TransCanada Corp., one of North America’s biggest energy companies, wants to expand its power portfolio in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, a company spokesman said recently.
The Calgary, Alberta company already owns the 560-megawatt Ocean State Power plant in Burrillville, one of the largest plants in New England.
TransCanada is interested in acquiring power plants and natural gas pipelines in southern New England, company spokesman Glenn Herchak said during a recent interview with Providence Business News.
“We are actively exploring potential power acquisitions in this area,” Herchak said. “The timing could be immediate, depending on how quickly some companies want to move with their disposition of assets.”
Owners of at least three large power plants in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts are actively shopping their facilities.
PG&E National Energy Group has said it plans to sell both the Manchester Street power plant in Providence and the Brayton Point power station in Somerset, Mass. PG&E, which is widely expected to file for bankruptcy, has had both plants on the market since last year.
Brayton Point is New England’s largest power plant, with generation capacity of 1,500 megawatts – enough to power about 1.5 million homes. The Manchester Street station generates 450 megawatts, or enough to supply half of Rhode Island’s electricity customers.
A third local power plant on the market is a 136-megawatt station in Somerset, owned by Minneapolis-based NRG Energy. The company is bankrupt and warned federal energy regulators last month that it might not have enough money to continue operating 11 power facilities in the Northeast, including the Somerset plant.
Herchak would not say whether TransCanada is interested in those plants specifically. But he said TransCanada has the funds to make large capital investments – a rarity in the energy industry these days.
“We’re extremely strong financially, and we’re in the enviable position of being able to acquire additional assets,” Herchak said.
Unlike its peers – many of which are either in or close to bankruptcy – TransCanada has posted consistent earnings growth. It turned a profit of $747 million in 2002.
“We remain extremely well-positioned to act on opportunities for growth in our core business of natural gas transmission and power generation,” said TransCanda Chief Executive Officer Hal Kvisle in a press release earlier this year.
The company is actively evaluating at least 50 power plants or pipeline acquisitions
in North America, Herchak said. TransCanada also is the largest retail power
marketer in Rhode Island, Herchak said, selling electricity to large customers
such as colleges and universities, municipalities and Toray Plastics, the state’s
biggest electricity user.
