Norwegian company to spend nearly $1 billion on stake in Jessup power plant
Equinor ASA, a Norwegian energy company, plans to acquire an 87.71% stake in the Lackawanna Energy Center in Jessup, Pennsylvania, from a BlackRock subsidiary for $940 million. This acquisition is driven by rapidly growing electricity demands, particularly from data centers in the PJM power market. The region, including Jessup and Archbald, has a significant number of proposed data center projects.
Norwegian energy giant Equinor ASA has announced its intent to acquire an 87.71% stake in the 1,485-megawatt Lackawanna Energy Center, a natural gas power plant located in Jessup, Pennsylvania. The transaction, valued at $940 million, involves purchasing shares from funds managed by Global Infrastructure Partners, a subsidiary of BlackRock.
Equinor stated the acquisition is a response to the rapidly increasing electricity demand within the PJM power market, citing electrification, industrial activity, and a surge in data center development as primary drivers. The company highlighted that data centers alone are projected to account for 30 of the 32 gigawatts of forecasted electricity demand increases between 2024 and 2030, according to PJM.
Invenergy, the Chicago-based company that developed the plant, will continue to manage and operate the facility. The acquisition comes as Northeast Pennsylvania, specifically Jessup and Archbald, is experiencing a boom in proposed data center projects, with 58 planned across eight developments in the immediate vicinity of the power plant. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.