Renewable power deals to be ready in Q3

The state grid is expected to sign power purchase agreements (PPAs) with companies selected to join the state's 5.2-gigawatt renewables scheme within the third quarter of this year, says the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

The Office of the Attorney General is currently examining the legal aspects of the scheme, with power plant construction projects proposed by 175 selected companies.

Once the scrutiny process is finished, the state grid will sign PPAs with these companies, said Khomgrich Tantravanich, secretary-general of the ERC, which is overseeing the scheme.

The state grid comprises the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and two state electricity distribution arms -- the Metropolitan Electricity Authority and the Provincial Electricity Authority.

The 5.2GW capacity of the scheme includes bio-gas (335 megawatts), wind power (1,500MW), on-ground solar farms (2,368MW), and on-ground solar farms with energy storage systems (1,000MW).

The scheme drew huge interest from a number of companies which proposed projects with a total capacity of almost 17GW.

Only 175 companies were chosen in an auction, and the total capacity was reduced to 4.85GW.

Gulf Energy Development, Thailand's largest power producer by market value, commands the largest share of capacity in the renewables scheme, an ERC source said earlier.

Gulf's 28 projects have a combined capacity of more than 2GW.

Other selected companies include Absolute Clean Energy Plc, with 112MW from 18 projects, Thai Solar Energy Plc, with 100MW from eight projects, and BCPG, the power generation arm of Bangchak Group, with 12MW from five projects.

In March, the National Energy Policy Council agreed to approve the second-phase renewables scheme, with total capacity of 3.66GW.

In the second auction, the 3.66GW capacity is projected to come from on-ground solar farms and on-ground solar farms with energy storage systems (2,632MW), wind power (1,000MW), biogas (335MW), and industrial waste-to-energy projects (30MW).

The ERC is improving national energy data management under the ERC Data Sharing Project by using big data technology in order to facilitate authorities and ensure better decision-making on energy plans, said Mr Khomgrich.

The construction of a data centre is scheduled to be finished by the end of this year.