Published on 28/11/2014
Energy master plan expected this year The Energy Ministry is expected to finalise Thailand's first integrated plan for the energy sector by year-end, says permanent secretary Areepong Bhoochaoom. "It will include investments in all types of fuels, with demand and supply-side together in a single master plan," he said. The master plan will be a guideline for energy development from 2015 to 2036, including a power development plan, energy-saving plan, renewable energy development, and oil and gas consumption plans. Thailand's gas supply is expected to be exhausted in a couple decades, leaving the country facing expensive liquefied natural gas imports. The plan includes directions for related industries such as automobiles, oil refineries, agriculture, biofuels, electrical, energy-saving equipment and energy service companies. In the oil and gas sector the master plan will designate which types of fuels will be prioritised for usage in the transport sector. "We have too many kinds of fuels such as gasohol E10, E20 and E85, diesel, as well as natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas," said Mr Areepong. It is a burden for service stations to serve all these types, while auto companies want a clear government policy supporting only a few types of fuels to help them decide which models to produce, he said. "We have to choose either LPG or natural gas for our transport sector," said Mr Areepong. For example, LPG may be shifted to feed high-value petrochemical production plants, while natural gas may be used in the transport sector. In the future, the renewable energy focus will be on waste-to-energy, biomass and biogas because of massive feed stock from domestic agriculture waste and community sludge waste. Electricity development will diversify from heavy dependency on gas to imported low-sulphur coal, hydro and nuclear.
In related news, solar farm investors who received operating licences for solar farms in 2010 must confirm their intention to develop projects with the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency by today. Some 178 licence holders with a combined capacity at 1,073 megawatts have not developed their projects. Licences are to be revoked tomorrow. Those investors who still want to develop their projects need to accept an incentive reduction from an adder tariff of 6.50 baht per kilowatt-hour to a feedin tariff of 5.66 baht. Licence holders were eligible for an adder tariff the first 10 years of solar farm operations, and those who have begun construction or operations still are.