Deal to buy electricity from China
The Energy Ministry plans to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the purchase of 3,000 megawatts of electricity a year from China, and also negotiate to buy more power from the neighbouring countries' hydropower projects to ensure sustainable energy supply.
Pornchai Rujiprapa, permanent secretary of Energy, said the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) will sign an MoU with CRP, a major power producer in China, to develop a hydropower project in the southern part of Yunnan province with a capacity of 3,000 megawatts. The power from this Chinese source should enter the Thai grid from 2014. The deal is a part of the agreement between the Thai and Chinese governments signed on November 12, 1998 in Beijing, which stipulated that Thailand would receive 3,000 megawatts of power from China by 2017. The Chinese government will select the appropriate project for Thailand. Both governments will cooperate in the plans to build the linkage system between the two countries and the third country. Pornchai said that apart from the power generated from China, the Energy Minister would also discuss hydropower agreements with other countries. The Energy Ministry aims to increase the proportion of power imported from neighbouring countries to more than 20 per cent, according to the Power Development Plan from 2007 to 2021. Recently, the Energy Ministry discussed the prospects of importing power with Laos and China. Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand discussed with the Lao government last week to accelerate the execution of the remaining four power purchase agreements by the end of this year. The ministry will later discuss with the Burmese and Cambodian governments to speed up possible cooperation on hydropower. He said hydropower from neighbouring countries would be more economical for Thailand compared to other sources of power. Moreover, other kinds of power such as coal energy did not receive full public support.
Energy Reporters The Nation
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