EGAT to sign deals with four power producers

If any of the projects do not win environmental impact assessment (EIA) approval by September, Egat will cancel all purchases, according to a source at the Energy Ministry.

"Signing the contracts now would lock in the prices, before the producers get to raise their prices in line with the higher investment costs. Meanwhile, the contracts would also allow the producers to seek funding," the source said.

The four IPPs, with a combined capacity of 4,400 megawatts, were short-listed after a second round of bidding last year. All are now ready to proceed with their planned power plants, run by natural gas and coal, which are scheduled to feed electricity to the system from 2022 to 2024.

Only GHE-One has won EIA approval for its 660MW coal-fired plant. The others are National Power Supply's 540MW coal-fired plant, and Siam Energy and Power Generation Supply's natural gas power plants with a capacity of 1,600MW each.

Their proposed prices average between Bt2.135 and Bt2.648 per unit throughout the contract period.