Dive Brief:

• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved the sale of Ameren Corp's. merchant generation unit to Houston-based Dynegy. The fleet of five coal-fired plants—all in Illinois—have a total capacity of 4,154 megawatts.
• FERC also sanctioned the sale of three Aermen natural-gas fired plants, with a total capacity of 1,166 MW, to private equity firm Rockland Capital.
• In March, when Ameren announced the deal, it said the fleet's value to the company was $900 million. Ameren will focus on its regulated utility businesses in Illinois and Missouri.

Dive Insight: 

Ameren's merchant fleet, which sold power in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator market, was losing money as natural gas prices trended down and power demand slowed, creating excess capacity. Other investor-owned utilities have been making similar moves to shore up their balance sheets. For example, Dominion won FERC approval in August for the sale of three fossil fuel power plants to Energy Capital Partners for $650 million.