FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Egco mulls acquisition of four power plants

Egco mulls acquisition of four power plants

Electricity Generating (Egco) Group is considering taking over four local and overseas power plants as part of a plan to maintain its return on equity at 10 per cent over the next five years, president Sahust Pratuknukul said.

This follows the expected decline of the power generator’s return on equity to 9 per cent next year, due to the electricity-sales contract of its plant in Rayong expiring this coming December. 
If plans to take over the four plants are successful, profit will come in immediately, which will enable the company to maintain its return at 10 per cent, he said.
Besides the takeover plan, the company is still studying whether to set up a power plant in the Dawei Industrial Development Zone in Myanmar.
Sahust added that Egco Group would maintain its focus on investing in power-generating business domestically and in the Asia-Pacific region, at the same time seeking opportunities to acquire commercially operated projects to recognise income immediately. 
“We will focus our investment on power-generating business in Thailand and the Asia-Pacific, which is the area in which we have years of expertise and experience,” he said.
The company is also focused on asset management, especially commercially operating assets in its portfolio, by ensuring maximum efficiency at its power-plant operations. 
Close monitoring of jointly invested projects has been introduced to ensure that the return on investment from those projects meets the forecast level, said the company chief.
Egco Group continued to record better-than-expected operating results last year. Operating profit before the effects of foreign-exchange gains/losses, deferred tax and amortisation of fair-value uplift on its Quezon project in the Philippines was Bt7.605 billion – a rise of Bt1.545 billion from the previous year. 
Overall assets were Bt130.937 billion, some 18.61 per cent higher than in 2012.
Last year, the company successfully developed several renewable-energy power-plant projects both in Thailand and overseas, and especially in the Asia-Pacific region via an investment in Australia. 
 
Renewable projects 
Nine renewable projects operated commercially and delivered electricity into the system during the year: the Bueng Sam Phan solar-power plant in Phetchabun province, which is the fourth project operated by G-Power Source; the Lop Buri solar-expansion project operated by Natural Energy Development; the Theppana wind-power plant in Chaiyaphum province; and six solar-power plants under the Solarco project, five of them in Nakhon Pathom province and the other in Suphan Buri.
Meanwhile, there were two power-purchase-agreement signings last year: the new 930-megawatt Khanom power-plant project (Unit 4) in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, construction of which is under way; and the 81MW-equity Chaiyaphum wind-farm project, which is preparing for construction. 
On the overseas front, the company invested in the 113MW Boco Rock wind farm in the Australian state of New South Wales. The facility is now under construction.
Egco Group currently runs 20 commercially operating plants operations in Thailand and abroad, with a total contracted capacity of 4,518MW.
It has eight projects under construction and development with a combined contracted capacity of 1,613MW.
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