ERC expects draft rules on buying electricity from communities to be announced by Feb

“The office had on November 16 finished drafting the principles and conditions for buying 150 megawatts of electricity under the feed-in tariff method from VSPPs [very small power producers] under the community power plant campaign,” Komkrit said.

“However, the office is awaiting a verdict from the Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives Ministry as to whether or not the community power plant project should be classified as contract farming under the Contract Farming Promotion and Development Act BE 2560,” he said.

If the ministry rules that community power plants are contract farming, then the ERC will have to adjust its regulations to comply with the act, including setting a ratio of energy crops – a minimum of 80 per cent – that power plant operators must purchase from farmers in surrounding communities, Komkrit said.

Under the ERC draft, power producers must supply electricity to the power grid within 36 months of the date on which they sign an agreement.

“We set the amount of electricity to be purchased from plants using biomass fuel at 6 megawatts per plant, totalling 75 megawatts throughout the contract period of 20 years, and electricity from plants using biogas fuel at 6 megawatts per plant, totalling another 75 megawatts throughout the contract,” Komkrit said.

“Producers under the community power plant campaign will comprise a private company that holds 90 per cent of shares, while the remaining 10 per cent will be preferential shares held by a community enterprise that comprise farmers from at least 200 households in the community who grow energy crops to serve the plant,” he added.