Northwestern Energy Supply vice president John Hines said: "Our electricity supply is now much greener, we are nearly 40% better than the EPA’s proposed target for the entire state of Montana.
"With this acquisition, we believe our customers are well positioned given the uncertainty of what’s to come from potentially tougher regulations."
NorthWestern acquired Thompson Falls Dam on the Clark Fork River; Kerr Dam on the Flathead River; Madison Dam on the Madison River; Mystic Lake Dam on West Rosebud Creek; and Hauser, Holter, Black Eagle, Rainbow, Cochrane, Ryan and Morony dams along the Missouri River, as part of an agreement signed earlier.
The agreement excluded PPL Montana’s interest in the Colstrip coal-fired facility and its J.E. Corette coal-fired facility located near Billings.
PPL Montana also plans to decommission the 153MW Corette plant in April 2015.
Additionally, the transaction excluded the Butte-based marketing and trading operations of PPL Montana’s affiliate, PPL EnergyPlus.
