Samui & Phangan Still Without Power For 2Nd Day .story Continues With Updated Info & Suggestions.

[spidermike007]

So according to you, nobody should be held responsible? What about the lost revenue, on what is now a nearly deserted island, in the lead up to the peak season? Where does leadership come into play? Why would the PM not have responsibility with this crisis? Or, are you saying nearly 100 hours without power, in one of the top resorts areas of the country is no big deal?

Not sure where this erroneous rumour of a 'nearly deserted island' started from. I would guess that it was not started by anyone driving around the ring road.

The stories of 'thousands of tourists fleeing the island" and "only 1,000 tourists left on Samuui" are just sensational, headline-grabbing, verbal diarrhoea, bearing no relationship to reality.

The way that things work in Thailand has not been fixed in the last century, why do we think that a few million tourists a year are going to change it in this or the next century.

I spoke to some girls yesterday (the 12th) who work in a busy massage shop. They told me the days leading up to the power outage they did as many as 16 massages a day (shop total). Since the outage, most days are zero. One day since then they had 2 massages. Yesterday they had 4 massages. Best day since the outage. So, contrary to your opinion there was a dramatic effect, and millions of baht were lost.

[spidermike007]

Ultimately the PM was responsible. She has to take responsibility, or she cannot call herself a leader. Certainly the governor of surat province should be immediately removed from his job. Immediately. He showed tremendous incompetence. The central govt. should have gotten the military involved after 24 hours. Once they realized the 12 year old boys running the power authority had no means of making the repair, they should have treated this like the national crisis this was, and done anything possible to get it fixed within hours, not days. Just one more black eye on the face of thailand. Just one more piece of evidence that regardless of the face they like to put on it, thailand is deeply mired within the 3rd world, and the infrastructure here is not what they want us to believe. Coming just before the peak season, the timing was poor.

Just go home when you can't handle the country

Are you one of those black or white guys, who do not permit the presence of gray? Is life so simple for you? What issues do you have with commentary? Would you prefer fascism? Many of us love it here, but that does not prevent us from airing our grievances. Is it possibly you are taking yourself too seriously?

I am taking myself too seriously?

This from the guy who wrote all these agressive personal diatribes against the mayor and now again about Yingluck and everybody else he can think of? Who thinks Samui is the navel of Thailand, who seems to have no understanding of basic Thai politics but wants everything to work as in the West? Who wants to remove everybody from his/her post who doesn't function like he wants?

Contrary to you I took this blackout very easy, and I have business on Samui that also suffered.

Seems you don't realize that your rant sounds extremely condenscending and patronizing, and when you love it here it certainly doesn't show in any of your comments. There is a big difference between an agressive rant and constructive criticism (or airing grievances as you call it).

Take a deep look in the mirror and you might realize that what you're accusing me of in your comment is more a description of yourself.

Have a happy life.

I do have a very, very happy life. I am truly blessed. Contrary to your interpretation I absolutely love Samui. I also think the mayor is doing a good job on alot of levels. Nobody prior to him has done more to improve the Islands infrastructure, and I now hope he is re-elected. So, you see there is always room for improvement in life. I have had my share of complaints, and I think this is an xlnt. forum to address them. But, do you think for a second I do not love this country and it's people.

[notmyself]

Nobody prior to him has done more to improve the Islands infrastructure

Such as?

[PoorSucker]

Nobody prior to him has done more to improve the Islands infrastructure

Such as?

New water-pipes, tarmac, drainage.

[notmyself]

Nobody prior to him has done more to improve the Islands infrastructure

Such as?

New water-pipes, tarmac, drainage.

Did they happen to coincide with any particular event? The water pipe 'upgrade' was instigated some 2 1/2 years back after the island was without government water for a month. The tarmac was put down at an alarming speed around 3 years ago just before the Princess (long live the Princess) was due to visit and have you seen the state of it now? The drain 'upgrade' and klong clearing was after and a result of the floods in 2011. This is not proactive stuff.

[Tropicalevo]

I do have a very, very happy life. I am truly blessed. Contrary to your interpretation I absolutely love Samui. I also think the mayor is doing a good job on alot of levels. Nobody prior to him has done more to improve the Islands infrastructure, and I now hope he is re-elected. So, you see there is always room for improvement in life. I have had my share of complaints, and I think this is an xlnt. forum to address them. But, do you think for a second I do not love this country and it's people.

I agree with you totally re the mayor (and I too love Samui). For years, the previous administations only paid lip service to Samui whilst the revenues went to improving Suratthani.

Not everything that the current mayor has done, has worked. But he keeps on trying to improve the place. I too wish him good luck in the elections.

[loeuftok]

I have a restaurant and a web design company in koh pha ngan.

I lost about 100 000 thb during this power outage.

