Dive Brief:

• NRG Energy's planned purchase of nearly all of Edison Mission Energy's generating assets has cleared antitrust review by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division.
• NRG expects to close on the deal this month. NRG will pay bankrupt Edison Mission about $2.6 billion for 1,700 MW of wind capacity, 1,600 MW of natural gas-fired capacity, 4,300 MW of coal-fired capacity and 400 MW of oil and waste coal-fired capacity.

Dive Insight:

NRG is one step closer to growing its 47,000 MW power plant portfolio by about 17%. NRG will expand its presence in California and Illinois while roughly quadrupling its wind generation. One question mark is how Edison Mission's coal-fired plants in Illinois will perform. Coal plants in the Midwest have been under pressure from low-cost natural gas.