Egco to invest Bt10 bn to keep revenue level

Egco Group has set aside about Bt10 billion to invest in power plants overseas in a bid to keep its revenue at least at the Bt5 billion level annually.

"Egco is in talks with about 10 wind and solar farms that are either under construction or are nearly completed so that the company can book any revenue from these farms this year," Sahust Pratuknukul, president of Electricity Generating Plc, said yesterday.

About Bt7 billion of the total capital expenditure budget would be spent on acquiring mid-sized coal mining businesses in Indonesia and large independent power producers in foreign countries.

The company is conducting a feasibility study on expanding the Quezon power plant in the Philippines and the Nam Thuen hydropower plant in Laos.

On the domestic front, the company plans to acquire a biodiesel refinery with the capacity of 200,000-300,000 litres per day as well as wind and solar farms with the capacity of 6-8 megawatts per year.

Last year, the company succeeded in building its stake in the Quezon power plant to 52.13 per cent from 26.13 per cent.

TJ Cogen, TP Cogen and SK Cogen, which are joint venture power plants of Ecgo Group, won contracts on November 25 from |the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) to provide the utility 90MW each for 25 years.

The solar farm project in Lop Buri, which is 33.33 per cent owned by Egco, reached commercial operation and started supplying 8MWs in the first phase to the grid in December. The plant is expected to run at its full capacity of 55MWs this quarter.

The company has taken a 12.50-per-cent stake in Xayaburi Hydropower Co in Laos and has a contract with Egat to sell it 1.22GWs. The power plant is expected to go on stream in January 2019.

The company has acquired |90 per cent of Theppana Wind Farm in Chaiyaphum and 99.99 per cent of the SPP Four solar |farm with capacity of 6MWs in |the overlapping area of Si Sa Ket and Ubon Ratchathani. The solar plant has operated since last month.

Egco Group has a total of 16 operating power plants, representing capacity of 4.44GWs. Out of the purchase and sales contracts with Egat for 3.86GWs, 12 per cent were won by Ecgo Group.

The company could achieve its revenue target for last year, showing Bt5.3 billion in revenue before foreign-exchange adjustments, down Bt963 million from the year earlier.