Thailand to buy electricity from southern China

BANGKOK, June 10 (TNA) - The state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) has signed a pact with China Southern Power Grid to buy electricity from southern China. EGAT Governor Suthat Patmasiriwat told journalists on Monday that EGAT signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China Southern Power Grid Co. last week, under which both sides form a joint committee to study trade, costs and power transmission lines set to stretch from Yunnan province in southern China to Thailand. Suthat acknowledged that electricity purchase from China Southern Power Grid is highly possible, as it has excessive electricity from a hydroelectric power plant in Yunnan, and that the purchase of hydroelectricity will support stable energy prices and security in Thailand. According to the EGAT governor, the Thai and Chinese governments earlier signed an MOU on electricity trade on November 12, 1998, under which both sides agreed with the trade of 3,000 megawatts of electricity with the purchase to be realized by 2017 and China would propose its power producers for Thailand. The EGAT governor said that Thai and Chinese authorities are also discussing financial returns for Laos, as transmission lines will stretch from southern China to Thailand through Laos. (TNA)