PEA rejects plans for some solar plants as they are not viable
The Provincial Electricity Authority has tossed out proposals to develop solar power plants with almost a gigawatt of combined capacity, after the failure of companies to provide required evidence to show their serious intention to proceed with the projec
Namchai Lorwattanatrakul, governor of the PEA, said yesterday that the past year saw proposals for a combined 3GW, of which 2GW showed progress and 1GW was rejected. Most of the cancelled projects planned to use high-cost solar thermal technology, which made them commercially unviable.
Of the 2GW, most use photovoltaic technology and have already landed power-purchase contracts with the PEA and have supplied 900 megawatts to the authority. The remaining operators with 1GW are in the process of starting up operations.
The PEA will extend the period to start feeding power to the grid to developers that are ready to work on the projects but still have to look for a site or have run into some financial problems. They can ask for a maximum of two extensions at six months each. The PEA has already granted an extension to many project principals. The last solar-plant projects are scheduled to start providing power in 2015.
According to its solar-power-purchase policy, the PEA will buy 2GW from private operators, 900MW from communities and 500MW from households. It is waiting for the Energy Ministry to finalise the incentives in terms of price for communities and households.
A ministry source said the projects that failed to meet the conditions of the power-purchase contract are the ones experiencing what appears to be the very slow process of granting building permits by the Industrial Works Department.
