Mitr Phol powers up with rubber-wood chips
MITR PHOL Group is singing the praises of its power plant in Songkhla province fuelled by rubber-wood chips, which began generating electricity in March.
Suwat Kamolpanus, managing director of Mitr Phol’s alternative-power business, said this new technology would turn about 120,000 tonnes of rubber-wood chips per year into electricity.
“This is clear proof of our commitment to developing biomass power business through the use of diverse types of energy sources available in local areas in addition to bagasse,” he said.
Panel Plus Bio-Power, a 9.9-megawatt plant, is located near the Panel Plus Group in Hat |Yai, Songkhla. It has been generating electricity for Panel Plus, a Mitr Phol subsidiary that makes particleboard and other products, since March.
The power plant uses a high-performance combustion system and environmentally friendly technology, as it requires fewer raw materials and consumes less energy than conventional boilers, especially the top loader system.
An electrostatic precipitator is also employed to reduce fly ash from boiler emissions. This is a creative solution in the alternative power business and an example of management of evaporation ponds to produce clean energy, the company says.
“Bio-Power contributes an additional Bt0.01 per unit to the … Government Community Development Fund with the intention to empower local communities to develop their own environment and quality of life,” Suwat said.
Currently Mitr Phol Group is the largest biomass power producer in Thailand, with a total of seven such plants in Suphan Buri, Sing Buri, Khon Kaen, Chaiyaphum, Kalasin, Loei and Tak provinces.
With combined production capacity of 552MW annually, the seven plants have reached agreements with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and the Provincial Electricity Authority to sell more than 191MW annually.
