Dynegy announced it broke off its short-lived 50/50 joint venture with the private equity company LS Power to give the Houston-based company control over any repowering and/or expansion of power plants it owns in California and elsewhere. Dynegy continues to hold its 4,400 MW of plants in California. The dissolution is set to cost Dynegy $19 million. “The story is far from over,” said Gary Ackerman, Western Power Trading Forum executive director. “Even if the development activities are over, the two firms are tightly joined at the hip.” David Byford, Dynegy spokesperson, said the split “gives us control over brownfield sites.” (Brownfield sites are ones that are already developed.) “California is a good strong market for us, and we continue to consider development options.” From the get go, the marriage was not a happy one, according to an insider. Under the Dynegy-LS Power deal signed in March 2007, Dynegy bought the 2,529 MW Moss Landing plant, the 1,000 MW Morro Bay facility, the 700 MW South Bay plant, and a 165 MW power plant in Oakland from LS Power. LS Power had only been in California a few months (Circuit, Sept. 22, 2006). At that time, however, the economy was booming. As part of the agreement, LS Power bought and continues to hold 40 percent of Dynegy’s stock. It also has two seats on Dynegy’s board. Under the joint venture, Dynegy and LS Power agreed to upgrade and expand existing plants as well as develop new facilities in undeveloped--“greenfield”--sites. Because of the severe credit crunch, Dynegy lost interest in pursuing the development of new plants. Dynegy left California in 2006, but reentered the market the following year when it made the deal with LS Power. Prior to Dynegy’s exit from the state, it co-owned 1,800 MW of power plants in California with NRG Energy. That joint venture was known as West Coast Power. NRG bought out Dynegy’s share in May 2006. NRG executives at the time attributed the value of the facilities to their coastal location, noting they’d provide more income if sold for real estate development.