Electricity On The Islands.

[sbk]

Thats ironic. When I first moved to Phangan it was powered by big diesel generators in Thong Sala. They moved them to Koh Tao saying now that we had the underwater cable we didn't need them anymore.

[angiud]

This morning I was in Thong Sala (Koh Phangan) for a new contract for electricity. There were 4 trucks-generator full running.

They just said "power not enough"...

[angiud]

Thats ironic. When I first moved to Phangan it was powered by big diesel generators in Thong Sala. They moved them to Koh Tao saying now that we had the underwater cable we didn't need them anymore.

Actually I've seen in a building next to the PEA offices 2 huge generators (10/15 mt long). But they look like abandoned

[sbk]

Thats ironic. When I first moved to Phangan it was powered by big diesel generators in Thong Sala. They moved them to Koh Tao saying now that we had the underwater cable we didn't need them anymore.

Actually I've seen in a building next to the PEA offices 2 huge generators (10/15 mt long). But they look like abandoned

that must be them. they told everyone they were sending them to Koh Tao. too bad they let them just rust like that.

[samuijimmy]

Thats ironic. When I first moved to Phangan it was powered by big diesel generators in Thong Sala. They moved them to Koh Tao saying now that we had the underwater cable we didn't need them anymore.

Actually I've seen in a building next to the PEA offices 2 huge generators (10/15 mt long). But they look like abandoned

that must be them. they told everyone they were sending them to Koh Tao. too bad they let them just rust like that.

They were there, last time I was in the KP PEA office, perhaps April? , they are huge... (some where I have pics of them) ... I don't think they would move easily! ... not sure they would get them down the lane there anymore!

[sbk]

We pay via bank withdrawal and back in the day, that was a fairly wide dirt road, but the PEA is quite close to the sea so I imagine they came in that way. I should add, obviously, they were already there and in use when I moved to the island

[Chayaphum]

From the news section:

Extra Power To Prevent Blackouts During New Year Celebrations: Thailand

BANGKOK: -- Ten tourist destinations will be provided with power reserves to handle demand and prevent blackouts during New Year celebrations, Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) governor Namchai Lorwattanatrakul said yesterday.

The PEA has prepared the power reserves for Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hat Yai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Udon Thani, Khon Kaen, Ubon Ratchathani, Chon Buri, Koh Samui and Koh Pa-ngan to prevent the kind of blackouts that hit Samui for three days early this month, Namchai said.

Namchai said the PEA would be able to supply power reserves to cities on land without much difficulty by providing two additional generators at two locations in each city.

As for Samui, which has only one power cable under water, it has to provide a mobile electricity generator of up to 10 megawatts fuelled by diesel.

For Samui to achieve power stability in the next 10 years, the Cabinet has approved investment to install one more power cable under water that can generate more than 100MW. The long-term plan is to construct a power plant on the island to prevent blackouts that adversely affect the image of the island, which is a world-class seaside resort.

http://www.thaivisa....tions-thailand/

Namchai (PEA) told:

As for Samui, which has only one power cable under water

of course, Khun Namchai.

How he can know that Samui has already 3! underwater power cable!

Impossible, because maybe he just works in a part time job for the PEA.

The first cable (1986) who can deliver about 16MW, the second cable is broken, the third cable is the actual one

from 2007 that had the short-circuit on 4.12.2012. This cable can deliver about 75MW.

The fourth cable will be in action maybe in the spring 2013 or later....we will see it.

In 2006 the power consumption in Samui was about 70MW/daily.

Within 6 years the consumption increase to about 100MW/daily.

And now everybody is wondering how this can happen...

Future thinking is a foreign word here.

Just look around what has changed everything, how much has been built.

A increase of power demand in this circumstances was predictable to 100%.

A few facts in detail:

38,000 electricity users (meters) in Samui

90'000kWh power consumption per day

62'000 local population (official registered)

if you want to know how much is the average power that is available per electricity meter (one house,one family)

just divide 90'000/38'000 = 2.368421kWh

that's only 2368.421W, or with other words, my aircon can work 2h and my daily power contingent is depletet.

