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Published on February 25, 2008

"Local financial staff mostly evaluate biogas or biomass projects as high risk, because they know little about them," said Pairat Chengphungporn, managing director of Andaman Palm Oil and Andaman Bio-Energy in Krabi province.

He said the situation had forced them to borrow from foreign institutions at high interest rates as they could not access domestic loans and that therefore they needed more money for these investment projects.

Andaman Bio-Energy is to invest Bt600 million to build a biomass power plant with a production capacity of 9 megawatts per hour this year.

The project is a part of the venture-capital project of the Office of Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion.

Despite being a joint-venture project with the public agency, some of its investment finance must come from overseas financial sources, he said.

Chuchai Khunsue, managing director of Modern Green Power in Krabi, said it was major problem and the authorities should find a solution as soon as possible. "It's no use when high-ranking executives support an alternative-energy investment and their operational staff have little knowledge about it," he said.

He said more than 90 per cent of palm-oil producers in Krabi province had diversified into these value-added businesses, which were in line with the Energy Ministry's policy to promote alternative-energy production and consumption.

CDMs are facing the same problem. "It will improve the environment and create more income and investment for the country. Hence the government should launch a clear policy to promote CDMs in Thailand and provide more information to the public," he said.

Chuchai, also head of the Federation of Thai Industries in Krabi, said the government should establish a Thai Palm Oil Board to manage the industry.

Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul

The Nation

Krabi