Chicago-based Middle River Power, LLC (MRP), the independent power company backed by Avenue Capital, plans to launch a platform sale by the end of the year, sources told Infralogic.  

Guggenheim and Morgan Stanley won a recent bake off and are co-advising on the process, three of the sources said.

The sale will include some 1.9 GW of gas peaking generation capacity and roughly 600 MW of co-located advanced battery developments, one of the sources said. The existing business generates between USD 250m and USD 300m in EBITDA.

The platform also includes some 2 GW in additional battery storage developments, alongside other energy transition projects, all in California, the same source said. MRP would continue to manage other assets outside of California under third party agreements post-transaction, but assets outside California are not included in the sale process.

Middle River, Avenue Capital, Guggenheim and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

MRP has the following assets in operation in California, according to its website:

• High Desert – an 830 MW natural gas-fired, combined-cycle plant in San Bernardino County

• Tracy – a 330 MW natural gas-fired, combined-cycle facility located in Tracy

• Hanford – a 97 MW natural gas-fired, simple-cycle peaking facility located in Hanford
• Henrietta – a 96 MW natural gas-fired, simple-cycle peaking facility located in Lemoore
• CalPeak portfolio – six natural gas-fired, simple cycle peaking facilities located throughout California with a total combined nameplate capacity of 418 MW

Avenue Capital, the global investment firm founded by Marc Lasry and Sonia Gardner, established MRP as a wholly owned independent power company in 2016. The business is responsible for the operation, management and development of the more than 3,000 MW of natural gas, coal, geothermal, and solar power generation facilities in California, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia that it has acquired and developed through its managed investment funds.

MRP sold the High Desert 100 MW solar facility in California to MN8 Energy in August 2020.

In August last year, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved MRP’s purchase of SWG Colton Holdings LLC, which comprises two gas-fired power generating facilities in California with a combined capacity of 90 MW, from Clarion Energy West LLC.

In April 2022, Middle River closed an approximately USD 725m non-recourse debt package with First Citizens Bank’s division CIT, ING and MUFG to refinance a portfolio of some 1.8 GW of gas-fired electricity generation assets in California. In March last year, MRP closed an amend & extend facility for the 1.8 GW gas-fired portfolio.

More recently the company secured USD 250m financing for a 327 MW portfolio of battery storage projects developed in California.

Middle River Power has offices in San Diego.