ENERGY / ELECTRICITY GENERATION

IPP bid delay possible until Egat role clarified

YUTHANA PRAIWAN

New bids to construct independent power producer (IPP) plants may be postponed from this month because authorities have yet to decide whether the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) should have an uncontested right to produce a certain amount of the new capacity. ''The [National Energy Policy] Council will decide at its next meeting whether the bids scheduled for this month will stay on,'' Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand said yesterday.

But he added that it remained unknown when the next meeting would be held.

The council, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Kosit Panpiemras, is considering the allocation of electricity production to Egat and IPP operators under the new power development plan (PDP) approved on Monday.

The committee, however, has already approved 1,030 megawatts of electricity production for small power producers (SPP) and very small power producers (VSPPs) under the 15-year PDP starting in 2007.

Dr Piyasvasti said coal-fuelled power plants, which would produce 2,800 MW of electricity under the PDP, were likely to be built in the same area to make it easier to create a proper understanding with the residents about the environmental impact from the facilities.

While private companies are not barred from entering bids for the plants, the chance that they will enter bids or win contracts remains slim.

Egat, on the other hand, is well-equipped to do so because as a state-owned agency, it can absorb certain risks while the Finance Ministry can guarantee its loans, he said.

If the plan to build coal- or gas-fired power plants does not materialise as expected, an option is open to increase electricity imports from 20% of total power demand under the PDP. Under such a circumstance, Egat will be asked to revise the plan.

Laos is willing to sell more than 5,000 MW of electricity over the next 10 years while China and Burma also proposed to sell electricity to Thailand.

Meanwhile, Egat expressed its readiness to produce the power to be allocated to it.

Governor Kraisi Karnasuta said the cabinet had earlier given Egat an uncontested power capacity of half of total production.

Under the PDP, the plants must be built by 2114 and Egat is ready to proceed, having acquired two or three sites in the coastal areas in the South.

The council recently approved the establishment of development funds for the communities near the plants in the hopes of reducing resistance.

Bangkok Post

Last Updated : Wednesday April 11, 2007