DPL Sells Darby Peaking Station

Electrical energy company DPL(DPL Quote) said Wednesday that its subsidiary DPL Energy agreed to sell the Darby station peaking generation facility to Columbus Southern Power, a subsidiary of American Electric Power(AEP Quote).

The Dayton, Ohio-based company said that the station, located near Mt. Sterling, Ohio, was sold for $102 million in cash. The Darby station consists of six natural gas peaking units with a summer capacity of about 450 megawatts and has a net book value of about $155 million.

"This sale is a significant step toward completing the review of our generation portfolio mix and more closely aligning our generation assets with our energy requirements," the company said.

The cash proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including debt reduction and the funding of DPL's environmental investment program. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2007 and is subject to standard closing conditions.

DPL previously announced that it was considering bids on three sites totaling 872 megawatts - Darby, Greenville and Montpelier. A final decision related to the sale or retention of the remaining two sites has not been reached.