FERC Clears MARA’s $1.52 Billion Long Ridge Power Plant Deal

By James Calloway

FERC approved MARA Holdings’ $1.52 billion purchase of Long Ridge Energy & Power on Nov. 4, clearing the sale of a 505-MW natural gas-fired power plant and a 1,600-acre former Ormet aluminum smelter site in Hannibal, Monroe County, Ohio.

Both parties now expect the transfer to close by the end of November, putting the FERC decision one step ahead of a change in ownership at the Ohio industrial site.

What did FERC approve?

In May, FTAI Infrastructure agreed to sell the Ohio plant and former smelter property to MARA for $1.52 billion. The deal therefore had a named seller, a named buyer and a fixed price before FERC reviewed it.

MARA Holdings is a bitcoin miner turned AI data center developer, while FTAI Infrastructure is the seller of the 505-MW gas-fired asset and the 1,600-acre site.

In its Nov. 4 decision, FERC said the sale was "consistent with the public interest." The wording clears the transaction as a transfer of existing assets; it does not announce new generation, a new smelter or an AI data center at Hannibal.

That distinction matters because an asset sale and a project sanction carry different commercial consequences. A buyer gains control of established industrial assets at closing, whereas a new project would still need its own investment, permitting and execution milestones.

Takeaway: FERC approved an agreed asset sale, not a new project at the former smelter.

What happened to the PJM watchdog?

FERC also turned aside an attempt by PJM’s market watchdog to tie strings to the MARA transaction. The source does not set out the watchdog’s legal theory or the grounds for its attempt, so the available material cannot characterize the intervention more precisely.

The practical result remains clear: the watchdog’s effort did not prevent approval, and the parties still expect the sale to close by the end of November. The result keeps the Nov. 4 clearance in place and allows the transaction to proceed toward completion.

For practitioners, this should not be read as an endorsement of every operating plan MARA may later pursue for the 1,600-acre former Ormet site. The approval covers the sale; the source provides no separate construction schedule, data-center capacity, power contract or commissioning date for any redevelopment.

It also does not change the operating profile stated in the source. The plant remains described as a 505-MW natural gas-fired facility, and no retirement date, expansion project or new-build timetable accompanies the ownership transfer.

Takeaway: The watchdog did not stop the transfer, but it did not supply project approval for any new use of the site.

What changes at closing?

At closing, MARA would take ownership of the Long Ridge plant and the former Ormet aluminum smelter land in Hannibal. FTAI Infrastructure would complete its disposal of the two assets under the $1.52 billion agreement reached in May.

For power-market practitioners, the 505-MW figure anchors what changes. The sale shifts control of that generating asset to an owner pursuing AI data center development as well as bitcoin mining; the available information does not announce a change in the plant’s capacity, fuel arrangements or commercial operations.

For site-development practitioners, the 1,600-acre parcel matters as much as the plant. MARA acquires former industrial land together with a 505-MW power plant, but the source does not identify a final layout, permitted building, customer contract or startup date for an AI data center.

That absence keeps the transaction in the category of a cleared asset transfer rather than a sanctioned data-center build. MARA’s turn toward AI data centers gives the purchase a strategic direction, but the only firm milestones in the source are the May agreement, the Nov. 4 FERC approval and the parties’ end-of-November closing expectation.

Takeaway: MARA gains control of a 505-MW plant and a 1,600-acre former industrial site, while specific redevelopment remains uncommitted in the available facts.

What is the next checkpoint?

Both sides now say the closing will happen by the end of this month. For FTAI Infrastructure and MARA Holdings, that is the next operative date: the point at which the agreed $1.52 billion sale becomes a completed ownership transfer rather than an approved pending transaction.

The watch item is therefore the closing itself, including whether both parties meet the end-of-month timetable. A timely close would complete FERC’s transfer clearance and put the Long Ridge plant and former Ormet site under MARA’s control. Any later move on the site would need its own commercial and execution milestones; none appears in the available material.

Until then, the plant’s 505-MW rating and the site’s 1,600-acre footprint remain the two measurable features of the Long Ridge transaction. FERC’s finding that the sale is consistent with the public interest clears the ownership transfer; it does not close it.

Takeaway: The month-end closing is the final checkpoint in a $1.52 billion Ohio power-and-land transfer.