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The Nebraska Public Power District plans to use the proceeds from a $75 million offering of one-year notes, which were set to reach the market late last week, to partly finance the construction of a gas-fired power plant in Beatrice, Neb. The 229 MW facility is expected to cost approximately $230 million and will come on line in 2005, according to Marcia Cady, an NPPD spokeswoman. She was unable to provide details on how the rest of the plant's construction costs are being financed.

U.K. oil giant BP has decided to offload its only U.K. power generation asset, Great Yarmouth, because the plant does not support any of its other operations. Colum Doyle, a spokesman for BP's Gas, Power and Renewables division, explains that unlike some of the other global oil giants, BP has no desire to own generation capacity for its own sake. Rather it builds or buys power plants if they support an existing business, such as a petro-chemical plant that requires power, or if they can provide offtake agreements for BP's gas assets. Great Yarmouth, a 400 MW combined-cycle gas-fired power plant in Norfolk, southeast England, provides none of these associated benefits, explains Doyle.

New Orleans-based Entergy has paid off lenders in a $350 million revolver that was arranged last fall to fund its acquisition of turbines. The Turbine Trust 1 facility was only funded last September, but with Entergy scaling back its development activities, and so reducing the need for turbines, the loan was taken out early, explains an official close to the deal. A financier at Barclays Capital, lead arranger of the revolver, and Morgan Stewart, a spokesman at Entergy, declined comment.

Lead arrangersCitibank and Mizuho Financial are in discussions with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and ING Barings about committing to a $210 million long-term non-recourse loan earmarked for the construction of Altamira (495 MW), a combined-cycle gas-turbine plant in northeastern Mexico. A project financier involved in the financing says BTM and ING are likely to come on board as co-arrangers shortly and adds the loan is expected be sealed by the end of this month. Project sponsors Electricité de France (51%) and Mitsubishi (49%) should receive the construction funds by the end of June or early July, he notes. The financier declined to comment on the terms of the loan.

E.on has put Allegheny Energy on its U.S. shopping list and would like to acquire the Hagerstown, Md.-based utility and generation outfit following its planned purchase of two Ohio energy concerns, Cinergy and DPL, according to an official familiar with E.on's strategy. E.on hopes to announce the Ohio acquisitions during its annual road show in July (see story, page 2). The official adds E.on has yet to enter acquisition discussions with Allegheny.

KeySpan is looking at financing its Long Island and New York City plant expansion via tax-exempt bonds, its preferred option versus tapping the non-recourse market. Mike Taunton, treasurer, says the company is currently waiting for the Internal Revenue Service to rule on its application for tax exemption on the financing. He declined to speculate on the likely outcome, but notes KeySpan is expecting to receive a ruling by the end of the summer. The company has also been assessing the project finance market (PFR, 11/22), but Taunton says little progress has been made down that route because of the preference for a tax-exempt issue.

Atlanta-based Mirant is looking at a June or July launch for a non-recourse bank facility funding the construction of two U.S. combined-cycle gas-turbine power plants. The loan will likely be for $300-310 million and cover the construction of the 300 MW Mint Farm project in Longview, Wash. and the 550 MW Sugar Creek project at Terre Haute, Ind., says one banker. The plants will be run on a merchant basis, he adds. Officials at Bank Of America, which was retained recently to arrange the project financing (PFR, 4/15), declined to comment.

Mirant has increased its equity strike in the $336.5 million Perryville project, despite recently announcing plans to sell its stake in the greenfield development to co-sponor Cleco.

Wilmington, Del.-based Conectiv is preparing to tap the non-recourse loan market to finance the construction of a $600 million gas-fired combined-cycle power plant in Bethlehem, Pa. Sole bookrunner Credit Suisse First Boston and fellow co-lead Bank of Nova Scotia on May 22 will launch a $365 million, four-year facility backing the development. Tim Brown, a Conectiv spokesman, did not return calls.

German energy giant E.on is hoping to announce its double acquisitions of Ohio energy concerns Cinergy and DPL during a U.S. investor road show that is planning to make this July, says an official close to the negotiations. An E.on investor relations official in Dusseldorf declined to comment beyond saying that details of the road show have yet to be determined.