• Portfolio of 16 energy facilities, primarily hydro and located in New England
• Reinforces marketing position in the North American power and gas business
GDF SUEZ Energy International through its North American subsidiary announces the signing of an agreement to acquire FirstLight Power Enterprises, Inc.
FirstLight owns and operates a unique portfolio of 15 power generation plants - primarily pumped storage and traditional hydro facilities - and has a state-of-the-art natural gas peaking facility under construction. Together, these 16 facilities have a combined capacity of 1,538 MW located in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
In addition, FirstLight has various expansion opportunities within its portfolio and reinforces GDF SUEZ’ power generation position in the New England market. Of equal importance is the diversity of FirstLight’s assets by generation type and by location.
“FirstLight will complement GDF SUEZ’s and gas business in North America and will strengthen the Group’s existing power generating assets and retail activities in New England and eastern Canada. FirstLight will solidify our presence in a sizeable and growing electricity and gas market,” said Dirk Beeuwsaert, CEO of GDF SUEZ Energy International.
New England, with a population of 14 million and 31,000 MW of electric generation capacity, is a core market for GDF SUEZ in North America. The company currently owns six renewable and natural-gas-fired power generation assets in the region; sells electricity to large commercial and industrial customers; and natural gas to nearly every gas utility in New England through its liquefied natural gas (LNG) business.
FirstLight portfolio:
• 1,109 MW of pumped storage hydro power generation capacity
• 165.5 MW of traditional hydro and run-of-river power generation capacity
• 263.3 MW of gas and coal power generation capacity operating or in advanced development
Pumped storage facilities operate by pumping water from a nearby source into storage reservoirs, and then running the water from the reservoirs through turbines connected to generators. The plants consume energy during off-peak hours and deliver electricity during peak hours. Its flexibility provides an additional supply security to the region. Traditional hydro facilities use dams to control releases of water to drive turbines connected to generators, while run-of-river facilities use the natural flow of a river to drive turbines connected to generators.
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