Eversource Energy to Sell Power Plants in New Hampshire - Analyst Blog
Headquartered in Hartford, CT and Boston, MA, Eversource Energy ES, previously known as Northeast Utilities, in a settlement with state regulators has agreed to sell its Public Service of New Hampshire (“PSNH”) power plants.
The facilities up for sale include nine hydroelectric plants with a total capacity of 69 megawatt (“MW”) and three fossil fuel power plants totaling 989 MW – Merrimack Station (in service since 55 years), Newington Station (41 years) and Schiller Station (63 years), burning coal, oil, natural gas and biomass.
Eversource believes that phasing out these facilities will bring about savings of at least $300 million to its New Hampshire customers over the next five years. This is because they will no longer have to pay for the costly operations of the plants which would otherwise have required investments for regulatory compliance.
Also, the utility agreed to forego the recovery of $25 million connected with the mercury scrubber installation worth $422 million at its power plant in Bow for reducing pollution. Eversource is expected to operate the plants for another 18 months.
The settlement also requires Eversource to form a Clean Energy Fund of $5 million to invest in energy efficiency and distributed generation projects.
Shedding harmful coal-fired power plants and investing in environmentally friendly natural gas plants is becoming a widespread phenomenon in the utilities sector. Recently, NextEra Energy Inc. NEE filed a petition with Florida Public Service Commission to obtain ownership of the 250 MW coal-fired facility – Cedar Bay Generating Plant in Jacksonville – only to phase the plant out of service (read: NextEra Energy Unit to Buy Cedar Bay Plant and Phase Out).
Eversource Energy currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the utility space are Abengoa Yield plc ABY, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and Alliant Energy Corporation LNT, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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