Under the agreement signed earlier, PPL Montana will sell its 11 hydroelectric power plants, which have a combined generating capacity of more than 630MW, as well as its Hebgen Lake reservoir to NorthWestern Energy.
PPL Montana’s hydroelectric facilities comprises Thompson Falls Dam on the Clark Fork River; Kerr Dam on the Flathead River; Madison Dam on the Madison River; Mystic Lake Dam on West Rosebud Creek; and Hauser, Holter, Black Eagle, Rainbow, Cochrane, Ryan and Morony dams along the Missouri River.
PPL Montana and NorthWestern also secured approvals from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), as well as clearance of antitrust enforcement agencies.
FERC has approved the transfer of hydroelectric generating stations and hydroelectric operating licenses from PPL Montana to NorthWestern, upon completion of the transaction.
NorthWestern will purchase the hydroelectric facilities for $900m in cash, subject to certain adjustments.
Total net cash proceeds of the sale by PPL Corporation are estimated to be approximately $880m.
Separately, PPL Montana plans to decommission the 153MW Corette plant in April 2015.
The agreement does not include PPL Montana’s stake in the Colstrip facility or J.E. Corette coal-fired facility located near Billings as well as the Butte-based marketing and trading operations of PPL Montana’s affiliate, PPL EnergyPlus.
