plants, Mystic 8 and 9 (1580 MW), Fore River (787 MW), Mystic 7 (574 MW), and a fuel oil plant, Mystic Jet (9 MW).
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the transaction in late December.
Constellation Energy said that the acquisition is being financed through a mix of available cash on hand and debt. The company has made several purchases during the last year, from a financial position strongly bolstered by its sale of nuclear interests in 2009 and 2010 to French nuclear giant EDF, in support of its announced strategy of spending up to $1 billion to acquire assets in regions where it sells more power than it generates.
The company’s cash position derives in part from its sale of 49.99% of its nuclear power group to France’s EDF for a reported $4.6 billion in 2009. It has since ended its main association with EDF after the sale of its interest in 2010 in the two firms’ joint venture nuclear company Unistar. EDF bought Constellation’s 50% ownership in Unistar for $140 million while EDF transferred to Constellation 3.5 million of ts Constellation shares and gave up its seat on the Constellation board.
In April last year CEG purchased two CCGT plants in Texas – Colorado Bend Energy Center and Quail Run Energy Center from Houston-based Navasota Holdings. With this deal Constellation added 1100 MW of capacity to its 7.1 GW generation portfolio at a cost of $365 million. Each of the two plants has a project underway to add 275 MW to its capacity. The acquisition gave Constellation generation capacity in Texas, where it needed to increase its supply in order to meet its obligated load requirements.
In September last year CEG bought demand response specialist CPower. Constellation says it now has1500 MW of demand response capability.