We lost the content of the freezers, no customers at all since most of them left the island.

I went to surrat to buy 2 generators, knowing that if it happened once there is a lot of chances that it will happen again.

major problem was the lack of information and all the rumors going around.

I heard this afternoon that there will be power shut down tomorow again... For how long?

I dont care anymore, I have my generators

[notmyself]

I have a restaurant and a web design company in koh pha ngan.

I lost about 100 000 thb during this power outage.

We lost the content of the freezers, no customers at all since most of them left the island.

I went to surrat to buy 2 generators, knowing that if it happened once there is a lot of chances that it will happen again.

major problem was the lack of information and all the rumors going around.

I heard this afternoon that there will be power shut down tomorow again... For how long?

I dont care anymore, I have my generators

Ouch, 100k is quite a hit. I wish you the very best for the future.

[khunPer]

Did they happen to coincide with any particular event? The water pipe 'upgrade' was instigated some 2 1/2 years back after the island was without government water for a month. The tarmac was put down at an alarming speed around 3 years ago just before the Princess (long live the Princess) was due to visit and have you seen the state of it now? The drain 'upgrade' and klong clearing was after and a result of the floods in 2011. This is not proactive stuff.

And they are still making new drains, new waterpies and a new lot of tarmac every year - so really improving a little every year, and that is fine

[notmyself]

Did they happen to coincide with any particular event? The water pipe 'upgrade' was instigated some 2 1/2 years back after the island was without government water for a month. The tarmac was put down at an alarming speed around 3 years ago just before the Princess (long live the Princess) was due to visit and have you seen the state of it now? The drain 'upgrade' and klong clearing was after and a result of the floods in 2011. This is not proactive stuff.

And they are still making new drains, new waterpies and a new lot of tarmac every year - so really improving a little every year, and that is fine

All that is being done is bringing the Samui infrastructure up to a level that was needed some 10-15 years ago. Don't get me wrong, I love the place and doubt I will ever leave.

[longtom]

Are you one of those black or white guys, who do not permit the presence of gray? Is life so simple for you? What issues do you have with commentary? Would you prefer fascism? Many of us love it here, but that does not prevent us from airing our grievances. Is it possibly you are taking yourself too seriously?

I am taking myself too seriously?

This from the guy who wrote all these agressive personal diatribes against the mayor and now again about Yingluck and everybody else he can think of? Who thinks Samui is the navel of Thailand, who seems to have no understanding of basic Thai politics but wants everything to work as in the West? Who wants to remove everybody from his/her post who doesn't function like he wants?

Contrary to you I took this blackout very easy, and I have business on Samui that also suffered.

Seems you don't realize that your rant sounds extremely condenscending and patronizing, and when you love it here it certainly doesn't show in any of your comments. There is a big difference between an agressive rant and constructive criticism (or airing grievances as you call it).

Take a deep look in the mirror and you might realize that what you're accusing me of in your comment is more a description of yourself.

Have a happy life.

I do have a very, very happy life. I am truly blessed. Contrary to your interpretation I absolutely love Samui. I also think the mayor is doing a good job on alot of levels. Nobody prior to him has done more to improve the Islands infrastructure, and I now hope he is re-elected. So, you see there is always room for improvement in life. I have had my share of complaints, and I think this is an xlnt. forum to address them. But, do you think for a second I do not love this country and it's people.

Glad to hear that we are in general on the same boat.My apologies when I got a different impression from some of your earlier posts about Samui that I remembered. But you have to admit that 'the mayor is doing a great job on a lot of levels' doesn't fully correspond with some of your previous statements:

So, what will stop someone greedy, like the mayor of Samui, Jaikwong Ramnate, from collecting all the money he can, while deferring the building of roads, the collection of garbage on the beaches, the construction of a sewage system that would allow the water to be reasonably clean, etc., etc. The road construction has already been paid for by the central government, yes he puts it off, in order to enrich himself

The fabulously incompetent Mayor, Jaikwong Ramnate, continues to do very little for Samui, besides improve the roads, a little bit at a time.

And it is all about the spineless mayor, spineless sheriff, and spineless police not being willing, capable, or interested in doing anything about it. <snip> The mayor is too busy lining his pockets to give a dam_n about anything that benefits the island.

And don't think I see Thailand/Samui with rose tinted glasses either, I'm just trying not to get too agitated over matters I (we) don't have any influence on anyway.

So let's hope we have enough electricity in the high season and they will pave the roads soon before more people fall into the freaking holes in the road we have around Nathon in the last few weeks.

Cheers and all the best

P.S.: Had to snip out some of the conversation because of too many quotes, sorry.

[khunPer]

Several have talked about solar energy.

