NRG Yield buys more assets from NRG Energy; to acquire outside wind/solar interests

February 27, 2015 Barry Cassell Generation

On Jan. 2, NRG Yield (NYSE: NYLD) completed the acquisition of certain power plant assets from sponsor NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) for $489 million.

NRG Yield said in a Feb. 27 earnings statement that those acquired assets were:

  • Walnut Creek – 485 MW natural gas facility located in City of Industry, California.

  • Tapestry – three wind facilities totaling 204 MW, including Buffalo Bear (19 MW) in Oklahoma, Taloga (130 MW) in Oklahoma, and Pinnacle (55 MW) in West Virginia.

  • Laredo Ridge – 80 MW wind facility located in Petersburg, Nebraska.

NRG Yield said it has also entered into a definitive agreement with Fuel Cell Energy to acquire the University of Bridgeport Fuel Cell project in an all-cash transaction. The project will add an additional 1.4 MW of thermal capacity with a 12-year contract and an option for an additional seven-year extension with the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, Conn.

NRG Yield also has a definitive agreement with Invenergy to acquire a majority stake in the Spring Canyon Wind facilities located in Logan County, Colorado, in an all-cash transaction. The acquisition totals 63 MW of operating wind capacity utilizing 35 General Electric turbines with commercial operations achieved within the past year. The facilities have approximately 25 year remaining contract life with Platte River Power Authority and Invenergy will maintain responsibilities as the turbine O&M provider.

In the first quarter of this year, NRG Energy presented NRG Yield the opportunity to invest in a portfolio of approximately 2,300 existing residential solar leases with an average tenor of 17 years currently held by a partnership owned solely by NRG. Subject to approval of NRG Yield’s independent directors, NRG Yield would invest cash in exchange for an ownership stake in the partnership with the cash proceeds distributed to NRG Energy. Under the proposed partnership agreement, NRG Yield will receive about 95% of the tax and cash distributions during the contracted lease term until it achieves its targeted return and 5% of the economics thereafter.

About Barry Cassell 20414 Articles
Barry Cassell is Chief Analyst for GenerationHub covering coal and emission controls issues, projects and policy. He has covered the coal and power generation industry for more than 24 years, beginning in November 2011 at GenerationHub and prior to that as editor of SNL Energy’s Coal Report. He was formerly with Coal Outlook for 15 years as the publication’s editor and contributing writer, and prior to that he was editor of Coal & Synfuels Technology and associate editor of The Energy Report. He has a bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University.
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