Japanese Subsidiary Buys Part of Plant: Part of Birchwood Power Plant Sold
Posted on: Saturday, 10 May 2008, 12:00 CDT
By Bill Freehling, The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va.
May 10--A subsidiary of a Japanese power company is buying a 49.5 percent equity stake in the Birchwood Power Plant, which is off State Route 3 in King George County.
J-Power USA Development Co. Ltd. will buy the stake in the 242-megawatt power plant from an affiliate of GE Energy Financial Services, according to a Thursday news release. The GE affiliate will retain 50.5 percent. J-Power USA intends to buy another 0.5 percent in a year. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Electric Power Development Co. Ltd. is the parent company of J-Power USA. It's headquartered in Tokyo and trades on the stock exchange there. Birchwood is J-Power's fourth investment in the U.S. The coal-fired plant sells electricity to Dominion Virginia Power.
The news release called Birchwood "one of the most efficient coal-fired generating facilities of its type in the United States" and said the plant "has a bright future thanks to its strategic location serving the growing demands of the regional power market."
Birchwood, which has operated since 1996, is on 360 acres in King George. More than 60 people from GE Energy operate it. About 260 acres of the site are maintained as grassland and forest available to wildlife.
The sale does not include a greenhouse complex next to Birchwood that is currently unused. The GE affiliate still owns that complex, where hydroponic tomatoes had been grown through last August using excess steam from the plant. Birchwood Business Manager Julie Caiafa said in an e-mail that there are currently "advanced negotiations" with a buyer interested in the greenhouse complex.
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Source: The Free Lance-Star
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