TC Energy Corp. is selling three natural gas-fired power plants to Ontario Power Generation Inc. for $2.7-billion, with proceeds earmarked for funding pipeline and other projects and paying down debt.
Calgary-based TC Energy, the former TransCanada Corp., said Tuesday the deal will lift its take from divestitures to $6.3-billion since late 2018. In total, it has $30-billion of development projects secured.
Its planned projects include the expansion of its Alberta gas pipeline network, the Coastal GasLink pipeline that will feed an $18-billion liquefied natural gas plant at Kitimat, B.C., and a project to extend the life of Ontario’s Bruce nuclear plant.
Provincially owned OPG is buying the 683-megawatt Halton Hills power plant near Mississauga; the 900-megawatt Napanee generating station near Kingston, which is under construction; and TC Energy’s 50-per-cent interest in the 550-megawatt Portlands Energy Centre in Toronto.
In addition, OPG said it had acquired the half stake in the 560-megawatt Brighton Beach gas-fired plant it did not already own from Canadian Utilities Ltd. in June. It did not give the price for the Windsor, Ont., facility. It said future profits from the newly acquired power stations will stay in Ontario.
Since December, TC Energy has announced deals to sell the Coolidge power station in Arizona, a stake in the Northern Courier bitumen pipeline in Alberta, and U.S. natural-gas gathering and processing assets in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
Once the sale of the three Ontario plants is completed, TC Energy will own six gas-fired power plants and the Bruce facility on the shore of Lake Huron, for a combined generating capacity of 4,200 megawatts, it said. Bruce is in the midst of a project to extend its operational life, in which TC Energy will be spending $2.2-billion by 2023.
TC Energy shares dipped 45 cents to $64.62 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday. They have climbed 33 per cent year-to-date.
Your time is valuable. Have the Top Business Headlines newsletter conveniently delivered to your inbox in the morning or evening. Sign up today.
Jeffrey Jones