We urgently must save power in Samui!

When i see bulbs somewhere it makes me sick.

Why don't use CFL bulbs everywhere to cut the power consumption instantly?

Why don't use more LED lights, it is not a cheap way but the longterm savings are great.

If everybody believe that with the new cable all problems are solved, then you are wrong.

Just think a minute about the environment and from where the power is coming.

I know, our power is delivered from the mainland (Khanom), think also what is needed for make

that power there or somewhere (coal, gas, petroleum, nuclear, etc.)

Next time you visit a 7/11 store somewhere in Samui, just look around inside and you will know

that many many of our power goes lost through this many shops around the island.

The big one in Huathanon has about 50pc. 120cm CFL 32W Coolwhite lamps on the ceiling.

This shop use only for that illumination 43kWh per day, incredible!

Apart from the aircon and all the fridges and freezer.

Thinking about......Thank's

[notmyself]

Just look around what has changed everything, how much has been built.

A increase of power demand in this circumstances was predictable to 100%.

Uncontrolled, unregulated and 'stoked' expansion without due regard for the infrastructure required to support it. At the moment it's electricity which has gone tits up, March 2011 is was drainage, middle of 2010 is was water supply. Drainage was addressed by the same Mayor that has been re-elected, I believe that some effort has been put into the water supply over the last few years and electricity supply has also been addressed.

Samui seems to have a 'special status' in that taxis just refuse to use meters even though they are told to for example. Why not use this special status and ban the sale of all non low power consumption equipment? Allow individuals who install solar power to sell excess power? Samui has the potential to be a green isle and the envy of the world. Will this happen......? I have no reason to think it will.

[NHJ]

A few facts in detail:

38,000 electricity users (meters) in Samui

90'000kWh power consumption per day

62'000 local population (official registered)

if you want to know how much is the average power that is available per electricity meter (one house,one family)

just divide 90'000/38'000 = 2.368421kWh

that's only 2368.421W, or with other words, my aircon can work 2h and my daily power contingent is depletet.

actually you're confused, the kW(h) means per hour not per day so you can run your aircon all day long with your fridge and other appliances without any problem.

[Tropicalevo]

A few facts in detail:

38,000 electricity users (meters) in Samui

90'000kWh power consumption per day

62'000 local population (official registered)

if you want to know how much is the average power that is available per electricity meter (one house,one family)

just divide 90'000/38'000 = 2.368421kWh

that's only 2368.421W, or with other words, my aircon can work 2h and my daily power contingent is depletet.

We urgently must save power in Samui!

When i see bulbs somewhere it makes me sick.

Sorry to 'cut and paste' your post - I did it to save space and because I agree with most of it.

Your number of electricity users is far too low. I do not have a PEA supplied meter. I live on a development where the developer has the PEA meter and is a commercial electricity supplier. He then serves at least 40 + sites on that development! When developement is completed, there will be more than 100 privately supplied properties.

There are developments similar to this all over the island - AND these are more likely to be the larger domestic power users having larger properties.

As someone once famously said "It's worse than that Jim"

Edited December 27, 2012 by Tropicalevo

[Chayaphum]

A few facts in detail:

38,000 electricity users (meters) in Samui

90'000kWh power consumption per day

62'000 local population (official registered)

if you want to know how much is the average power that is available per electricity meter (one house,one family)

just divide 90'000/38'000 = 2.368421kWh

that's only 2368.421W, or with other words, my aircon can work 2h and my daily power contingent is depletet.

actually you're confused, the kW(h) means per hour not per day so you can run your aircon all day long with your fridge and other appliances without any problem.

ooops, sorry that was my mistake. Forget the (h).

