ID :
378986
Tue, 09/01/2015 - 14:38
Auther :

Coal-fired power plants in Thai South needed

BANGKOK, September 1 (TNA) - Energy Minister General Anantaporn Kanchanarat has ordered the state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) to explain to people in the Thai South that new coal-fired power plants are needed in the region due to rising demand. EGAT Governor Sunchai Khamnoonset told journalists of the order on Tuesday, saying that EGAT plans to construct two coal-fired power plants in the Thai South, one in resort Krabi Province and the other in Songkhla Province’s Thepha District. Sunchai acknowledged that the plans have been stalled due to public opposition, especially native people. Sunchai revealed the new energy minister has also instructed that EGAT must have sufficient information to explain to the people, as many of them misunderstood that power production in the Thai South is sufficient and there is no need to build new ones. Under 2015 Thailand’s Power Development Plan, if the country's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 3.4 per cent, power demand in the Thai South would grow by 2.9 per cent. The EGAT governor pointed out that electricity demand in the southern Thai region has increased by 5-6 per cent, showing that power production appears to be insufficient and power has to be transmitted from the central region and bought from neighbouring countries to supply to the South. Accordig to EGAT governor, Thailand currently needs natural gas in electricity production by as much as 70 per cent and coal-powered electricity plants are needed in order to diversify risks and create power stability. Besides, EGAT plans to build a transmission cable of 500 kilowatts from the central region to the southern resort Phuket Province, the investment of which costs about 60 billion baht, while a six-year construction is due to start in 2019. The EGAT chief noted that the Energy Ministry has sent a list of names of tripartite committee responsible for listening to public opinions in Krabi to Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha and a meeting is expected by next month with an optimism that it should be approved by the first quarter of next year. (TNA)

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