Missouri company buys Brayton Point, eyes offshore wind industry

BRAYTON POINT POWER STATION in Somerset closed in June in 2017. / COURTESY DYNEGY INC.
THE RETIREMENT OF coal-fired power stations such as Brayton Point Power Station in Somerset begs the question of whether the region should expand the pipeline capacity for natural gas going forward. Without it, the region's power grid operator believes that during winter months, when gas for heating takes precedence over gas for electricity generation, the region could find itself having to manage rolling blackouts and conservation measures. / COURTESY DYNEGY INC.

SOMERSET – A Missouri company with experience redeveloping retired power plants has agreed to buy the Brayton Point Power Station in Somerset.

Commercial Development Company Inc., based in St. Louis, Mo., is a commercial real estate and brownfield redevelopment company. The company has agreed to purchase the 1,488-megawatt, coal-fired power plant, along with the 307-acre site.

The power plant, currently owned by Dynergy Inc., was shutdown earlier this year after decades of generating electricity.

Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.

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In a release, CDC said it already has plans to redevelop the facilities – which would include environmental remediation and restoration – and is eyeing the offshore wind industry as a possibility.

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center recently identified Brayton Point as a possible site to development an industrial wind port. The state is looking to bolster its clean-energy generation, and offshore wind has been identified as one possible resource.

“Multiple factors attracted us to this site, of greatest interest was the potential for renewable energy development,” said Randall Jostes, CEO of CDC, in a statement.

Dynegy, a Texas-based energy company, first purchased Brayton Point in 2015. The power plant, commissioned in 1963, was set to retire in May 2017.

Peter Ziegler, vice president and general manager of Dynegy Plan Operations in the Northeast U.S., lauded CDC in a statement.

“Commercial Development Company has established a strong track record of repurposing industrial sites that go on to become important contributors to the economic and social fabric of their communities,” he said.

CDC has purchased multiple retired energy facilities for purposes of environmental reclamation and redevelopment, according to the company. Other coal-fueled projects include facilities previously owned by American Electric Power, DTE Energy and Indiana & Michigan Power.

“CDC actively seeks to purchase brownfield real estate assets in all energy and industrial sectors – and has acquired an accumulative portfolio of over 300 enviornmentally impacted sites throughout North America,” said Doug Willett, executive vice president at CDC.

Before its retirement, Brayton Point was the largest coal-fired generation station in New England, and the last in Massachusetts to provide power to the regional grid. The plant had four generation units that provided electricity to the equivalent of 1.5 million homes.

The sale is expected to be completed before 2018, according to Dynegy.

CDC plans to host a town hall-style meeting to introduce themselves to the Somerset community in January.

­Eli Sherman is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Sherman@PBN.com, or follow him on Twitter @Eli_Sherman.

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