NRG Acquiring Ownership In Midwest Generating Units Via Lease Buyout
July 27,2020
NRG Energy announced that its Midwest Generation unit will terminate leases for its Powerton & Joliet assets and acquire the assets for ~$260 MM (funded via $112 MM of capital allocation [new cash cost] and $148 MM of debt on a credit neutral basis).
Specifically, Midwest Generation, LLC sought FERC approval for a transaction
whereby Midwest Generation will acquire all of the ownership interests in the Powerton
Generating Station and Units 7 and 8 at the Joliet Generating Station, which Midwest Generation currently
leases under sale/leaseback arrangements. As a result of the transaction, ownership of the facilities will revert
to Midwest Generation.
Pursuant to those leases, Midwest Generation already
controls the facilities.
The Powerton Generating Station is an approximately 1,538 MW (summer rating)
coal-fired generation facility in Tazewell County, Illinois, within the PJM
Interconnection, L.L.C. (PJM) market
Joliet 7 & 8 are natural gas-fired generating units with a combined generation capacity
of 1,036 MW (summer rating) at the Joliet Generating Station in Will County,
Illinois, within the PJM market.
Current leaseholders for the generating units are subsidiaries of PSEG and Citi