With the closing, Duke has now sold all of its power operations in Central and South America.
On 20 December 2016, the company completed the sale of its assets in Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador and Argentina to New-York-based I Squared Capital, also for about $1.2bn.
China Three Gorges is purchasing Duke Energy assets that include ten hydroelectric generation plants.
Eight facilities totaling 2,057MW are located on the border between Sao Paulo and Parana states; and two plants totaling 33MW are on the Sapucai Mirim River in Sao Paulo state.
Duke Energy's 25% equity investment in National Methanol Company, a Saudi Arabian regional producer of methanol and methyl tertiary butyl ether gasoline additive, is not included in the sales to China Three Gorges and I Squared Capital.
Duke Energy chairman, president and CEO Lynn Good said: "Today marks a significant milestone in the strategic transformation of our company.
"We completed these transactions ahead of schedule and are now fully focused on growing our regulated businesses in 2017 and beyond, including the natural gas platform."
Both the transactions are expected to generate about $1.9bn of cash proceeds, excluding transaction costs and subject to working capital adjustments. The proceeds will be used for covering up Duke Energy’s debt.
Existing federal tax attributes will result in no immediate tax impacts in the US, according to the company.
China Three Gorges is a clean energy company focused on large-scale hydropower development and operations. It also has renewable energy businesses including wind and solar power and has its presence in over 40 countries.
Presently, CTG has a portfolio of over 100GW of hydroelectric power both under construction and operation.
Image: Duke Energy sells its hydroelectric business to China Three Gorges. Photo: courtesy of Duke Energy Corporation.
