Measures mulled to prevent repeated blackout in Thai South

BANGKOK, May 22 (TNA) - Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra says that she has ordered the Ministry of Energy to prevent any repeated blackout in the southern Thai region and to seek ways to increase power supply to meet demand. Yingluck told journalists on Wednesday morning, before flying to Japan for a working visit from May 22-25 to attend the 19th International Conference on the Future of Asia, that she has instructed Energy Minister Pongsak Raktapongpaisal to figure out the exact cause of the southern blackout and to prevent it from recurring; while assigning Army Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha to explain the incident to people in the violence-plagued Thai far South. Yingluck said concerned authorities have initially attributed Tuesday night's blackout in 14 southern Thai provinces to either insufficient power generation or power transmission line maintenance. The prime minister acknowledged that the exact cause of the blackout has not been concluded and the concerned authorities are diverting electricity from other areas to feed the southern demand. The Thai premier confirmed, however, that the national capacity of electricity generation will be further raised to meet the growing demand of local people and visitors and new power plant projects will be designed to minimize negative impacts on locals. (TNA)