Thailand: EEP aims to list next year

Thailand: EEP aims to list next year

Eastern Energy Plus Co (EEP), a local operator of waste-to-energy power
plants in Samut Prakan, plans to list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand
(SET) next year to raise funds for upgrading units in the province.

The upgrade of its operation to a full stream waste-to-energy complex
requires investment of 20 billion baht and will take around four years.

EEP operates the first phase of a waste-fired or refuse-derived fuels (RDF)
power plant, which started commercial operation on June 30 with a total
capacity of 9.9 megawatts.

The rising amount of community waste in Samut Prakan province -- up to 4,000
tonnes a day in an ageing landfill -- encouraged the company to think about
developing a waste-to-power complex.

Chief executive Kanapod Nitsiriphat told the Bangkok Post that the company
expects community waste to rise to as much as 10 million tonnes a day,
increasing the potential capacity of an RDF power plant to more than 100MW
over the next four years.

EEP hired Asia Plus Securities as its financial adviser, including filing of
all listing documents with the SET and beginning the IPO process.

The company expects to list next year. The anticipated amount of funds
raised from the IPO has not been decided.

EEP is asking the country's policymakers for support because it is planning
another two RDF power generators for its second phase of development,
costing roughly 600 million baht per unit.

The company's long-term target is to be one of Thailand's leading RDF-fired
power plant operators, aiming to develop new plants in all metropolitan
areas nationwide.

By the end of its fiscal year in June next year, when the RDF complex is due
to start operation, EEP expects total revenue of 400 million baht.

Major tourist destinations with dense populations such as Koh Samui, Buri
Ram and Samut Sakhon have approached EEP to develop RDF-fired power plants
near them.

The company was granted a licence to operate RDF plants in 2014, but it
faced several obstacles before starting operation of its first RDF unit this
year, which was strongly opposed by local villagers.

To ease villagers' concerns, EEP tried to educate them about its
state-of-the-art waste management technology and how it will produce power
for them.

"We invited everybody in the community to see what we are doing, destroying
stinky garbage, dust and wastewater that have been dumped and drained out
from each village," Mr Kanapod said.

After several discussions with the communities, the company spent a long
time conducting environmental impact assessments, obtaining factory
development and operation permits, working on waste transport, meeting City
Planning Act regulations, and wrangling investment privileges such as a
feed-in tariff and a tax holiday.

The military government revised several laws in 2015-16, shortening several
registration processes and facilitating the project becoming operational, he
said.

"RDF-fired power plants are very new in Thailand, which made local banks
quite reluctant to lend to us," Mr Kanapod said.

But some famous co-investors joined the project, such as MR Chatumongol
Sonakul, a former permanent finance secretary and Bank of Thailand governor,
giving the project more credibility.

EEP eventually raised 4 billion baht in registered capital to start the
project.

In December 2014, EEP signed a power purchase agreement with the
Metropolitan Electricity Authority to sell 9.9MW with a feed-in tariff rate
of 5.08 baht per kilowatt-hour.

The RDF complex spans 320 rai that can accommodate around 4,000 tonnes of
waste per day from 48 tambon administrative offices in Samut Prakan.

Each day, 4,000 tonnes of fresh waste can be separated for RDF of 1,800
tonnes, while another 1,400 tonnes are organic substances that can be used
to produce fertiliser. Some 600 tonnes are plastic.

Mr Kanapod said the first unit of the RDF power plant requires only 500
tonnes of waste a day, so plenty remains for its waste-to-power complex.

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Link to Original Article:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/1309143/eep-aims-to-list-next-year

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com