PDI expects strong performance this year 

  
The company is ready to invest more than Bt2.3 billion in new businesses, managing director Francis Vanbellen told a news conference yesterday.
He said PDI also projected to grow its solar-farm business locally and abroad to exceed 150 megawatts over the next three years. It will also get into the business of high-added-value materials from recycled resources and industrial waste management.
Last year, the company posted a net profit of Bt478 million, the highest in five years and up by 216 per cent or Bt327 million from the Bt151 million it netted in 2015.
This year, PDI expects to realise 90 per cent of its revenue from its core zinc business, as it has more than 25,000 tonnes low-cost zinc ores from its Mae Sot mine in Tak province and will import another 35,000 tonnes of ore to serve rising demand from clients in Thailand.
The company expects to generate the remaining 10 per cent of revenue from its new alternative-energy business, including its first solar power plant in Japan with 2.27MW capacity, which started commercial operation in October 3 last year, and the 5.25MW Mae Ramat Solar Farm in Tak province, which was acquired in late 2016.
As well, PDI will start booking revenue from two new solar power plants in Japan, the 10.53MW Nogata Solar Farm and the 2.2MW Ryoshiya Solar Farm, which are due to start commercial operation in the second and third quarters respectively.
Vanbellen said PDI would continue to invest in its new energy, materials and environmental-management businesses.
The company plans to invest in solar-farm projects in Thailand and abroad with combined capacity of 150MW over the next three years. This will require an investment of Bt2.3 billion, of which Bt600 million will come from PDI’s own funds.
The joint venture PDI-CRT in Rayong will produce high-added-value materials made from recycled resources. The project is now in the process of factory design and initial engineering work, which is due to finish by the middle of this year, and then the construction will begin. It is due to start commercial operation in early 2019. This joint-venture project won support from the Department of Industrial Works in April 19 last year.
In the environmental management business, the PDI Tak Eco project is ongoing, which is a joint venture with Dowa Eco System Co. The JV partners are in the process of seeking permission to start a fully integrated industrial-waste-management operation in Tak province with annual capacity of 50,000 tonnes of industrial waste from the Northern and Central regions.
This project also has the support of the Department of Industrial Works as it is in line with the country’s strategic policy on handling industrial waste.