Corrected version

A few facts in detail:

38,000 electricity users (meters) in Samui

90'000kW power consumption per day (delivered by PEA)

62'000 local population (official registered)

if you want to know how much is the average power that is available per electricity meter (one house,one family)

just divide 90'000/38'000 = 2.368421kW

that's only 2368.421W, or with other words, my aircon can work 2h and my daily power contingent is depletet.

the aircon consumption is 1150W per hour, after 2h of running i used 2300W, i have left power of 68.421W

for my lights, fridge, waterheater, hot shower, computer, TV, fan, waterpump, rice cooker, electric frying pan, toaster,

charge my mobilephone, ADSL modem, WiFi router........

for example to comparing with other:

Luxemburg has a population of ~100'000 inhabitants,

average power consumption per day is ~5150kW per inhabitant.

Switzerland has a population of ~7'000'000 inhabitants,

average power consumption per day is ~24.65kW per inhabitant.

Ko Samui has a population of ~100'000 inhabitants,(residents&tourists)

average power consumption per day is ~0.9kW per inhabitant

The differences are hard to miss. Hard to believe this numbers.

I think that Samui was slowly overloaded since maybe two years ago (power demand).

But the people in the government reacted too slowly for solve this issue.

Now the water stay up to our neck.

Only for information and knowledge sharing:

What is your average power consumption per month in kW?

My one is 7kW per day or ~180-220kW per month.

I think i'm economical with this value.

Last year i had a neighbor who used every month about 400-550kW.

I was really surprised after i could see his bill.

Thanks

Chayaphum

[NHJ]

What is your average power consumption per month in kW?

usually 140KW for me

[notmyself]

What is your average power consumption per month in kW?

usually 140KW for me

150-160. It'll jump to 250 soon when my main PC is doing video rendering for 8-10 hours most days. Then it will peak at around 300 during March April with the aircon.

[BigC]

A few facts in detail:

38,000 electricity users (meters) in Samui

90'000kWh power consumption per day

62'000 local population (official registered)

if you want to know how much is the average power that is available per electricity meter (one house,one family)

just divide 90'000/38'000 = 2.368421kWh

that's only 2368.421W, or with other words, my aircon can work 2h and my daily power contingent is depletet.

We urgently must save power in Samui!

When i see bulbs somewhere it makes me sick.

Sorry to 'cut and paste' your post - I did it to save space and because I agree with most of it.

Your number of electricity users is far too low. I do not have a PEA supplied meter. I live on a development where the developer has the PEA meter and is a commercial electricity supplier. He then serves at least 40 + sites on that development! When developement is completed, there will be more than 100 privately supplied properties.

There are developments similar to this all over the island - AND these are more likely to be the larger domestic power users having larger properties.

As someone once famously said "It's worse than that Jim"

this is because of the electric office being so cough cough.

When allot of people ally for government meters they lie and tell the forangs that ehy can onlu have 30 amps as it is too far from the main road.

i had a forang electrician measure and he siad there was more than enough room to run a line with enough power to the house.

then all of a sudden the man with the big smile and big gold chain offers a transformer worth about 300 plus grand.

does this sound familair to anyone?????

[ClaudeFeller]

What is your average power consumption per month in kW?

usually 140KW for me

This is all a bit confusing...

The only problem here is the peak load, means the maximum demand between 6 pm and 9 pm.

This peak load consists roughly of

- air conditioners 50 %

- swimming pool pumps 15 %

- electric water heaters 15 %

- Lighting (if halogen) 10 %

- Others 10 %

Swimming pool pumps have a timer and can be stopped during peak load

Hot water can be produced for free by the waste heat of the air conditioner

Halogen spots can be replaced by Chinese LED (in fact for the same price)

We are lucky that the weather during peak season is rather "cold" and that peak load is in the evening, hence the air conditioners can run at lower ampere.

The undersea power cable(s) can deliver 90 MW while the PEA predicts a peak load of 100 MW. Thats why they keep running 30 additional mobile generators each 300 kW during peak load (30 x 0,3 MW = 9 MW).

Another point not mentioned yet is:

Can the PEA supply more and more power through the main power cables along the ring road? This seems to be the next bottle neck.

[notmyself]

the aircon consumption is 1150W per hour, after 2h of running i used 2300W

During the hot season on Samui (March April) I use the aircon in the bedroom for 10-12 hours every night and it puts around 300 Baht onto my bill. Running my PC on full tilt for the same period costs more. Why is that?

