Entergy to Purchase Rhode Island State Energy Center from NextEra

Entergy Corporation announced this morning that it has reached an agreement with a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC to acquire the Rhode Island State Energy Center, a 550-megawatt power plant located in Johnston, Rhode Island, for approximately $346 million, subject to closing adjustments.

"The acquisition presents an opportunity to create value by acquiring modern, efficient generation at approximately half the new build cost and is in line with our disciplined, market point of view for capital deployment," said Richard Smith, president of Entergy Wholesale Commodities.

The facility is a nominal 550-megawatt Siemens natural gas-fired combined-cycle generating plant that entered commercial service in 2002. RISEC is currently working with Siemens to facilitate the uprate of its combustion turbines, which is scheduled for completion in November 2011 and will increase the facility's nominal capacity to 583 megawatts.

A NextEra Energy Resources' affiliate will continue to operate RISEC for an initial period of one year under a service contract.

Closing is expected to occur in late 2011.

For NextEra, the transaction is expected to result in net cash proceeds of approximately $340 million after estimated transaction costs and working capital and other adjustments. The transaction will also result in a one-time after-tax loss of approximately $2 million, which NextEra expects to exclude from adjusted earnings.