The purchase price for the northeast Georgia facility was $148.5m, which includes approximately $53.5m of existing project level debt that Oglethorpe Power paid off at closing.
As reported, Oglethorpe Power previously purchased the entire output of the approximately 300MW oil and gas-fired plant under a contract set to expire in 2019. A right-of-first refusal clause in that contract gave the corporation first purchase rights to the facility if it was sold.
In April 2009, International Power, together with its partner, reached agreement to sell the Hartwell plant to Southern Power, subject to a decision by Oglethorpe Power on whether to purchase the plant itself. In July 2009, Oglethorpe Power notified the plant’s owner that it would purchase the facility.
Elizabeth Higgins, chief financial officer of Oglethorpe Power, said: “Purchasing and operating the Hartwell facility as part of our own generating portfolio will help ensure that the plant continues to provide needed peaking power to Georgia’s EMCs and the citizens of our state.”