[Gulfsailor]

People here like to tell PEA how to do their job, but don't understand the difference between kW power and kWh energy.

The cable from the mainland is capable of a power throughput of 90,000 kW. In a 24 hour day, it could theoretically deliver 24x9mWh = 216,000 kWh energy.

This is more than enough energy. The problem is that the peak load is at certain hours, so demand is not spread out evenly.

Your appliances at home use a certain amount of power, rated in W or kW. Leave the appliance on for 1 hour, gives you the energy used, noted in Wh or kWh.

A unit on your electricity bill is 1 kWh, which costs around 4 Baht. A small bedroom aircon will use 1kW power at max load. Keep the doors and windows closed, and on average it would only be using around 300 W. So if you use a small aircon every night for 10 hours, it will add 10h x 30d x 0.3kW x 4baht = 360 baht to your monthly electricity bill.

[carmine]

People here like to tell PEA how to do their job, but don't understand the difference between kW power and kWh energy.

The cable from the mainland is capable of a power throughput of 90,000 kW. In a 24 hour day, it could theoretically deliver 24x9mWh = 216,000 kWh energy.

This is more than enough energy. The problem is that the peak load is at certain hours, so demand is not spread out evenly.

Your appliances at home use a certain amount of power, rated in W or kW. Leave the appliance on for 1 hour, gives you the energy used, noted in Wh or kWh.

A unit on your electricity bill is 1 kWh, which costs around 4 Baht. A small bedroom aircon will use 1kW power at max load. Keep the doors and windows closed, and on average it would only be using around 300 W. So if you use a small aircon every night for 10 hours, it will add 10h x 30d x 0.3kW x 4baht = 360 baht to your monthly electricity bill.

Sounds like you're the man for the job and you should tell them

[Chayaphum]

A few facts in detail:

for example to comparing with other:

Thailand has a population of ~70'000'000 inhabitants,

average power consumption per day is ~5150kW per inhabitant.

Switzerland has a population of ~7'000'000 inhabitants,

average power consumption per day is ~24.65kW per inhabitant.

Ko Samui has a population of ~100'000 inhabitants,(residents&tourists)

average power consumption per day is ~0.9kW per inhabitant

The differences are hard to miss. Hard to believe this numbers.

Chayaphum

[lom]

Another point not mentioned yet is:

Can the PEA supply more and more power through the main power cables along the ring road? This seems to be the next bottle neck.

That shouldn't be any problem after the new 120MW cable arrives to the Maenam power plant, that plant will only supply the north side from Bang Po to Chaweng and Thong Krut power plant will supply the south side from Nathon up to Lamai.

The load on the distribution cables is always highest near the power plant since they see all of the load and the most common cause of power cuts in the past has been damaged cables near Thong Krut.

This will change when they section Samui into 2 distribution centres and they will then have lots of spare capacity in the distribution cables along the ring road.

[parallaxtech]

Electricity has been off on Chaweng Mountain since 9 am.

[Chayaphum]

Electricity has been off on Chaweng Mountain since 9 am.

No power south from Huathanon 09:30-09:45 / 10:20-11:28

[carmine]

As long as i have electric from 18.00-00.00 then i really don't care. As for a fifteen minute power cut during the day! Fairly irrelevent and nothing worth complaining about imv

[ClaudeFeller]

Another point not mentioned yet is:

Can the PEA supply more and more power through the main power cables along the ring road? This seems to be the next bottle neck.

That shouldn't be any problem after the new 120MW cable arrives to the Maenam power plant, that plant will only supply the north side from Bang Po to Chaweng and Thong Krut power plant will supply the south side from Nathon up to Lamai.

The load on the distribution cables is always highest near the power plant since they see all of the load and the most common cause of power cuts in the past has been damaged cables near Thong Krut.

This will change when they section Samui into 2 distribution centres and they will then have lots of spare capacity in the distribution cables along the ring road.

How will they connect the new undersea cable from main land to Maenam?

