Emera to buy three gas-fired plants in New England for $541m

Emera plans to buy three combined-cycle natural gas-fired power plants with a combined capacity of 1,050 MW in New England from Capital Power for $541 million, the Canadian company said recently. The facilities, which Emera said are of "recent vintage," are 520MW Bridgeport Energy plant in Connecticut, the 265MW Tiverton Power facility in Rhode Island and the 265MW Rumford power plant in Maine. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2013.

Emera CEO Chris Huskilson said, "Adding gas generation to our existing generation portfolio of wind and hydro assets in the Northeast has been a strategic objective for Emera. We are pleased to have acquired these particular assets, which are highly efficient, well situated, and low emitting and which we believe can deliver value to our business."

"Emera is making this investment for the long term," said Huskilson, adding that the "earnings profile is modest in the early years, but we have acquired these facilities at a fair price and we expect their value will increase over time, as we optimize within our portfolio, as older, less efficient assets in the region are retired, and more intermittent renewable generation is added to the system."