Dive Brief:
- A federal bankruptcy judge approved a plan Tuesday for NRG Energy to buy nearly all of Edison Mission Energy's generating plants for $2.64 billion. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission still needs to approve the deal, expected to close by April.
- NRG will add nearly 8,000 MW of generation, including 4,300 MW of coal-fired capacity, 1,700 MW of wind, 1,600 of gas and 400 MW of oil and waste-fired capacity. NRG will own about 53,600 MW once the deal closes.
- NRG may retire or convert to natural gas the coal-fired plants, located in Illinois.
Dive Insight:
The deal diversifies NRG's power plant fleet and makes it by far the biggest independent power producer in the U.S. (Exelon is second at about 33,000 MW and Calpine is third at about 30,000 MW.) The company would still consider buying individual power plants, but probably not entire fleets, NRG's President and CEO David Crane said during the company's last earnings call.