[Rooo]

Another point not mentioned yet is:

Can the PEA supply more and more power through the main power cables along the ring road? This seems to be the next bottle neck.

That shouldn't be any problem after the new 120MW cable arrives to the Maenam power plant, that plant will only supply the north side from Bang Po to Chaweng and Thong Krut power plant will supply the south side from Nathon up to Lamai.

The load on the distribution cables is always highest near the power plant since they see all of the load and the most common cause of power cuts in the past has been damaged cables near Thong Krut.

This will change when they section Samui into 2 distribution centres and they will then have lots of spare capacity in the distribution cables along the ring road.

How will they connect the new undersea cable from main land to Maenam?

If memory serves me right, they are connecting to towers ( took a while to get permission to erect them ) across the hills, then to the cabling they were doing along the road in Maenam to the new substation.

[Tropicalevo]

How will they connect the new undersea cable from main land to Maenam?

If memory serves me right, they are connecting to towers ( took a while to get permission to erect them ) across the hills, then to the cabling they were doing along the road in Maenam to the new substation.

A big plug?

Seriously - I think that you are correct Rooo. I saw some new power poles ready for erecting on one of my travels around the island. Not sure that the overhead cable will go all of the way to Maenam though.

[OKF]

a good question, why do people not upgrade their houses with new technologies which are on t he market for 10 years already, meaning Solar Power, LED lights and also start to build decently (insulation) etc....nobody here wants to spent extra money of course and electricity is to cheap. I live on a hill and I have all this and electric is expensive here well which serves as an incentive. But by the end of the day it would still be cheaper to pay for the electric however it has to do with the point of view. In my country we use all this technology for mayn years and our education is going towards that direction. If we continue treating our environment like we do it will deteriorate more and more and quicker and quicker....just watch the recnet weather changes all over the planet...it starts all at the individual.....think about it

[John 1]

a good question, why do people not upgrade their houses with new technologies which are on t he market for 10 years already, meaning Solar Power, LED lights and also start to build decently (insulation) etc....nobody here wants to spent extra money of course and electricity is to cheap. I live on a hill and I have all this and electric is expensive here well which serves as an incentive. But by the end of the day it would still be cheaper to pay for the electric however it has to do with the point of view. In my country we use all this technology for mayn years and our education is going towards that direction. If we continue treating our environment like we do it will deteriorate more and more and quicker and quicker....just watch the recnet weather changes all over the planet...it starts all at the individual.....think about it

I've just spent 1 minute thinking about it and I'm going to turn all the light's on it's getting dark it might rain again.

[lom]

If memory serves me right, they are connecting to towers ( took a while to get permission to erect them ) across the hills, then to the cabling they were doing along the road in Maenam to the new substation.

There was a discussion 2 years ago if the cable should be on towers or go in pvc tubes in the ground and I think they finally went for towers.

I saw a reportage on Samui Channel News a few weeks ago (about coconut trees inside Soi 4 or 5 in Maenam), the camera did a sweep and a few huge metal towers was seen for a second or two.

[samuijimmy]

If memory serves me right, they are connecting to towers ( took a while to get permission to erect them ) across the hills, then to the cabling they were doing along the road in Maenam to the new substation.

There was a discussion 2 years ago if the cable should be on towers or go in pvc tubes in the ground and I think they finally went for towers.

I saw a reportage on Samui Channel News a few weeks ago (about coconut trees inside Soi 4 or 5 in Maenam), the camera did a sweep and a few huge metal towers was seen for a second or two.

Cannot say I have noticed electric towers (Pylons) in either Soi 4 or 5 in Maenam .... but some thing in the back of my mind, tells me the reason Soi One to Lamai and Hau Thanon,(Sp ? ) Lipa Noi, depending on which fork in the road you take. ... was really put in was for the electric line to come through.... not so much for traffic, although that road is fairly well used.

They did lay a good sized heavy pipe, (10" or so) along Soi One, which at the time I assumed was for water, at the time, but it might make sense that it is for the electric. Soi One, turning. Maenam is close to the new Sub Station... hmmm ? One day we'll find out!!!