In some European countries, a lot of solar panels have been mounted on private roofs and produce quite some power, even at up north at wintertime. The meter will more-or-less turn backwards. However, that is based on governmental subsidizes and when that is removed or even reduced, the solar panels becomes a loss. And that happens right now, as the governments get no tax from the self-produced-power. Just like windmills – green energy costs more to produce than conventionally energy.

The problem is storing power from daytime to nighttime. Lets say you want to produce and store 10mw for 2 hours use, ie. 20mw. Stored in 12-volt batteries you will need to store some 1.67 million Amperes; or rather 2 million, as you may loose 10-15% when inverted to mains. If you for example think of normal 80Ah 12v car batteries, then you may need some 25,000 of them.

Solar panels may be cheaper today than a few years ago, when I was building my house and looked into using solar panels to produce some of the night lighting - mainly because of the common power cuts in Maenam. Based on a 4b/kwh rate, it would take 17 years to recover the investment, without interest and maintenance. Batteries does not last that long, rather some few years only. Cheaper to use an UPS for some extra lights at stairs, bathrooms etc. during blackouts; which may last for up to 7-10 hours (total 36Ah), depending on battery wear out. Unfortunately not very successful during the last 3 days power cut, as the two-hour power-window never was near enough to recharge UPS-batteries – so perhaps rethink solar power!

In this long thread there has been mentioned 35 units of 300kw mobile power trucks; that is about 10mw and may fill the peak time gap from 90mw to 105mw.

[NHJ]

actually the truck can deliver 400kw at max, but are maybe used only up to 300kw.

[nod]

I would politely suggest that it might be time to update the title of this post.

It was posted at time of the incident, but makes it look like it's happening now.

Cheers.

[Rooo]

I would politely suggest that it might be time to update the title of this post.

It was posted at time of the incident, but makes it look like it's happening now.

Cheers.

I have altered the title with an update.

[ClaudeFeller]

Here is another interesting statement:

NathonCity According to the news ;

Electricity

- Currently there are 3 power lines from the mainland supply electricity to Samui (and from Samui to Pha Ngan), 147 megawatts in total.

- 104 megawatts is the highest consumption record on Samui which happened on August 2012.

- The fourth power line, 120 megawatts capacity, will be completed in March 2013.

Tap water

- Production is 1,425 cubic meters per hour. Consumption is 1,225 cubic meters per hour.

- A feasibility study of a water production factory (120 cubic meters per hour) on the mainland and connect to Samui with 120 km. pipeline is on the process. If approved, will finish in 2017.

Conclusion:

We are running short of

- electricity because of poor undersea cable

- water because not enough water on Samui

[notmyself]

2 lines (technically 14 as it's 9+5), the third one goes from Samui to KPN.

[Tropicalevo]

Well done Claude - some facts at last.

I thought that one of the undersea cables 'had a problem' and wasn't functioning at full capacity.

The one that failed last week is still not operating at full capacity. Although we might have power, we may not be getting 220 volts. Also - when the peak times are hitting us - the generators are cutting in.

Both the additional water catchment and the new cable are on the books for 2013. The cable is being manufactured as we speak and that is how they know the delivery date (March).

This info is from a conversation with someone from the local electricity board - I don't do facebook. Sorry

[notmyself]

Well done Claude - some facts at last.

Given the first 'fact' is incorrect leads me to question what than follows.

I thought that one of the undersea cables 'had a problem' and wasn't functioning at full capacity.

The one that failed last week is still not operating at full capacity. Although we might have power, we may not be getting 220 volts. Also - when the peak times are hitting us - the generators are cutting in.

One of the 'strands' from a band of nine spat the dummy so all eight remaining were turned off for some four days. The generators are supplementing the reduction in Wattage (not volts) during peak usage but at some stage the entire cascade (eight working and one not) will have to be turned off for repairs to be done. The other cable (5 strands) works fine but provides nothing close to the power needed.

[Tropicalevo]

Well done Claude - some facts at last.

Given the first 'fact' is incorrect leads me to question what than follows.

I thought that one of the undersea cables 'had a problem' and wasn't functioning at full capacity.

The one that failed last week is still not operating at full capacity. Although we might have power, we may not be getting 220 volts. Also - when the peak times are hitting us - the generators are cutting in.

One of the 'strands' from a band of nine spat the dummy so all eight remaining were turned off for some four days. The generators are supplementing the reduction in Wattage (not volts) during peak usage but at some stage the entire cascade (eight working and one not) will have to be turned off for repairs to be done. The other cable (5 strands) works fine but provides nothing close to the power needed.

Thank you - the mist slowly clears

By the way - fire sale on gennies in Homepro! A few special offers available (still not that cheap though - 12.5 KVA 128,000 baht)

[notmyself]

By the way - fire sale on gennies in Homepro! A few special offers available (still not that cheap though - 12.5 KVA 128,000 baht)

12.5! I could run my house on a 2.4.

