US-based independent power producer Middle River Power has acquired the fully contracted 427MW Panoche Energy Center, a natural gas generation facility in Firebaugh, California, US, from an Ares Infrastructure Equity fund.
This latest transaction expands Middle River’s growing collection of flexible, reliable and cleaner generation assets.
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It follows the recent additions of the 240MW Midway-Sunset and 250MW Brush generation sites to MRP’s holdings earlier this year.
The company said the acquisition of the Panoche natural gas plant strengthens its flexible capacity portfolio as demand for dispatchable resources grows across the Western Interconnection.
Ares Infrastructure Equity head Keith Derman said: “Ares is proud to have supported this critical asset since its development 20 years ago, and we are pleased to have worked closely with MRP throughout this process to facilitate a smooth transition and a compelling next chapter for Panoche.
“We believe that Panoche will continue to provide reliable, efficient and flexible capacity to the California grid.”
At Panoche, Middle River expects to apply its hybridisation strategy by pairing efficient thermal capacity with storage.
The company aims to use this approach to meet rising electricity demand from utilities, data centres and industrial customers.
Middle River CEO Mark Kubow said: “We continue to add to our portfolio of flexible, reliable and clean generation assets across the West with the acquisition of Panoche from Ares.
“This fully contracted facility adds to our growing footprint across the West, following the additions of the Midway-Sunset facility in Kern County, California, and the Brush facility in Morgan County, Colorado, earlier this year.
“We expect to deploy our strategy of hybridising critical capacity resources so we can continue delivering reliable, affordable and cleaner energy well into the future, for customers throughout the region.”
In 2025, Partners Group, acting on behalf of its clients, acquired Middle River.
