Thai southerners cope well despite reduced power supply

SONGKHLA, Thailand, June 14 (TNA) – The temporary closure of Chana power plant here continued for the second day Saturday, while the southerners have, so far, given cooperation with local authorities in power consumption. Sutthichai Sooksisaen, chief of provincial energy office in Songkhla, said power consumption in the South on Friday stood at 2,100 megawatts, lower than the region’s daily capacity of 2,300 megawatts, due to cooperation given by every sector. However, Sutthichai said relevant officials are closely monitoring power consumption over the weekend, it is expected to rise, as many tourists will visit the region and many activities will be held between 6.30 p.m. – 10.30 p.m. -- considered as peak hours for power consumption. He said there would be sufficient electricity for consumption in the South and it would be unnecessary to ask for power supply from the Central region if every sector in the South helped in avoiding wasteful use of electricity. The Chana power plant which runs on natural gas was forced to temporarily close down due to the 28-days maintenance shutdown of the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area’s natural gas field, prompting electrical power generated in region to drop by 710 megawatts per day. This had raised fear of power blackout in the region. (TNA)