Gas

Southern Power completes sale of CCGT Mankato Energy Center to Xcel Energy

The wholesale energy subsidiary of Southern Co. has completed the sale of a Minnesota power plant to Xcel Energy.

The estimated $650 million deal for the Mankato Energy Center was first announced last year. Xcel has been acquiring energy from the gas-fired Mankato plant under a power purchase agreement (PPA).

Atlanta-based Southern Co.’s Southern Power wholesale subsidiary bought the Mankato Energy Center in 2016, its first property in the Mid-continent Independent System Operator territory.

“Southern Company and Southern Power have the utmost gratitude for those who worked to safely construct the second gas turbine and operate the entire site over the years,” said Southern Power President Bill Grantham.

Mankato Energy Center will have a generating capacity of 760 MW once its expansion is completed soon. Xcel is planning for several power plant retirements this decade, including the Sherco coal-fired units in Minnesota.

The 1×1 combined-cycle facility is contracted with Northern States Power through 2026. The expansion to a 2×1 CCGT configuration is expected to be operational later this year.

Once the expansion is completed, it will serve an additional 20-year PPA with Northern States Power.

(Rod Walton is content director for Power Engineering and POWERGEN International. He can be reached at 918-831-9177 and [email protected]).

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Gas-fired turbines and technologies will be a content track when POWERGEN 2020 happens December 8-10 in Orlando. The POWERGEN call for abstracts is now open.

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