• Manulife to take minority stake in Washington utility business as part of transaction
• PGE signs up 430 MW across five customers for data centers in 2025 and 2026
• PGE to file shortlist for 2025 RFP on February 17

Portland General Electric Company announced an agreement to acquire select Washington state generation, transmission and electric utility operations from PacifiCorp for USD 1.9bn, representing a purchase price multiple of 1.4x estimated 2026 rate base.

Under the agreement, PGE will acquire three generation facilities: the Chehalis natural-gas plant (477 MW), the Goodnoe Hills wind facility (94 MW), and the Marengo I and II wind facilities (234 MW). The acquisition also includes 4,500 miles of transmission and distribution lines, and local utility operations across 2,700 square miles.

Manulife Infrastructure Fund III and its affiliates including John Hancock Life Insurance Company (USA), which will collectively be a minority owner of the Washington utility business

Lazard served as lead financial advisor and provided a fairness opinion to Portland General Electric. Barclays, J.P. Morgan and Citi also served as financial advisors to Portland General Electric. Latham & Watkins served as legal advisor to Portland General Electric. Goldman Sachs & Co. served as financial advisor to Manulife Investment Management. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett served as legal advisor to Manulife Investment Management.

PGE will host a conference call with financial analysts and investors on Tuesday, February 17, at 8 am EST.

Transaction

The acquisition will enable PGE to extend its long-standing commitments to reliability, affordability, economic development and a customer centric approach to approximately 140,000 Washington customers. PGE expects accretion in the first full year upon closing and overall enhancement of PGE’s long-term EPS and dividend growth from the transaction.

PGE will manage the Washington operations as a separate company through a newly formed subsidiary regulated by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. PGE expects the state and federal regulatory reviews of the acquisition to close 12 months after submission of regulatory filings.

2025 Financial Results

High-tech and Data Center Growth

In 2025 and the first part of 2026, PGE executed five contracts with data center customers for 430 MW. The contracts build on PGE’s track record of strong industrial demand, which has grown at a 10% compounded annual growth rate from 2020 to 2025, and forecast to continue at this rate through 2030.

Resource Procurement

2023 Request for Proposals (RFP) – After a robust and competitive bidding and negotiating process as part of the 2023 RFP, PGE has entered into agreements to construct two solar and battery hybrid projects for a total of 615 MWs. Agreements for the PGE-owned resources include:

Biglow Optimization – 125 MW solar facility and 125 MW BESS located in Sherman County, Oregon, with an investment of approximately USD 540m, excluding AFUDC. The project has an estimated commercial operation date at the end of 2027. A news report surfaced in July 2025 that PGE planned to build a co-located solar + storage facility next to its Bigelow Canyon wind farm that was going to be developed by BrightNight.

NPM Interconnection queue data identified a pre-operational paired project—Biglow Solar Generation and BESS—with a planned service date of December 1, 2027

Wheatridge Expansion – 240 MW solar facility and 125 MW BESS located in Morrow County, Oregon. PGE will own 110 MW of solar and 65 MW of BESS production capacity with an investment of approximately USD 490m, excluding AFUDC. NextEra Energy, Inc. will operate the facility, own the remaining 130 MW of solar and 60 MW of BESS production capacity and sell their portion of the output to PGE under a 30-year PPA. The project has an estimated commercial operation date at the end of 2027.

Additional Procurement Activities – PGE has also entered into the following agreements:

Meadowlark BESS – a 20-year storage capacity agreement for a 200 MW BESS located in Washington County, Oregon. This project will be owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and has an estimated commercial operation date at the end of 2027.

NPM SIGNALS identified the project.

Nottingham BESS – a 20-year storage capacity agreement for a 200 MW BESS located in Washington County, Oregon. This project has an estimated commercial operation date in 2028.

2025 Request for Proposals – PGE plans to file a request for acknowledgement of the final shortlist of bidders for the 2025 All-source RFP to the Public Utility Commission of Oregon (OPUC) on February 17, 2026. The final shortlist, which totals approximately 5,000 MW, is made up of both renewables and non-emitting capacity projects.

PGE is proceeding to commercial negotiations with projects on the final shortlist, prioritizing those that include renewable generation, have a viable pathway to achieve commercial operations earlier in the 2028 – 2030 eligibility period and to maximize tax credits to reduce project costs. The ultimate outcome of the RFP process may involve the selection of multiple projects for both renewable and non-emitting dispatchable capacity resources, which PGE expects will be approximately 2,500 MW in total.

Earnings

Today, PGE also reported net income based on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) of USD 306m, or USD 2.77 per diluted share, for the year ended December 31, 2025. After adjusting for the impact of business transformation and optimization expenses, 2025 non-GAAP net income was USD 336m, or USD 3.05 per diluted share.

This compares with GAAP net income of USD 313m, or USD 3.01 per diluted share, for the year ended December 31, 2024. After adjusting for the impact of the January 2024 winter storms, 2024 non-GAAP net income was USD 327m, or USD 3.14 per diluted share.

*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM subscribers.