Boston-based ArcLight Capital Partners has completed its acquisition of indirect ownership interests in Kleen Energy Systems – including 100 percent of the preferred equity and a minority common equity ownership interest – from Sojitz Corporation of America.
Kleen owns a 620 MW natural gas-fired power plant located in Middletown, Connecticut. Financial terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.
ArcLight says Kleen benefits from stable cash flows under a capacity supply agreement with Connecticut Light & Power, as well as an advantaged market heat rate and dual fuel capability that allows dispatchable output into the New England market.
Completed in July 2011, Kleen is one of New England’s newest natural gas combined-cycle plants, providing capacity, energy, and ancillary services. In a region with expected load growth driven by electrification, ArcLight says the output provided by Kleen will allow the integration of intermittent renewable resources into the New England electricity market over the coming decades.
In 2010, while it was still under construction, a deadly gas explosion occurred at the Kleen Energy Natural Gas Power Plant. The blast happened during a planned blow at the 620 MW Kleen Energy Plant during which workers used natural gas at a high velocity to clean debris out of gas pipes. During this process, an ignition source ignited the natural gas, the Chemical Safety Board said. Six people were killed and at least 50 more were injured in the blast.
Kleen Energy Systems agreed to pay $8.4 million dollars in damages for costs associated with delayed production at its Connecticut power plant. The agreement meant the company avoided an inquiry before state utility regulators that could have forced Kleen Energy to disclose privately held information on subjects such as the plant’s financing, its construction schedule, its contractor’s safety practices, and data on the cause of the explosion that killed six.
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