Krabi Energy Park to inform public about clean coal power

The first Energy Park will be set up in Krabi next year at a cost of Bt500 million to promote community awareness and acceptance of coal-fired power plants.

"The park in Krabi will focus on providing knowledge on clean coal technology," an Energy Ministry source said yesterday. "The ministry is looking for a location for the park."

The Power Development Plan 2013 targets coal-fuelled plant capacity rising to 10 gigawatts from 3.2GW in the third amendment of the 2010 plan.

Nakhon Ratchasima and Chiang Mai were also selected for an Energy Park. Krabi would be the pilot project.

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) plans to build an 800-megawatt coal-fired plant in Krabi that will begin to feed into the power grid in 2019.

Work on the Krabi park will begin after the ministry's fiscal 2014 budget is approved by Parliament, the source said.

Recently Energy Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal said Thailand relied too heavily on natural gas in producing electricity and should seek alternatives such as clean coal.

Under the new power development plan, coal-fired plants will be built by Egat and private investors, while the ministry's role is to provide correct information to people on the plants.