NEE NextEra Energy Inc

   By Micah Maidenberg 
 

A NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE) subsidiary is acquiring an underwater electricity transmission system that delivers power to the San Francisco area.

NextEra Energy Transmission will buy Trans Bay Cable LLC for about $1 billion from a fund controlled by investment firm SteelRiver Infrastructure Partners.

NextEra said in a statement Monday that the $1 billion price tag includes debt, but it didn't break out the specific amount. A spokesman for the Juno Beach, Florida-based company declined to comment on how much debt the NextEra was assuming in the deal. A representative for SteelRiver didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Trans Bay Cable is a 53-mile cable system that stretches under the waters between Pittsburg, California, located in the eastern part of the Bay Area, and San Francisco itself. The cable provides about 40% of the electrical power used in San Francisco and surrounding areas on a daily basis.

The cable became operational in 2010, according to a SteelRiver statement from that time. When the cable came online eight years ago, SteelRiver said then it refinanced the project with a $562 million private placement of debt.

NextEra's deal for the cable system must be approved by the California Public Utilities Commission and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. It is expected to close some time next year.

The entity that owns the electrical cable system books sales via the California Independent System Operator, a grid operator that manages electricity flows on power lines that make up 80% of California's grid and a small part of Nevada's.

Write to Micah Maidenberg at micah.maidenberg@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 19, 2018 09:02 ET (14:02 GMT)

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