Egat unveils Bt100-bn budget

This is a part of its plan to ensure sustainable electricity generation to cover the expected average 4-per-cent growth in annual demand for electricity, based on the economic growth of 4-5 per cent a year, Egat deputy governor for power plant development, Ratanachai Namwong, said after visiting coal-fired electricity plants and a solar farm plant in Germany last week.

He said that 1,884MW of the 10-year investment plan will come from alternative energy – 1,735.75MW from hydroelectric power plants or about 92 per cent of total electricity from alternative energy, 78MW or 4 per cent of total from wind, 57.25MW or 3 per cent from solar farms and 13MW or 1 per cent from bio-mass. This will involve an investment budget of about Bt5.5 billion.

With about 2,800MW being generated from coal-fired electricity plants, Egat is in the third hearing of the process to build a coal electricity plant in Krabi, for which construction could start in 2016. This plant will have production capacity of about 800MW. Two coal-fired electricity plants, with generation capacity of 1,000MW each, are proposed to be built at Tapa district, Songkhla province. The first hearing is expected next month.

These plants will be able to increase the country’s electricity generation capacity by 2019-24.

Currently, the country has total production capacity of 34,084MW a year, which includes electricity generated by Egat and the private sector, which generates and sells to Egat.

The country has recorded peak load of 26,986MW and in addition there will be more demand based on the country’s expected annual economic growth of 4 per cent. This means the country’s production capacity above the peak load demand is 26 per cent. But in Germany, peak load is 84,490MW while the country has total installed capacity of 175,022MW, or 107 per cent above the peak load.

"If we want to create security for the country in terms of electricity availability, the country has to have production capacity that exceeds the peak load by 30 to 50 per cent. That means, we have to invest in electricity plants, both traditional energy such as natural gas and coal, and alternative energy such as wind, water, solar, and bio-mass. They will replace some of the electricity plants that will be decommissioned and also build new ones to support new demand growth," he said. Up to 70 per cent of investment budget will come through borrowings from banks, and the issue of infrastructure fund. Funds of Bt20 billion were raised for its North Bangkok Power Plant, with the rest 30 per cent coming from Egat’s cash flow.

Following the success in issuing the infrastructure fund for the North Bangkok Power Plant in the middle of this year, Ratanachai said that Egat is studying other power plants that can raise funds through an infrastructure fund, which will lower the cost of investment.

"Although, coal-electricity plants face opposition from local communities fearing environmental pollution, we have tried to explain that we will use clean coal technology for our new coal plants that reduce CO2 and SO2 emissions. We believe the communities will understand both in Krabi and Songkhla and in other areas. Although we have tried to develop alternative energy, they were not enough to support the country’s demand. This means we have to combine both traditional and alternative energy to secure the country’s electricity needs sustainably in the long-term," he said.