The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) has ensured that electricity supply from the Paiton Steam Power Plants (PLTU Paiton) 7 & 8 in East Java will remain reliable after the divestment of Mitsui & Co Ltd's shares in PT Paiton Energy.

Mitsui's management announced that the divestment of shares in the power plants with a total capacity of 2,045 megawatts (MW) or 2.04 gigawatts (GW) was completed on April 30, 2024. Mitsui sold the majority of its shares, 36.260 percent, to RH International (Singapore) Corporation Pte. Ltd. or RHIS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Thai energy company, RATCH Group Public Company Limited.

The rest, 9.255 percent of Paiton Energy shares, were divested to PT Medco Daya Energi Sentosa (MDES), a wholly-owned subsidiary of PT Medco Daya Abadi Lestari, and existing Paiton shareholders affiliated with the Panigoro Family, PT Medco Energi Internasional (MEDC).

Dadan Kusdiana, Secretary-General of the ESDM ministry, said that the ministry would closely monitor the reliability of electricity supply from PLTU Paiton after the divestment.

"The concern of the Ministry of ESDM is to ensure that energy supply remains guaranteed," Dadan said on Thursday, May 2, 2024.

The Paiton Power Plant consists of three power generation units, namely Units 7 and Unit 8 with a capacity of 1,230 MW that have been operational since 1999, and Unit 3 with a capacity of 815 MW which began operating in 2012. All three Paiton Power Plant units have been secured with long-term Power Purchase Agreements with State electricity company PT PLN, whose contract period will end in 2042. Based on this transaction, the company will realize an equity capacity of 742 MW.

The selling price of Mitsui's shares to the two companies reached around 109 billion yen or equivalent to Rp11.31 trillion, or approximately US$69899 million.

As previously reported, Chief Executive Officer of RATCH Group Public Company Ltd., Nitus Voraphonpiput, said that the acquisition of Mitsui's shares in PT Paiton Energy would strengthen the company's long-term commitment to developing business in Indonesia.

He expressed hope that the investment can create new partnerships to explore new investment opportunities in power generation and related businesses in Indonesia in the future.

"This investment directly increases the company's commercial capacity to 9,038.04 MW and expands operational and maintenance businesses, thus adding economic value and financial strength to the company," Nitus said.

Nitus said that his company would support the performance and operations of PT Paiton Energy in terms of electricity production for supply security in Indonesia. Moreover, he said that the company would explore opportunities for cooperation in the development of new renewable energy (EBT) in the future.