Gas

CPS Energy beefs up natural gas fleet with $785 million transaction

San Antonio’s municipal utility will acquire three plants totaling 1,710 MW as it plans to retire other dispatchable units.
CPS Energy beefs up natural gas fleet with $785 million transaction
(The Nueces Bay natural gas-fired plant. Photo by Talen Energy.)

CPS Energy has reached an agreement to buy Talen Energy’s approximately 1,710 MW generation portfolio for $785 million.

San Antonio’s municipal utility will acquire all assets associated with Talen’s 897 MW Barney Davis and 635 MW Nueces Bay natural gas-fired generation facilities, both located in Corpus Christi, Texas. CPS Energy is also acquiring Talen’s 178 MW natural gas-fired generation facility in Laredo. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2024, subject to customary net working capital adjustments.  

The addition of these units aligns with CPS Energy’s generation plan, approved by the utility’s Board of Trustees in 2023. The generation plan includes the retirement of older units and the addition of a blend of gas, solar, wind, and energy storage.

Earlier this month CPS Energy informed ERCOT of its plan to retire three natural gas-fired units at the V.H. Braunig facility by March 31, 2025. The Braunig units, located in Bexar County, Texas, total 859 MW of capacity. Units 1, 2 and 3 came online in 1966, 1968 and 1970, respectively. ERCOT will now conduct grid reliability studies to determine whether to approve the retirement.

The Braunig units make up 2,249 MW of dispatchable generation capacity CPS Energy plans to retire by 2030. The utility has added 730 MW of solar energy and 50 MW of energy storage to date as part of its generation plan, with an additional 500 MW energy storage RFP in the works.

The plants to be acquired in Corpus Christi and Laredo are expected to be operational for the next 25 years. There are a total of approximately 65 employees at these sites who will have the opportunity to become CPS Energy employees at the closing of the acquisition.

The Nueces Bay power plant began operating in 2010 and uses two natural gas turbines operating in combined-cycle, with a re-powered steam turbine to generate power. Barney Davis has two natural gas-fired units which began operating in 1974 and 2010.

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