Ministers to meet on Alro wind farm

Praphon Wongtharua, director-general of the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency, said that if there is a conclusion that wind-farm operators cannot lease Alro or so-called Sor Por Kor land, an initial solution would be for the operators to find new places for their projects. 
“But that also requires consideration on the wind potential and readiness of power lines,” he said.
After that, the operators would have to submit their revised proposals to the National Energy Policy Office, which would forward them to the Energy Policy Administrative Committee and the National Energy Policy Council for approval.
Anantaporn also ordered the department to hold talks with 15 wind-farm operators currently utilising Sor Por Kor land to see if any of them fall into the same category as Thep Sathit Wind Farm Co. The Supreme Administrative Court ruled last week that Thep Sathit cancel its land lease with Alro. The court deemed that renting Sor Por Kor land to build a wind farm at the site in Chaiyaphum was a misuse of the land, which is designated for farming purposes.
After the verdict, the Energy Regulatory Commission announced that it would suspend approvals for power purchase agreements of 11 wind-farm projects located on Sor Por Kor land, mostly in Nakhon Ratchasima and Chaiyaphum provinces, with combined power-generating capacity of 700 megawatts.
The government has set a goal for the country to have a total wind-energy capacity of 3,002MW by 2036, of which about half has already been potentially accounted for by signed-up contracts.
Thep Sathit Wind Farm had earlier requested that the energy regulator postpone its commissioning from 2020 to 2021, but nevertheless entered an official power-purchase contract with the government.