12-month delay sought in IPPs' supply to egat

Pornchai Rujiprapa, the ministry's permanent secretary, said yesterday that the committee, which is considering improvement of the country's electricity generation plan, would talk with the four IPPs next week on the matter.

He said one condition the committee would spell out to them was the price of the electricity to be purchased would remain unchanged after the postponement.

The four IPPs Egat will buy power from are GHE-One, which is scheduled to supply electricity in 2011, National Power Supply in 2013, Siam Energy in 2012 and Power Generation Supply in 2014.

Next week the committee will also talk with Egat about postponing the schedules of their Wang Noi power plant and Jana power plant, which are scheduled to begin supply in 2012.

The committee will also ask concerned state agencies to delay the construction of the proposed nuclear plant by one or two years from the original plan, to begin operations and supply power in 2020-2021.

The plan to delay the power purchase is due to the ministry's projection that the economic slowdown until 2010 will lead to lower demand for electricity.

According to estimates, if the economy registers growth of only 1 per cent during the period, demand for electricity will drop more than 15 per cent. If the economy grows at 2 per cent or 3 per cent, power demand will fall by 10 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.

The country is estimated to record a 23-per-cent growth in reserve electricity during the next two years against the declining demand.