UPDATE: PPL Montana Announces Deal to Sell Hydroelectric Plants to Northwestern for $900M

PPL Corporation

announced Thursday (9/26) that its PPL Montana, LLC subsidiary has reached an agreement to sell its hydroelectric facilities to NorthWestern Energy for $900 million in cash, subject to certain adjustments. The agreement includes PPL Montana's 11 hydroelectric power plants, which have a combined generating capacity of more than 630 megawatts, as well as the company's Hebgen Lake reservoir. The sale is expected to close in the second half of 2014 and will require regulatory approvals, including approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Montana Public Service Commission. "This is an opportunity to secure attractive shareowner value for high-performing, non-carbon assets," said William H. Spence, chairman, president and chief executive officer of PPL Corporation. The agreement does not include PPL Montana's interest in the Colstrip facility or its J.E. Corette coal-fired facility located near Billings.  The Colstrip plant is jointly owned by PPL Montana and five other companies, including NorthWestern Energy. PPL Montana previously announced that it plans to mothball the Corette plant in April 2015. The agreement also does not include the Butte-based power marketing and trading operations of PPL Montana's marketing and