LS Power becomes sole owner of 420-MW NJ pumped storage facility

LS Power Group became the sole owner of the 420-MW Yards Creek pumped storage hydroelectric facility in Warren County, N.J., after completing a transaction with Jersey Central Power & Light Co.

Under the deal, the FirstEnergy Corp. subsidiary sold its 50% interest in the facility to LS Power for $155 million. The parties completed the transaction on March 5, according to a March 9 notice to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

In September 2020, LS Power acquired a 50% stake in the plant from Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. subsidiary PSEG Fossil LLC.

Jersey Central Power & Light and Public Service Enterprise Group were in dispute for more than two decades over whether one company had a preferential right to acquire the other's ownership interest. In February 2020, both parties reached a settlement to sell their respective ownerships to a third party.

Both FERC and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved Jersey Central Power & Light's sale of stakes in the power plant in October 2020 (New Jersey BPU Docket No. EM20050343; FERC Docket EC20-65). The plant operates in the PJM Interconnection market.