Norway's Equinor expands U.S. power business with $940 mln stake in gas-fired plant
EQNR•Move comes as Equinor reins back renewables spending
The investment comes at a time when Equinor is reining back spending on renewables and faces legal challenges from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump against its Empire Wind offshore wind farm.
While Trump has made deals with other offshore wind developers, getting them to invest in fossil fuel projects instead, there was no such motivation for Equinor, given its already large natural gas presence in the U.S., Haugane said.
Equinor buys majority stake in Pennsylvania gas-fired plant
Norway's Equinor said on Monday it has agreed to buy a stake in a gas-fired power plant in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, seeking to benefit from rapidly growing electricity demand from data centres and other industry.
Equinor will pay $940 million, subject to final adjustment, for 87.71% of the Class A shares from BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners in the Lackawanna Energy Center, a 1,483 megawatts (MW) gas-fired combined cycle power plant, it said.
The remaining Class A shares and 100% of the Class B shares are held by Invenergy, North America's largest privately held independent power producer, which continues to manage and operate Lackawanna.
Equinor says deal adds to existing U.S. power and gas exposure
"Now we get a significant foothold in one of the world's most attractive markets," Helge Haugane, executive vice president for power at Equinor, told Reuters.
Lackawanna is among the largest and most efficient gas-fired plants in the PJM power market, which serves nearly and is expected to see continued demand growth, the Norwegian company said.