[samuijimmy]

Well done Claude - some facts at last.

Given the first 'fact' is incorrect leads me to question what than follows.

I thought that one of the undersea cables 'had a problem' and wasn't functioning at full capacity.

The one that failed last week is still not operating at full capacity. Although we might have power, we may not be getting 220 volts. Also - when the peak times are hitting us - the generators are cutting in.

One of the 'strands' from a band of nine spat the dummy so all eight remaining were turned off for some four days. The generators are supplementing the reduction in Wattage (not volts) during peak usage but at some stage the entire cascade (eight working and one not) will have to be turned off for repairs to be done. The other cable (5 strands) works fine but provides nothing close to the power needed.

Thank you - the mist slowly clears

By the way - fire sale on gennies in Homepro! A few special offers available (still not that cheap though - 12.5 KVA 128,000 baht)

No doubt it was Homepro going around blurting out the Hoax announcements yesterday, then ......in those "Rent a Speaker trucks" !!!

Some where I heard or read (maybe here) that that cable that burst in Kharnom, was only 85 % fixed....

Waiting on new cable to come from Norway...(I believe) to install the new one, due for March.

Let's hope so, although sooner would be better!

[Tropicalevo]

By the way - fire sale on gennies in Homepro! A few special offers available (still not that cheap though - 12.5 KVA 128,000 baht)

12.5! I could run my house on a 2.4.

So you don't have a pool? I run my place (3 beds, 3 fridges, 3 computers, 4 fans. electric oven, pool and a water heater - 8 kva no sweat. If I switch on the a/c for the dog - it struggles. (The a/c not the dog ). Main issue - single phase Gennie - 3 phase house, but definitely doable. A couple of electricians refused to quote when I asked for a price to install.

[Rooo]

I was lucky, well sort of,bought mine during the big storms, 12.5 last Geny available @ Homepro, 120k -less 3% = 116,400.

Also got given a free lawn mowe, sold it for 10K. Total cost 106,400 , I thought that was still too dear, but it paid for itself many times over.

[notmyself]

By the way - fire sale on gennies in Homepro! A few special offers available (still not that cheap though - 12.5 KVA 128,000 baht)

12.5! I could run my house on a 2.4.

So you don't have a pool? I run my place (3 beds, 3 fridges, 3 computers, 4 fans. electric oven, pool and a water heater - 8 kva no sweat. If I switch on the a/c for the dog - it struggles. (The a/c not the dog ). Main issue - single phase Gennie - 3 phase house, but definitely doable. A couple of electricians refused to quote when I asked for a price to install.

Live alone, one fridge, no pool (that I pay for), one bedroom, one fan, no oven or dog, one computer which sucks more juice than the AC and a laptop. This time of year the bill is <>600 a month.

[notmyself]

I was lucky, well sort of,bought mine during the big storms, 12.5 last Geny available @ Homepro, 120k -less 3% = 116,400.

Also got given a free lawn mowe, sold it for 10K. Total cost 106,400 , I thought that was still too dear, but it paid for itself many times over.

That's so much energy Rooo. What are you guys doing with it!

[robsamui]

Nobody prior to him has done more to improve the Islands infrastructure

Such as?

New water-pipes, tarmac, drainage.

Established a 'Green' curriculum at every one of the island's 25 (?) government schools, with recycling, composting, waste water reclamation, and programs of study as to what happens to plastic waste and garbage in general if not disposed of properly - including harm to marine life . . .

R

[notmyself]

Established a 'Green' curriculum at every one of the island's 25 (?) government schools, with recycling, composting, waste water reclamation, and programs of study as to what happens to plastic waste and garbage in general if not disposed of properly - including harm to marine life . . .

R

A worthwhile endeavor.

[easyas]

By the way - fire sale on gennies in Homepro! A few special offers available (still not that cheap though - 12.5 KVA 128,000 baht)

12.5! I could run my house on a 2.4.

Then why don't you - one step closer to a solution!

[easyas]

In Australia ii's on a house by house basis. I decide I want solar electricity and put in a solar system with my own personal battery bank. My next door neighbour decides against it. It costs me capital but my house value increases and I pay no electricity bills. Power cuts do not affect me. I will even get paid for supplying the grid any excess electricity I generate. It costs him no capital, but his house is less desirable and he continues to pay ever increasing electricity bills. As they say here - "up to you"!

There is sadly no provision for selling excess electricity in Thailand.

Recent topic http://www.thaivisa....ls-in-thailand/

So what?

That's a bonus in Australia - despite that here in Thailand still no power outages, no power bills!

Don't be greedy!

Edited December 13, 2012 by easyas