Egat may restructure to facilitate overseas electricity trading business

Egat may restructure to facilitate overseas electricity trading business

By THE NATION

Kulit Sombatsiri

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) will consider changing its organisational structure to increase its flexibility, especially for the setting up of new companies that can support electricity trading business with foreign countries, including Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia.

Kulit Sombatsiri, the Ministry of Energy’s permanent secretary, said on Friday that the restructuring would be within the limitations of the current Egat act.

For the liquefied natural gas (LPG) trading business, the law would need to be amended as currently the law states Egat has to use LPG only in its power plants. Besides, Egat still has to wait for the bidding results of LPG imports on spot basis, according to the resolution of the Committee on Energy Policy Administration.

“The resolution assigned Egat to import a total of 130,000 tonnes of LPG, shipping two instalments in December 2019 and April 2020,” explained Kulit “and also the system test of third-party access competition must be finished this December”.

The permanent secretary said that LPG price during January to March next year would be higher than in December due to the increasing demand for LPG in Europe during winter. “However, we expect that the bidding price would be in the acceptable range,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Energy has urged Egat to speed up the construction of two power plants in Surat Thani province and complete them in 2025 and 2026. With an estimated investment budget of around Bt70 billion, the power plants will supply electricity to consumers in southern region after a coal power plant project in the area got delayed indefinitely.

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30377738