Kbank Amata B Grimm's adviser for plants' funding
Kasikornbank has been appointed as the financial adviser for Amata B Grimm Power, part of B Grimm Group, for mobilisation of Bt50 billion to finance the construction of 10 small power plants (SPPs).
Power produced by these new plants will be sold to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) and five leading industrial estates.
Krisada Lamsam, a senior executive vice president of KBank, said construction of the 10 power plants in five industrial estates was scheduled for completion within seven years. The plants, producing 90 megawatts each, will generate 900 megawatts for Egat from their total capacity of 1,200MW under a 25-year power purchase agreement. The remaining power and steam will be sold to factories in the industrial estates.
The funding, the amount of which is considered one of the country’s highest for project financing, will be mobilised from a variety of sources, including syndicated loans from domestic and international banks and issuance of diverse financial instruments. The fund will gradually finance Amata B Grimm’s power-plant projects over six to seven years, so as not affect the liquidity of KBank or the domestic financial system.
As a contribution to the Kingdom’s power security, particularly for major industrial estates, Amata B Grimm Power’s plants will ensure a smooth electricity-generating process for factory owners with uninterrupted provision of power, the company says.
According to Preeyanart Soontornwata, president of Amata B Grimm Power, Thailand’s power demand has continued to rise, expected to peak at 26,121MW this year and 27,443MW in 2013.
Of the 10 new plants, two will be in Bangkadi Industrial Park in Pathum Thani, three in Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate and Hemaraj Chonburi Industrial Estate in Chon Buri, three in Amata City Industrial Estate in Rayong, and two in VRM Ratchaburi Industrial Estate, producing 116-142MW of power each. Construction will be completed by 2019. Preeyanart said Amata B Grimm Power was already operating three plants, two of them in Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate and one in Amata City Bien Hoa Industrial Park in Vietnam, with total capacity of 363MW.
Three more SPPs are under construction, one of which is a 130MW plant in Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate, to become commercialised next month, and two 120MW plants in Amata City Industrial Estate in Rayong. They will be completed by next year.
The company’s planned and existing power plants will have a combined capacity of 2,000MW, and can meet the needs of at least 800 factories apart from Egat.
