Dominion to sell three power plants

Dominion announced Monday that is has reached an agreement to sell three merchant generation power stations to a subsidiary of funds controlled by Energy Capital Partners, a private-equity firm with offices in Short Hills, N.J., and San Diego.

The sale is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.

The three power stations are:

–                Brayton Point Power Station, a 1,528-megawatt power station in Somerset, Mass., with three coal-fired units and one unit fired by oil or natural gas.
–                Kincaid Power Station, a 1,158-megawatt power station in Kincaid, Ill., with two 579-megawatt coal-fired units.
–                Elwood Power Station, a 1,424-megawatt power station outside Chicago, with nine natural gas-fired combustion turbines. Dominion has owned a 50 percent interest (712 megawatts) in and operated the station since Elwood became operational in 1999.

Dominion announced last September that it was exiting the merchant coal-fired generation business as part of its continual review to focus on profitable endeavors..

The sale is expected to bring in $650 million for Dominion, which plans to use to invest in the company’s regulated businesses and reduce debt.