NRG Energy Inc., owner of four electric power plants in Connecticut, said Tuesday it has completed the acquisition of Northwind Phoenix LLC from a subsidiary of Pinnacle West Capital Corp.
The move comes after the company said Monday that it will buy solar development projects on nine sites in California and Arizona, a deal that will nearly double the size of its solar projects under development.
The acquisition includes a Phoenix district cooling business unit, Tucson district energy business unit, and the operations and maintenance of a combined heat and power plant at Arizona State University in Tempe.
The Phoenix district cooling business unit provides chilled water to commercial buildings in the central business district including offices, government buildings, universities and sports facilities. District energy centers support many customers with a single plant, versus each customer individually operating smaller units.
The company’s NRG Thermal unit also owns district energy companies in other cities including Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco.
The company’s NRG Solar unit is buying the projects from US Solar, an affiliate of Arclight Capital Partners. The projects range in size from 20 megawatts to 99 megawatts with the potential to become operational between 2011 and 2013.
With this deal, NRG Solar will have projects under development totaling 1,150 megawatts.
US Solar, founded in 2008, is a joint venture between affiliates of ArcLight and management.
