Entergy buys R.I. power plant for $346M

By PBN Staff

NEW ORLEANS – Entergy Corporation agreed Monday to acquire the Rhode Island State Energy Center for $346 million.

Entergy is buying the 550 megawatt power plant in Johnston from a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources.

An Entergy spokesman estimated the Johnston plant has about 30 employees and it doesn't have plans to make changes to the work force.

“The acquisition presents an opportunity to create value by acquiring modern, efficient generation at approximately half the new build cost and is in line with our disciplined, market point of view for capital deployment,” said Richard Smith, president of Entergy Wholesale Commodities.

“This asset enhances the value of our existing portfolio through the addition of generation in the New England market that is well positioned to benefit from expected market recovery,” Smith added.

RISEC is scheduled to increase the facility’s capacity to 583 megawatts this month. It is a Siemens natural gas-fired combined-cycle generating plant that went into commercial service in 2002.

The deal is pending regulatory approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and notification of the transaction pursuant to the Hart-Scott Rodino antitrust law; closing is slated for late 2011.

Entergy owns power plants with about 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity and is the second-largest nuclear generator in the United States. It has more than $11 billion in annual revenue and about 15,000 employees, a news release said.