SET-listed Gulf Energy Development, Thailand's biggest private power producer by market value, has purchased 49% of Jackson Generation, a gas-fired power plant in Illinois, for US$400 million (15 billion baht) as it embarks on its US expansion.
Yupapin Wangviwat, chief financial officer at Gulf, said the investment, made through its subsidiary Gulf Energy USA, is the company's first move into the US energy market.
The funds to be allocated for the investment are part of a 120-billion-baht capital spending budget, slated for use between 2022 and 2026.
Yesterday Gulf reported details of the share purchase agreement to the Stock Exchange of Thailand. The deal is expected to be concluded by December.
Jackson Generation, which is located in Will County, began commercial operations in May this year. It supplies electricity to the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection merchant market, often called PJM.
PJM is the wholesale electricity market for 13 states -- Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia -- and the District of Columbia.
According to Gulf, Jackson Generation has a gas supply agreement with a major natural gas supplier and is connected to three main gas pipelines, ensuring it will have sufficient fuel supply in the long term.
Jackson Generation is owned by Jackson Partners under J-Power Group, one of the largest independent power generation companies in the world.
J-Power has been a Gulf partner for more than 20 years and has jointly invested in natural gas power projects, including some of Gulf's earliest independent power producer projects.
"We are confident that with our long history of gas-fired power project development experience in Thailand, we will be able to contribute our expertise and technology to successfully manage Jackson Generation with J-Power," said Ms Yupapin.
As electricity demand in the US increases, she said Gulf sees an opportunity to develop other power projects and is also considering the potential of more investments with various partners including J-Power, which has a number of renewable energy projects under development in the US.