Hull Street Energy LLC is to become the new owner of nine hydropower facilities in New Hampshire, US, after agreeing an $83 million deal with Eversource.

The purchase agreement, completed through a special purpose affiliate, consists of nine facilities with approximately 68.2 MW of power generation capacity. The plants are located in Manchester, Bristol, West Stewartstown, Franklin, Bow, Gorham, Hooksett, Hillsborough and Berlin, New Hampshire. 

The deal is expected to close by late December or early 2018, subject to approval by the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (NHPUC), FERC, and other required approvals.

Hull Street Energy, a private equity firm that invests in power generation assets and related businesses, plans to acquire the facilities as part of its strategy to build a significant presence in the North American power sector. Upon completion of this transaction, Hull Street Energy affiliates will own approximately 531MW of power generation assets in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Western United States.  Earlier this year the firm acquired five hydroelectric facilities in Massachusetts that had once been owned by Eversource's predecessor, Northeast Utilities. With the addition of the New Hampshire Eversource fleet, Hull Street Energy's hydroelectric plant portfolio will exceed 85MW.

"The acquisition of the Eversource hydroelectric fleet is an important step in enhancing our presence in the northeast renewable power sector," said Sarah Wright, Managing Partner at Hull Street Energy. "We look forward to partnering with the experienced workforce and other regional stakeholders as we build a leading regional renewable generation business and supply a variety of products to regional electricity customers."

The sale of the hydroelectric plants was part of an agreement between Eversource and other parties to implement New Hampshire's Electric Restructuring Law, with a goal of achieving a competitive electric energy marketplace. The transaction was conducted via an auction process established by the NHPUC and managed by J.P. Morgan.

Manatt Phelps and Phillips, LLP and Hogan Lovells acted as legal counsel to Hull Street Energy on the transaction.