Middle River Power has acquired the 427-megawatt Panoche Energy Center in Firebaugh, California, from an Ares Infrastructure Equity fund, expanding its portfolio of dispatchable power generation assets across the Western U.S.
Panoche is a fully contracted natural gas generation facility.
The acquisition follows Middle River Power’s additions earlier this year of the 240 MW Midway-Sunset facility in Kern County, California, and the 250 MW Brush facility in Morgan County, Colorado.
Middle River Power plans to evaluate applying its hybridization strategy to Panoche by combining thermal generation capacity with energy storage.
The company sees flexible generation as increasingly important as utilities, data centers and industrial customers increase electricity demand while grids add larger volumes of renewable energy.
Hybridizing the facility could allow Panoche to continue providing dispatchable capacity while adding storage capabilities that can respond to changing grid conditions.
The acquisition further expands Middle River Power’s generation footprint across the Western Interconnection.
Ares has supported Panoche since development of the facility approximately 20 years ago.
KEY QUOTES:
“We continue to add to our portfolio of flexible, reliable, and clean generation assets across the West with the acquisition of Panoche from Ares. This fully contracted facility adds to our growing footprint across the West, following the additions of the Midway-Sunset facility in Kern County, California, and the Brush facility in Morgan County, Colorado, earlier this year. We expect to deploy our strategy of hybridizing critical capacity resources so we can continue delivering reliable, affordable, and cleaner energy well into the future, for customers throughout the region.”
Mark Kubow, Chief Executive Officer of Middle River Power
“Ares is proud to have supported this critical asset since its development twenty years ago, and we’re pleased to have worked closely with MRP throughout this process to facilitate a smooth transition and a compelling next chapter for Panoche. We believe that Panoche will continue to provide reliable, efficient, and flexible capacity to the California grid.”
Keith Derman, Head of Ares Infrastructure Equity
