Calpine Corp. said Thursday it has purchased an 800 MW natural gas-fired generation complex in Texas from Bosque Power Co. LLC for $432 million. Calpine expects the deal to close in early November.

Boasting the nation’s largest fleet of independent gas-fired power plants, Calpine said it paid $540/kW for the combined-cycle plant in central Texas. Bosque filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2010 and emerged the following October.

The 280-acre generation facility site, which was upgraded in recent years through debt that led to Bosque’s bankruptcy filing, is near the unincorporated town of Laguna Park in Bosque County. Calpine said it plans to rename the facility the Calpine Bosque Energy Center. The facilities include:

Noting it will fund the purchase with cash on hand, Calpine said the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act.

Calpine CEO Jack Fusco called the Bosque facilities a “modern combined-cycle plant,” and said it was a “good fit” for the company’s fleet of gas-fired plants, particularly in Texas and its ERCOT north zone. Fusco said that the deal is part of Calpine’s strategy to expand its holdings in Texas as “electric demand rises and reserve margins tighten.”

Fusco said Calpine was able to add generation at “a discount replacement cost” in a Texas generation market that is entering “an important time of evolution.”

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