Egat governor Kraisi Karnasuta said yesterday that the state agency was forming a development plan for power plants to be linked to the electricity system after 2011.

Initially, the authority has the ability to build five more power plants with a total production capacity of 3,500 megawatts, he said.

These will be extensions of existing plants located at Wang Noi, Pranakhon Nua, Songkhla, and Bang Prakong.

The first three sites are each capable of accommodating one more power plant with a capacity of 700 megawatts.

The Bang Prakong site is able to take two more 700 megawatt plants.

"The expansion of these power plants will cost a total of Bt85 billion," Kraisi said.

He added that building on existing sites would help Egat save operating costs because there will be no need to spend on new infrastructure.

The lower operating costs will translate into cheaper electricity prices.

Because it currently has a low debt-to-equity ratio of only 0.8 times, Egat has room to borrow from financial institutions to fund the projects.

Kraisi said that in 2007 Egat plans to spend Bt14 billion on four new power plants that have already received Cabinet approval.

Of this sum, about Bt7 billion will come from Egat's working capital and the rest will come from financial institutions.

He said Egat would be ready to listen to anyone who sees benefits or losses from its power plant projects, especially from coal-fired plants, at hearings on Friday.

Egat also signed an agreement with Rajamangala University of Technology, Thanyaburi, yesterday giving the university a research and development scholarship worth Bt13.52 million to produce a prototype for a windmill power plant.