EGAT plans first coal-fired power plant in South
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) will build a coal-fired power plant with 800-megawatt capacity worth initially Bt60 billion in Krabi, its first plant in the South, under the Kingdom's latest Power Development Plan (PDP).
Pongdith Potchana, assistant to the Egat governor, said Egat would develop this project as part of the third amendment of PDP 2010.
The Krabi plant is being built on the site of an existing coal-fired plant, so Egat believes it can make the communities in the area understand the need for the project, he added.
The state agency will also conduct a public hearing with communities late this month and will hold another two hearings after that as part of the Environment Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) procedure.
It is also ready to make agreements with the communities on emissions of sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, and micro-dust, which will be lower than the legal maximums. This is meant to ease public concern on the environmental impacts of the project. He said new technology could enable the coal-fired plant to emit such pollutants at far below the levels permitted by law.
Egat will also construct a seaport in an appropriate location to bring in imported coal and is seeking options of environmentally friendly methods to transport the coal to the plant.
One option is to build an 8-kilometre track between the port and the plant, instead of using a meandering canal, which the communities believe to be the riskier method.
The first hearing will take about six to nine months to complete. Then Egat will submit the EHIA report for approval of the National Environment Committee. The whole EHIA process is expected to be completed in 2014, at which time construction can begin, planned for completion in 2018.
Egat also will call a bid in the second quarter of next year to seek a contractor to construct the Unit 14 generator of Mae Moh plant in Lampang to replace Units 4-7, which will be decommissioned soon. The new unit will have production capacity of 600MW and be worth Bt36.5 billion. Construction will begin in late 2013 and take four years to complete.
Pongdith said Thailand could suffer a power crisis in the next 10 years if relevant parties fail to make clear what the Kingdom’s main energy sources will be.
He added that this issue should be made part of the national agenda, including sorting out the ratio of traditional to alternative energy sources. Egat is ready to develop power plants according to the common consensus of all parties, and bear its share of the benefits and the downsides.
