It also plans to contribute Bt400 million to a community-development fund that will allocate money from power plants nationwide for the improvement of the environment in nearby communities.

The fund is in the pipeline apparently to lessen community resistance to power plants, which are believed to emit toxic emissions.

Kraisri admitted that before erecting the coal-fired plants, Egat needed to seek acceptance from the community. He also promised to import high-quality coal from Indonesia, in order to ensure minimal toxic emissions.

"We're surveying a few locations that can accommodate four units, each with a capacity of 700MW," he said.

The new plants should mainly serve those areas where demand for power grows at the highest rate: the eastern, western and central parts of the country.

Kraisri said the development cost of a coal-fired plant was now higher than a natural-gas plant but that in the long term a coal-fired plant would be more sustainable, because coal's price depended on supply and demand, while natural gas depended on oil prices, which tended to rise further.

Meanwhile, Egat deputy governor Apichart Diloksopon told an energy seminar yesterday that this year Egat planned to buy 1,030MW from small power producers (SPPs) and expected to buy more from small producers that generated power from recyclable sources.

Energy deputy permanent secretary Norkhun Sitthipong yesterday said power purchases from SPPs would rise to 4,000MW.

The scheme is aimed at promoting recyclable power to reduce reliance on fuel. SPPs now focus mostly on wind power, waste and solar power. They are entitled to a special rate - an additional Bt8 a unit for solar power, for example.

While more SPPs are invited to submit their applications for producing power, biomass expert Natee Sithiprasasana told the seminar that in promoting recyclable power, the ministry should be concerned about raw materials. Otherwise, each plant will suffer from scarcity, and that will lead to an increase in raw-material prices. He suggested a new plant be allowed to source raw materials only within a 100-kilometre radius.