BG Group has expanded its electricity generation business in the US with the $685m (£350m) acquisition of a power plant in Connecticut. The company announced yesterday that it had bought the Lake Road power plant, an 805MW gas and oil-fired station in Dayville. “The Lake Road plant supplies power into the ISO New England, a well established and liquid power market. It is a modern three-unit facility with the potential for further expansion,” a spokesman said. In October, BG acquired another plant in the New England region, the 170MW Dighton facility in Massachusetts. BG said the New England plant was attractive because of the newly implemented “Forward Capacity Market”, a policy that limits new plants, and the “rapidly tightening reserve margins in the region”. Martin Houston, managing director of BG North America, said: “The acquisition of Lake Road represents an important step in the implementation of our integrated US strategy. Lake Road and Dighton have the potential to offer BG attractive returns and will be readily integrated into our growing US gas business.”

In the US, BG is already a significant importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and it is also active in trade gas. Branching out into downstream business, such as power generation, is part of the “integrated” approach the company has taken in the US. BG owns all the capacity rights, through to 2028, at North America’s largest operating LNG importation terminal, Lake Charles in Louisiana. This facility has the capability to receive, store, vapourise and deliver an average daily send-out of 1.8 billion cubic feet (bcf/d). Additionally, the company holds supply and regasification rights of 446 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) for 22 years at the Elba Island LNG terminal near Savannah, Georgia. Expansion work is expected to increase its throughput capacity to 1.17 bcf/d from 2012. Although BG is mainly an exploration and production group, it does have electricity generation interests in several countries, including the UK. It has a total of 2.75 Gigawatts of power generation, including, in the UK, the Seabank 1130MW power joint venture, and it wholly owns the 600MW Premier Power plant. It also has interests in a 760MW plant in Malaysia, a 1,000MW power station in the Philippines and a 400MW facility in Italy.

Related posts...

• June 22, 2010 -- UK Business Energy Prices: (3)
  A new survey carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit has revealed that over 80% of British firms expect energy and fuel prices to rise sharply and almost 50% have great concern that the UK coul...
• February 21, 2010 -- Identifying a Half Hour Meter: (0)
  How to find out if you have a half hourly meter – So how do you know if you have a half hour meter?  It’s actually quite straight forward, and all you will need to find this out is a recent copy o...
• February 10, 2010 -- UK Business Gas Prices: (0)
  Business Gas Prices can be difficult to understand, as there are many different types of pricing structures available.  You could simply ring around and obtain gas prices direct from suppliers, but it...
• February 7, 2010 -- Oil Prices Back To $70 Range: (0)
  Oil prices plunged in a busy trading session on Friday, triggering big losses across the commodities markets, as investors went back to buying into the US dollar.  Crude oil prices did have a partial ...
• February 5, 2010 -- CRC Business Lights: (1)
  The era of the 'on-all-night' illuminated high street could end, the Environment Agency is predicting. The agency says new rules will force businesses to switch off lights and displays at night to mee...
• February 3, 2010 -- Bglobal Smart Meter Deal: (3)
  Bglobal Plc said it has signed a new agreement to supply and install smart meters for British Gas Business during 2010. The contract value is anticipated at more than £12 million. In addition, the com...