Facing opposition to coal, Thailand moving to greener power

Facing opposition to coal, Thailand moving to greener power

The Electricity Generation Authority of Thailand aims to quadruple the
country's renewable energy generating capacity versus 2015 to 2 million
kilowatts by 2036.

EGAT is putting greater emphasis on renewables in its long-term strategy,
partly due to opposition from people living near the planned site for large
coal-fired power stations in the south of the country.

The move is part of a broader trend toward reducing dependence on coal in
emerging economies.

EGAT is expected to submit the long-term energy plan to a government
advisory panel for approval sometime this month. Paruhus Vongthanet, the
authority's deputy governor, has already unveiled the outline of a plan to
build power stations that use renewable energy sources, together with
partner companies.

The outline calls for 900,000kW of generating capacity from solar power,
598,000kW from biomass and 230,000kW from wind by 2036. In 2015, Thailand
had 171,250kW of generating capacity from solar, 8,000kW from biomass and
168,000kW from wind.

The latest plan calls for a significant increase in power generation from
solar and biomass. The plan, if approved, will likely create opportunities
for foreign companies, such as Chinese solar panel makers.

The Thai government expects the country's electricity demand to grow. It
aims to nearly double the power supply from 2014 levels to 70.33 million
kilowatts by 2036. New coal-fired power plants were to be a pillar of that
expansion. But with the fate of the plants now unclear, EGAT has been forced
to place a bigger bet on renewable energy.

The authority had wanted to build an 800,000kW coal-fired plant in the
southern province of Krabi and another with a capacity of 2 million
kilowatts in Songkla Province, also in the south. Both were to use coal
imported from Indonesia and elsewhere. In July last year, EGAT solicited
preliminary bids for the rights to build the Krabi plant, granting the
project to a Chinese-Thai business consortium.

But local residents and community groups concerned about damage to the
environment opposed the project. To avoid a clash, Thailand's military
junta, led by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, ordered EGAT to conduct a
second environmental assessment of the project, effectively halting
construction of the plant.

One industry official believes EGAT may be factoring in the possibility that
no new coal-fired plants will be built.

Thailand relies on plants fueled by natural gas to meet 60% of the country's
electricity needs. But domestic resources are expected to dwindle, forcing
the government to review its long-term energy mix. That led to the plan to
build relatively cheap coal-fired power plants.

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Link to Original Article:
http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Economy/Facing-opposition-to-coal-Th
ailand-moving-to-greener-power?page=1

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com