GULF expands investments to the US with acquisition of 49% shares in Jackson Generation natural gas-fired power project in Illinois, strengthening the company’s energy business

Gulf Energy Development Public Company Limited (GULF), via its subsidiary Gulf Energy USA, has entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement with J-POWER Group to acquire a 49% stake in the 1,200-megawatt Jackson Generation natural gas-fired power project in a deal valued at over 400 million US dollars (approximately 15,000 million Thai baht) which is expected to be completed within December 2022.

Jackson Generation, located in Will County, Illinois, USA, has a generating capacity of 1,200 megawatts and began commercial operation on 4 May 2022, supplying electricity to the Pennsylvania – New Jersey – Maryland Interconnection (PJM) merchant market. PJM is a regional transmission organization with the highest reliability and electricity demand in the United States, coordinating the movement of wholesale electricity in 13 states, namely, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia. Jackson Generation has secured a gas supply agreement with a major natural gas supplier and is connected to three main gas pipelines, ensuring that the project will have sufficient fuel supply in the long term.

Ms. Yupapin Wangviwat, Chief Financial Officer of GULF, stated, “This investment in Jackson Generation can be considered GULF’s first step into the US energy market. The project is wholly-owned by Jackson Partners under the J-POWER Group, one of the largest independent power generation companies in the world. J-POWER has been a strong partner of GULF for over 20 years and has jointly invested in natural gas power projects under the Gulf JP group, including some of 

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GULF’s earliest independent power producer (IPP) 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 the Jackson Generation project with J-POWER. Furthermore, as electricity demand in the United States continues to increase, GULF sees the opportunity to develop other power projects and is also considering the potential for additional investments with various partners including J-POWER, who has a number of renewable energy projects under development in the United States.”

GULF’s investment in Jackson Generation aligns with the company’s commitment to enhance energy security through the provision of reliable, low-cost electricity through the energy transition towards a low-carbon society as the Jackson Generation project uses state-of-the-art combined cycle gas turbine technology to provide the highest efficiency while producing among the lowest greenhouse gas emissions of any fossil fuel generation facility in the United States. As the project has already begun commercial operation, the company will be able to recognize profits immediately.