AES to sell four coal-fired plants in New York

AES Corp, a US based power utility, has decided to sell four coal-fired power plants in the state of New York. The company’s CEO, Paul Hanrahan, made the announcement yesterday, during an earnings call for investors. The plants, which together have a combined capacity of 1169MW, sell their power under short-term contracts and on the spot market.

AES recently wrote down the value of AES Eastern Energy, the subsidiary that owns the plants by US$827m, in response to lower prices and low expectations for price recovery, together with a cut in the unit’s credit rating by Standard & Poor. Jeff Bodington, CEO of Bodington & CO, a power plant sales consultancy, has said that AES could earn US$500-600m from the sale.