Dive Brief:

• Blackstone has agreed to buy three Texas power plants totaling almost 1,300 MW from a Centrica subsidiary for $685 million.
• Under the deal, Centrica's Direct Energy will have the right to buy power from the natural gas-fired plants for three years.
• Direct Energy bought the plants several years ago for $331 million.

Dive Insight:

Direct Energy, a retail power supplier, believes there is enough capacity in Texas so it doesn't need to own its own plants. “Residential retail supply is key to our North American business, and with sufficient generation capacity in Texas, we can support our downstream business through contractual arrangements, rather than asset ownership,” said Badar Khan, Direct Energy president and CEO.