Pg&e; gets ok to sell wind farm


Pg&e; gets ok to sell wind farm

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PG&E; Corp., the owner of California’s largest utility, won approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to sell a wind-power farm to MDU Resources Group Inc. for $102.5


million. The Mountain View facility, owned by PG&E;’s unregulated power-generation and trading unit, National Energy Group, consists of 111 wind turbines near Palm Springs, according to


a commission order. National Energy Group has been selling assets to raise cash and reduce debt after a drop in wholesale power prices and the collapse of energy trading after Enron Corp.’s


bankruptcy filing in December 2001. The unit announced Jan. 17 that it was in default on $2.9 billion in debt and other obligations. PG&E; said then that it would take nearly $250


million in charges for the fourth quarter as a result of the default. Bismarck, N.D.-based MDU is the owner of Montana-Dakota Utilities Co., which has 115,000 electricity customers and


213,000 natural gas customers in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. PG&E;, the owner of Pacific Gas & Electric Co., is based in San Francisco. Shares of PG&E; fell


45 cents to $13.55 on the New York Stock Exchange. MDU was down 69 cents at $25.11, also on the NYSE. MORE TO READ