SPCG turns solar focus on Myanmar, Japan

At a recent energy seminar, Wandee Kunchornyakong, chairman and chief executive officer of the listed company, which is Thailand’s largest solar-farm investor, said she foresaw a bright business outlook in the region as the Asean Economic Community’s implementation draws ever closer.
Interest is currently fixed on Myanmar, as officials in the former capital Yangon show interest in generating 1,000 megawatts from solar energy, and those in Mandalay another 200MW.
“We are ready to explore investment opportunities there in August,” she said.
Wandee also eyes equity participation from Japanese partners and loans from local banks in Japan for possible investment in that country.
Inspiring her is Japan’s plan to cut its dependence on nuclear power after the Fukushima disaster in March last year. The Japanese government recently announced that 5,000MW of solar power would be generated by the end of next year.
“Partners are an integral part of the [Japanese] investment, as well as funding,” she added.
With a supply of solar panels from Kyocera, by the end of 2013 SPCG will have 34 projects in Thailand, with a combined capacity of more than 200MW.
All the power will be sold to the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA). The projects require a combined investment of Bt24 billion.
Wandee described the business outlook in Thailand as bright, thanks to the government’s policy of alternative-energy development. Solar-farm operators now enjoy special tariffs of Bt8 per unit over the base power rate.
At the World Economic Forum on East Asia, she said many households in Thailand still had no access to electricity because of the difficulty of connecting remote villages to the national power grid. Solar panels would be the perfect answer to this problem, she said.
The Energy Regulatory Com-mission recently announced that more than 10,000 Thai households had no access to electricity.
The PEA is allocated Bt50,000 per household for the installation of power poles.
As full access is guaranteed by the end of next year, the commission is in talks with the PEA over the budgetary restraints on such investment, which will probably lead to a reduction in the size of power poles, to make sure that the money available is sufficient to cover installation in very remote villages.
It is also looking at the law that prohibits installation of power poles in forest areas.