FirstEnergy to Sell Pennsylvania, Virginia Assets

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) (Akron, Ohio) announced Wednesday that it will sell interests in six power stations in Virginia and Pennsylvania. The plants total 1,615 megawatts (MW) in generating capacity and will be purchased for $825 million by a subsidiary of LS Power Equity Partners III LP (New York, New York). Industrial Info is tracking $1.1 billion in active FirstEnergy projects.

The plants to be sold include:

• the Springdale Power Station and Peaking Station, representing 638 MW of natural gas-fired capacity. See Industrial Info's plant profiles on the power station and peaking station.
• the Chambersburg Generating Facility in Pennsylvania, representing 88 MW of natural gas-fired peaking capacity. See Industrial Info's plant profile.
• the Gans Generating Facility in Pennsylvania, representing 88 MW of natural gas-fired peaking capacity. See Industrial Info's plant profile.
• the Hunlock Creek Power Station in Pennsylvania, representing 45-MW of natural gas-fired capacity. See Industrial Info's plant profile.
• a portion of the company's interest in the Bath County Pumped-Storage Hydropower Station in Virginia, representing 713 MW of generating capacity. Dominion Energy Incorporated (NYSE:D) (Richmond, Virginia) is the majority owner of the plant. See Industrial Info's plant profile.
• The company's interest in a joint venture that owns the Buchanan Generating Facility in Virginia, representing 43 MW of natural gas-fired capacity. See Industrial Info's plant profile.

The sale of the Pennsylvania assets is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, while the Virginia transactions are expected to close in the first quarter of 2018.

Among the largest FirstEnergy projects being tracked by Industrial Info is the closure of a coal ash pond in Shippingport, Pennsylvania, that serves the 2,505-MW Bruce Mansfield Power Station. The 936-acre ash pond will be capped. Work is planned to kick off during the third quarter of this year with completion set for 2028. The project has an estimated total investment value of $140 million. Civil & Environmental Consultants Incorporated (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is acting as a consultant on the project. According to FirstEnergy's web site, the plant uses more than 7 million tons of coal annually. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report. FirstEnergy also has plans to close two coal ash ponds in West Virginia.

In New Jersey, the company is gearing up for its Monmouth County Reliability Project by constructing transmission infrastructure. Next year, FirstEnergy will construct a 230-kilovolt (kV) overhead transmission line from its Aberdeen substation to its Taylor Lane substation in Monmouth County. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report. FirstEnergy also will construct a 230-kV transmission line between the Taylor Lane substation and the Red Bank substation in the county. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report. The projects are expected to take about a year to complete and have a combined total investment value of $111 million.

FirstEnergy also continues setting up dry cask storage facilities to store spent nuclear fuel at the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station in Pennsylvania and the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Ohio. AREVA TN (Columbia, Maryland) is performing design-build work on both projects. Construction on the Pennsylvania facility began in 2016 and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2018, while construction on the Ohio facility kicked off earlier this year and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2019. The projects have a combined total investment value of $60 million. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on the Beaver Valley and Davis-Besse dry cask storage facilities.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com.