NIPSCO to Buy Gas-Fired Plants in Indiana

Northern Indiana Public Service Company has announced its plans to purchase two natural gas-fired generating facilities with a combined capacity of 1,060MW.

The two plants, Sugar Creek, a 535MW combined cycle gas turbine in Terre Haute and Whiting Clean Energy, a 525MW combined cycle gas turbine in Whiting, will add needed capacity to Northern Indiana Public Service Company’s (NIPSCO) current portfolio of generating facilities. The combined cost for the two plants is $539 million.

The Sugar Creek facility is currently owned by The LS Power Group. The Whiting facility is owned by NIPSCO’s parent company, NiSource.

Mark Maassel, president of NIPSCO, said: “The addition of these two plants to NIPSCO generating capacity will resolve the capacity shortfall facing the company. Both plants are already operating, eliminating costly siting and construction issues if the company had chosen to build a new plant. In addition, with increasing concern over carbon emissions, natural gas plants are considered to be one of the best environmental options for power generation.”