Japan-headed energy utility JERA Co., Inc. (JERA) has announced that its subsidiary JERA Americas Inc., has concluded a stock purchase agreement with an affiliate of funds managed by Stonepeak to acquire a 100 percent interest in thermal power generation projects in Massachusetts and Maine in the United States.
The two projects, with a total combined generating capacity of approximately 1.63 GW, are the Canal Thermal Power Station in Massachusetts (MA) and the Bucksport Thermal Power Station in Maine (ME).
The acquisition, the value of which has not been disclosed, is expected to be finalized upon completion of all necessary approval and authorization procedures.
The northeastern United States is densely populated and has a reliably high demand for electricity, but the region is also a challenging location for new large-scale power projects and tends to have tight electricity supply-demand in winter.
For this reason, highly flexible thermal power generation is of great importance, and both the Canal Thermal Power Station and Bucksport Thermal Power Station contribute to stable supply as significant sources of electricity in the region during emergencies and peak times.
In a statement, JERA says that it will “strive to enhance the value of the projects by utilizing its technological capabilities cultivated to date to further improve operational and maintenance efficiency.”
The company believes that the “utilization of existing large-scale power projects that do not require the construction of new power transmission networks is an important part of promoting decarbonization in the northeastern United States, and will pursue commercially viable decarbonization paths including low carbon biofuels in place of traditional fuels, as well as large scale renewable projects, blending hydrogen in gas turbines, and energy storage solutions.”
As a global company providing cutting-edge solutions to the world’s energy issues, JERA will scale up its clean energy platform of renewables and low greenhouse gas (GHG) thermal power.
