Sithe Ontario Goreway natgas plant enters service

NEW YORK, June 11 (Reuters) - Sithe Global Power LLC's 880-megawatt Goreway natural gas-fired power station in Ontario entered commercial service Thursday, the company said in a release.

Sithe will sell the power from Goreway to the province's Ontario Power Authority under a 20-year purchase agreement.

A unit of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc (SNC.TO) built the facility for Sithe.

TD Securities and the RBC Capital Markets co-led the C$942 million financing for the facility.

The Blackstone Group, Reservoir Capital Group and Sithe Global senior management provided the equity for the project.

The 880 MW combined cycle station is located in Brampton about 25 miles (40 km) west of Toronto. There are three General Electric Co (GE.N) Frame 7FB combustion turbines capable of generating about 166.7 MW and one 375 MW steam turbine.

Combined-cycle technology uses natural gas to turn combustion turbines to generate electricity and then uses the hot gas leaving the combustion turbines to heat water to produce steam to power a steam turbine and generate more power.

One MW powers about 1,000 homes in Ontario.

Sithe Global, of New York, owns power plant projects in various stages of development and construction expected to generate about 7,000 MW in the North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Sithe Global is developing other projects elsewhere in Canada, including the 800 MW Southdown natural gas-fired combined-cycle station proposed for Mississauga, Ontario, and about 2,850 MW of conventional and alternative energy projects in the United States and about 4,000 MW of projects in other international markets.

The company is also building the 250 MW Bujagali hydropower project in Uganda.

Blackstone Group LP's (BX.N) Blackstone SGP Capital Partners (Cayman) IV LP owns about 80 percent of Sithe Global, while investment funds managed by Reservoir Capital Group own the remaining 20 percent or so. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Marguerita Choy)