UK Centrica sells power plants

UK Centrica has agreed to sell its 245-MW Peterborough open-cycle gas turbine and the 49-MW reciprocating gas engine on the same site in the east of England to Whitetower Holdings, an affiliate of Rockland Capital, it said June 1. The £20mn ($28mn) price is subject to customary working capital and other completion adjustments.

The transaction is expected to complete before the end of September 2021, and Centrica will continue to provide optimisation services to the Peterborough site after the sale.

The sale is "consistent with Centrica’s strategy to become a simpler, leaner group focused on delivering for its customers and its target to be net zero by 2045," it said. 

Both plants are less efficient than combined-cycle gas turbines, unless the heat is captured for industrial applications. The reciprocating engine, which offers near-instantaneous start-up, was built by Finnish Wartsila and was one of two that it transferred to Centrica in late 2018.