Canal 3 Generation Station on Cape Cod. (Photo courtesy of Burns & McDonnell)
JERA Americas, subsidiary of Japanese energy company JERA, said it agreed to buy a 1,633MW thermal power portfolio in New England, USA from infrastructure investment firm Stonepeak.
The portfolio includes Canal Generating Station units 1-3 in Sandwich, Massachusetts in Cape Cod; and Bucksport Generating Station in Bucksport, Maine. Financial terms were not released.
Canal Station unit 1 (566MW) burns primarily residual oil and No. 2 fuel oil for ignition purposes. Canal unit 2 (559MW) primarily fires natural gas and, as a secondary fuel, residual oil.
Unit 3 (333MW) is a simple cycle combustion turbine firing natural gas and No. 2 fuel oil. The project was a joint engineering and construction venture of Burns & McDonnell and Skanska USA Civil. Construction began in 2017 with commercial operation beginning in mid-2019. The dual-fueled plant features one of the first GE 7HA.02 gas turbines operating in simple-cycle mode to be fitted with hot selective catalytic reduction equipment.
GenOn, then a unit of NRG Energy, sold the Canal units to Stonepeak in 2018 as part of a bankruptcy reorganisation.
Bucksport is a 175 MW natural gas fired plant that entered service in 2001.
“These facilities remain critical to ensuring grid stability and providing power to the New England market during high demand periods,” said Steven Winn, JERA Americas CEO.
In the past, these assets would be valued purely on their ability to provide electricity to the market, he said. Under JERA Americas’ management, he said the sites would undergo “constructive changes” that support net zero carbon emissions goals.
