Osaka Gas Co. said Tuesday that it has acquired a 15 percent stake in the Three Rivers Energy Center, a natural-gas fueled thermal electric generation facility in the United States.

The power plant in Illinois with a capacity of 1,250 megawatts is scheduled to start commercial operations in May 2023 to provide electricity in the northeast of the country, Osaka Gas said in a release.

The Japanese company signed an agreement Friday to acquire the stake through its wholly-owned unit from a subsidiary of Competitive Power Ventures Inc., a U.S.-based independent power producer.

With its investment in the overseas power generation business, Osaka Gas now is responsible for around 2,570 megawatts of power generation abroad, or 70 percent of its goal of 3,500 megawatts to generate by March 2031.

==Kyodo

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