Thai Energy Ministry Insists Nuclear Power Plant Still In The Picture

ENERGY

Nuclear power still in the picture

By WATCHARAPONG THONGRUNG

THE NATION

The Energy Ministry insists that a nuclear power plant is in Thailand's future.

BANGKOK: -- The promotion of alternative energy, including nuclear power, is one means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, permanent secretary Norkun Sithipong said during the "Energy and Climate Change in Apec 2010" international meeting yesterday in Thailand.

According to the Power Development Plan for 2010-2030, the country will build five one-gigawatt nuclear power plants to feed electricity into the system in 2020, 2021, 2024, 2025 and 2028.

Thailand has completed the study on establishing the nuclear plants and is waiting for the International Atomic Energy Agency to review the construction plan. Then the plan will go to the Cabinet early next year for a decision on whether the country will proceed with building the reactors.

Viraphol Jirapraditkul, director-general of the Energy Policy and Planning Office, said the country also has conducted a preliminary study of the 20-year energy savings plan, which aims to see all sectors reduce energy demand by 25 per cent by 2030.

The focus of the country to save energy suggests Thailand is transitioning from energy consuming equipment to energy saving equipment and machinery in order to achieve the energy saving goal.

Thailand would be one of the Asian countries to benefit from the drive towards a low-carbon society.

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation has set aside US$4 billion to invest in renewable energy and carbon projects in the two years through March 2013 to help Japan offset its emissions, an official said.

The credits from the projects will be generated after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol expires, Bloomberg reported, referring to an interview with JBIC executive director Fumio Hoshi, who attended Carbon Forum Asia 2010 in Singapore yesterday.

The amount is part of Japan's $15 billion commitment on projects that generate carbon credit, he said. Japan, the world's fifth-biggest carbon dioxide emitter in 2008, wants to use offsetting to help it cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020. International talks in Tianjin, China to reach an agreement to combat climate change ended this month with little progress made.

"We will fund projects both on a bilateral level and multilateral basis through loans and investments in environment funds, Hoshi said. The bank will also offer guarantees on behalf of borrowers and invest in clean-energy funds to meet its commitment, he said.

Japan has started talks with Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Thailand and the Philippines on the bilateral plan, Noriaki Ozawa, director of the ministry's Kyoto mechanism promotion office, told reporters in Tokyo last week. Japan wants them to co-exist with the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism, which doesn't include nuclear power and carbon capture and storage technologies, he said.

The selected projects will be developed in Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mexico, Malaysia, Thailand, Maldives and China, according to a statement by Japan's trade ministry.

-- The Nation 2010-10-28