Nevada Power d/b/a NV Energy applied Aug. 15 at the Nevada Public Utilities Commission for approval to amend its current integrated resource plan (IRP) to account for the acquisition of the 504-MW, gas-fired South Point Energy Center, which is located in Arizona near the Nevada state line and owned by Calpine (NYSE: CPN).
The company noted that sister utility Sierra Pacific Power, which also does business as NV Energy, applied July 1 with the commission to lease 30% of this power plant from Nevada Power.
Nevada Power said it expects to acquire ownership of the combined-cycle plant, under an April 1 asset purchase deal, by Dec. 31 of this year, at an initial capital cost of $100 million. South Point is a 2×1 facility, including two Siemens combustion turbines, that began commercial operation in 2001.
Calpine had reported in its July 29 quarterly earnings statement that on April 1 it had entered into an asset sale agreement for substantially all of the assets comprising its South Point Energy Center to Nevada Power. This transaction supports a Calpine effort to divest non-core assets outside its strategic concentration.
