GR-tech in energy joint venture

GR-Tech's managing director and chief executive is Piroon Shinawatra, the nephew of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

UK-based Sindicatum has been dedicated to the acquisition, development, structuring and financing of projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries.

Its strategic shareholders include Citigroup, the world's largest banking group, and AIG, the world's largest insurer. Other shareholders include Black River Asset Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cargill.

"We have a long-term commitment to improve environment and self-sufficiency in clean energy in Thailand. Importantly, we are particularly encouraged by the Thai government to make environmental improvement a reality," said Sindicatum Carbon Capital Asia's executive chairman Anthony Moody.

William Byun, representative director of its subsidiary Sindicatum Clean Energy, said Thailand had a lot of opportunities in the alternative-energy business due to the huge volumes of biomass and biogas in the manufacturing sector.

Meanwhile, Piroon Shinawatra said GR-Tech had started to invest about US$85 million (Bt2.86 billion) in two clean-energy projects in Chiang Mai and Bangkok.

The project will produce clean energy by capturing methane and other gases emitted from the waste landfills.

The project in Chiang Mai will commence electricity generation at 1.2 megawatts and the other project in Bangkok will start with 8.5 megawatts. Both the projects are expected to commence operation next year.

Piroon said the two projects would generate revenue of around Bt300 million to Bt400 million per year by selling electricity and carbon credits.

GR-Tech has registered capital of Bt20 million, which is expected to increase soon in a bid to support the company's new investment projects. However, Piroon declined to disclose the figure as well as the financial source for its investment.

"I cannot reveal further details about our joint venture and financial sources," he said.

Energy Minister Poonpirom Liptapanlop was also invited to the press conference yesterday.

Only on Tuesday, the Energy Ministry announced a programme to sponsor 20 per cent of investment in each project to encourage manufacturers to produce electricity using biogas technology.

The programme is sponsored by the Energy Conservation Fund with a budget of Bt204 million.