Texas company to acquire Beaver Valley Power Station in merger deal
SHIPPINGPORT – Texas energy company Vistra Corp. will buy Energy Harbor — owners of the Beaver Valley Power Station — for $3.4 billion to expand Vistra’s carbon-free generation capacity.
Vistra leadership said Monday that Energy Harbor's nuclear and retail businesses will merge with Vistra's under a newly formed subsidiary, called "Vistra Vision,” to establish a retail electricity company “with the second-largest competitive nuclear fleet in the country.”
Vistra Vision will own a total of four nuclear plants, including Beaver Valley in Shippingport, which have a collective baseload capacity to power 3.2 million U.S. homes. The move is part of a steady transition to carbon-free electric generation among the nation’s utilities. Vistra Vision will combine the company’s growing set of nuclear, solar and energy storage assets.
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Most Energy Harbor shareholders will receive cash at closing, and the two largest shareholders, Avenue Capital Group and Nuveen, will receive cash and 15% ownership interest. Vistra Vision will purchase the fleet and associated assets for $3 billion and assume another $430 million in debt from Energy Harbor in the merger deal.
The company will be based in Irving, Texas, with retail offices in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois. Energy Harbor's senior leadership is expected to remain with the company through at least the transaction’s closing. Vistra will not purchase Energy Harbor's remaining coal-fired power plants as part of the deal.
"Vistra has been focused on responsibly transitioning our power generation profile, and though we've made significant progress over the past several years, there are few opportunities to grow a reliable and dispatchable zero-carbon generation portfolio at scale this quickly,” said Vistra President and CEO Jim Burke. “As our country navigates a massive energy transition to cleaner sources of electricity, nuclear energy provides the unique capability of being both carbon-free and a dependable, always-on source of reliable power.”
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It’s unclear how the deal might affect Beaver Valley’s more than 850 workers; Vistra and local union leadership did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
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State Sen. Elder Vogel, R-47, New Sewickley Township, said the agreement “should be good news for keeping the plant open and workers on the job.
“This is a positive development for area citizens who rely on Beaver Valley for jobs and energy,” said Vogel.
Energy Harbor, currently in the midst of an Ohio public corruption trial and a few years out of bankruptcy as FirstEnergy, decided to keep Beaver Valley Power Station open in 2020 following plans to shutter the facility within years. The company credited former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s efforts to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative — a carbon cap-and-trade program for power plants — with leveling the economic playing field. Although Pennsylvania formally joined the RGGI last year, state participation in the program has been long-delayed by court battles.
A dozen nuclear power reactors have closed in the past decade due to competition from cheaper natural gas and renewable energy, operating losses related to low electricity prices and the high cost of repairs to aging facilities.
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Burke said President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act created a nuclear production tax credit that will protect against lower power prices, “resulting in tremendous upside opportunity compared to other generation with similar attributes." The incentive provides up to $15 per megawatt hour for electricity produced by the plants.
“Vistra is well-positioned to lead in the competitive electric sector,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Texas company to acquire Beaver Valley Power Station in merger deal
