Thailand to sell more power to her neighbours
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) has received permission from the Energy Minister, Sonthirat Sonthijirawong, to sell electricity produced in Thailand to nearby countries, Patana Sangsriroujana, the organisation’s deputy governor of strategy and spokesman said on Monday.
“Egat is currently negotiating with Cambodia and Myanmar,” he said, “The expected volume of purchasing power from both countries is at least 500 megawatts”.
Trade in electricity is intended to go international before 2022 under a bilateral framework. This is different from the Asean framework for the Asean region, where Thailand is recognized as a power hub.
“While we are permitted to negotiate selling around 500 megawats of electricity to neighboring countries and promote the construction of community power plants with an output of 500-1,000 megawatts capacity, we can assure consumers that this will not affect the main electricity generating system in Thailand,” he said.
Thailand and Myanmar discussed the Asean Power Grid policy during the 37th Asean Ministers on Energy Meeting in September. Myanmar proposed that Thailand distribute electricity to the country to feed its growing need for power.
“Myanmar plans to expand electricity consumption to support its economic growth; however, its current operation can accommodate only 50 per cent of the electricity needed,” Patana explained. “Thailand has also proposed to sell electricity to Cambodia, which expected to face shortages from 2022 onwards”.