Thailand: TPC Power to raise stake in Siam Power to 50%

Thailand: TPC Power to raise stake in Siam Power to 50%

TPC Power Holding (TPCH), an MAI-listed arm of Thai Polycons Plc, has
announced its plan to buy another 5% stake in Siam Power.

The purchase, worth 8.75 million baht, will increase its share in the
company to 50%, said TPC managing director Cherdsak Wattanavijitkul.

Siam Power has won a 10-year landfill operation concession from the
Nonthaburi authorities covering 137 rai, capable of taking 3 million tonnes
of waste, plus another 818,812 tonnes from nearby public landfills.

Last month TPCH invested in a 45% stake of Siam Power to prepare for a
waste-to-energy plant in Nonthaburi.

Siam Power has filed to bid for the waste-to-energy power plant contract,
which includes a planned application submission date for the associated
power-purchase agreement to be signed next month, Mr Cherdsak said.

The contract is scheduled to be awarded next month, ahead of a formal
signing of an agreement with Nonthaburi Provincial Administration
Organization in March next year to buy electricity generated by the company
at 5.78 baht per unit via the feed-in tariff (FiT) format, he said.

The move came after TPCH in September won a bid for a government contract to
build and operate three biomass power plants with a combined capacity of 26
megawatts, out of an overall 36MW quota set for three provinces in the deep
South.

Siam's project in Nonthaburi is a long-term expansion plan for electricity
production, under which it targets reaching a combined 200MW by 2020, from
142MW currently.

"We are confident in our ability to manage 3.8 million tonnes of waste,
which will give us an opportunity to win the waste-to-energy power plant
contract from Nonthaburi Provincial Administrative Organization," said Mr
Cherdsak.

He said the combined 3.8 million tonnes of waste could be converted into 1.7
million tonnes of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) used for electricity production,
resulting in an RDF reserve for 28 years if power-plant usage comes in at
the expected 60,000 tonnes per year.

TPCH also hopes to sign an agreement for an 80MW hydropower project in Laos
next month, which would take about 1-5 years to complete, he said.

Mr Cherdsak said the company this year expects to double last year's revenue
to 305 million baht, with full operation of three biomass power plants -- at
Chang Raek and Mahachai in Nakhon Si Thammarat, and at Maewong in Nakhon
Sawan -- with a combined output of 30MW and average FiT of 4.54 per unit.

TPCH has 11 power plants under operation with a combined 142MW of
electricity production: 10 biomass plants and one waste-to-energy power
plant.

TPCH shares closed on the yesterday MAI at 18.70 baht, down 30 satang, in
trade worth 140 million baht.

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Ref:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/1121033/tpc-power-to-raise-stake-in
-siam-power-to-50-

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com