Energy projects face opposition, academics warn

More than 800 people gather in front of Chiang Rai Provincial Hall to back the building of an ecofriendly power plant. This demonstration came after Chiang Rai Governor Sumeth Saengnumnuan cancelled the construction of the plant after pressure from anothe

Under a longterm requirement, proposed sites for two nuclear power plants need to be decided this year, while more than 220 biomass power plants are also due to be built this year. About 60 biomass built last year faced protests and criticism by local communities.

Harnnarong Yaowalert, a senior official with the Wildlife Fund Foundation, said a Cabinet decision during the Surayud Chulanont government stipulated that nuclear power plants would be built in Thailand and residents in many provinces earmarked as possible sites had already protested against them.

Surveys are scheduled to be conducted in another two provinces - Nakhon Sawan and Chanthaburi - where local opposition is not beyond expectations.

Conventional hydropower projects even encounter local opposition - such as the Nam Kum Dam project in Ubon Ratchathani and Pak Chom Dam in Loei, where surveys could not be done due to resisitance by local villagers.

Biomass power production is a new scheme facing disapproval - because people have learnt project owners have avoided conducting an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) or a Health Impact Assessment (HIA), as required under the Article 67 of the Constitution - by declaring the production output under the legal limit.

"Most biomass plants say their product output will be 9 to 9.9 megawatts, to avoid a condition that set 10megawatt output as the limit for plants requiring an EIA and HIA," he explained.

Of the first 60 biomass power plants permitted to be built, he said 10 of them had announced their output at 5 megawatts, while a few more said 57 megawatts, and the remainder suspiciously stated their output at 9 to 9.9 MW.

He said this pattern was expected to continue with operators tipped to seek permission for another 220 plants this year 2010.

The objective of biomass power plants was to use local or leftover materials but this was not actually happening in practice, he said.

"In many plants based in the Northeast, which are supposed to burn rice husk from local farms, the rice husk is transported far away from the plants from elsewhere. These biomass plants will inevitably turn to use lignite as fuel one day," he said.

There was no regulatory body overseeing the operation of biomass power plants in terms of environmental effects on nearby communities, he said.

"The Department of Industrial Works checks specifications at the sites and operations, while the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning, which is supposed to cope with healthhazards currently played no role on this environmental issue. Maybe the Office thinks this matter is too small for it," he said.

Two biomass plants in Trang and Khon Kaen fuelled by parawood had caused excessive dust, while biomass plants that created environmental and health hazards in Tak, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chiang Rai and Ubon Ratchathani had faced protests and roadblocks by angry villagers.

Harnnarong predicted the biomass projects would face the strongest opposition, ahead of nuclear power sites and crossborder hydropower projects.

Decharat Sukkamnerd, a Kasetsart University lecturer, said foresaw problems in four types of energy projects: four Independent Power Producer (IPP) projects which were hurriedly approved by the authorities who could not fully commit to financial terms if those projects were blocked by public disapproval; biomass power plants, plus windmill power projects, and nuclear power sites, which must be decided by year's end.

The longterm Power Development Plan (PDP) had been extended to cover a 20year period instead the an original length of 15 years. This would require officials to work out a final master plan for national energy use.

But he said designating project sites could ignite conflicts and spur protests by local residents, he warned.