Thai Ministries Hit For ' Causing Panic' Over Gas Suspension

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Ministries hit for 'causing panic' over gas suspension

ACHARA DEBOONME,

WATCHARA PUSSAYANAWIN,

TINNAKORN CHAOWACHUEN

THE NATION

Piyasvasti Amranand

Myanmar shutdown known since December: ex-energy minister Piyasvasti

BANGKOK: -- Former energy minister Piyasvasti Amranand has lambasted the Energy and Industry ministries for causing panic among the public in light of Myanmar's decision to suspend the supply of natural gas to Thailand during part of April.

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"There is no reason for them to cry foul about a gas shortage as they are doing now, because the supply halt has been known about since December. This has already been factored into the fuel tariff [FT] for the January-April round," said the man who spent years of service at the Energy Ministry.

"On the other hand, both ministries should rush to clear all bottlenecks that delay alternative-energy licensing, as this could prevent a shortage in the long term," he said.

In an interview with The Nation, Piyasvasti said that if licensing procedures at both ministries had been carried out in line with protocol and without any politicians' involvement in the past two years, Thailand could have welcomed an extra 1,000 megawatts of power from many alternative-energy projects.

He was referring to some of the 600 projects with a combined capacity of 4,000MW, a figure that includes some non-feasible projects. With power purchase agreements, feasible projects can go ahead as soon as they receive a licence from the Industry Ministry.

Meanwhile, he said the Energy Ministry should welcome new alternative-energy projects, given delays in the construction of large-scale projects that would be powered by either natural gas or coal, or even nuclear fuel. Thanks to technology and increasing oil prices, the generating cost for solar power now matches that for diesel, at Bt8-Bt9 per kilowatt-hour, he added.

He insisted that fuel diversification was essential, given the Kingdom's 70-per-cent reliance on natural gas for electricity generation. The risk of a power shortage will persist if structural problems are not solved to maximise the benefits of the Power Development Plan.

Piyasvasti criticised the Energy Ministry for exaggerating the problem caused by Myanmar's temporary shutdown of the Yadana gas field in early April, arguing that all agencies had plans to deal with emergencies.

For example, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) can impose the "interruptible" rate for factories, offering an incentive power rate in return for the right to cut supply upon 15 minutes' notice.

"The plan is there to follow. There is no reason to complain. I don't know if they lack knowledge to handle this or they have other reasons to cry out loud for something that could be tackled," he said. "It's not that they only just found out about the gas-supply halt."

The energy authorities have been criticised for causing panic to win public endorsement for the construction of new coal-fired power plants. Piyasvasti said they should not take advantage of the current situation and should instead work on proper ways to win public approval for these plants.

He also lamented that the measures announced to date to cope with the upcoming supply halt merely addressed temporary problems, and that some - like adjusting air-conditioning temperatures - were matters for demand-side management that should be carried out in regular programmes.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday ordered adjustment of Government House's air-conditioning temperature, to set an example for all government units. The temperature is to be raised from 23 degrees Celsius to 25. The government will also launch a nationwide energy-saving campaign at Government House on April 13.

At a meeting yesterday, the Energy Ministry came up with a number of new plans, such as having Egat consult with factories over the imposition of the interruptible rate. Four factories in the South - belonging to TPI Polene, Siam City Cement and Thai Asahi - will shut down their plants during the supply-halt period, to save a combined 50MW.

Energy Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal, meanwhile, said that Total E&P Myanmar, the operator of the Yadana gas field, had agreed to delay the halt in gas supply by one day, to April 5.

As some factories will be closed on April 5, this will help boost the power reserve from 600MW to 750MW and reduce the volume of bunker oil for electricity generation by 26 million litres and that of diesel by 15 million litres, he said.

The volume of bunker oil to be consumed during the gas-suspension period will be 86 million litres and that of diesel 47 million litres.

Pongsak acknowledged that the authorities had been notified of the maintenance shutdown some time ago. As a result, he said, the government could not press end users to shoulder the extra cost deriving from the use of more expensive fuels.

He also implied, however, that the general public would have to shoulder higher power bills, as switching to diesel and bunker oil could raise the FT by 0.48 satang per unit. Piyasvasti had earlier demanded that the authorities help absorb the cost.

Pongsak could not guarantee there would be no blackouts in all parts of Thailand during the supply suspension. Reserves, which at 600MW are the lowest ever, will only gradually rise to the normal level of 3,000MW after April 5, he said.

Meanwhile, Industry Ministry permanent secretary Vitoon Simachokdee yesterday denied an allegation that the ministry was stalling factory permits, saying that it had to conduct thorough scrutiny to ensure projects had no adverse environmental impacts on nearby communities.

The assessment committee is currently considering 13 alternative-energy projects involving solar and biomass, and should finish the task this week, he said.

-- The Nation 2013-02-21

[Locationthailand]

Sounds like Khun Piyasvasti should be back in the chair and remove all these other incompetents. But then this is only a story release so what truth lies in media in Thailand?

[OzMick]

The gentleman seems to be confusing two issues. The problem caused by the Myanmar shutdown is a lack of gas fuel, not a lack of generating capacity, though there may be some loss if some plants are gas fuelled only.

Solar plants would reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, but would do nothing to alleviate the shortage of generating capacity which occurs at peak load periods, typically when solar is not available.

[NongKhaiKid]

So they have learned nothing from the flood mismanagement. I seem to remember a cabinet minister running out of a meeting to hold a press conference about an impending inundation that had 250,000 people on the move. The warning was refuted an hour later and Yingluck wrote it off as being " well intentioned " !

[Arkady]

There is definitely a hidden agenda somewhere. It will come out soon enough because the amounts involved will be too large to conceal.

[witsawakorn]

So they have learned nothing from the flood mismanagement. I seem to remember a cabinet minister running out of a meeting to hold a press conference about an impending inundation that had 250,000 people on the move. The warning was refuted an hour later and Yingluck wrote it off as being " well intentioned " !

Actually power supply planning in Thailand is very well managed so you can't compare to the flood management. I met the VP of a Singaporean power utility the other day who commented that power supply in Thailand is very well planned If EGAT had advance warning of the supply disruption then I have every confidence that there will be no disruption to power supplies. PTT has been importing LNG from Qatar through its terminal in Maptaphut since 2011. Part of the reason for building that terminal was to mitigate the risk of disruption to supplies from Burma.The comment knocking certain ministries for not approving projects over the last 2 years which could have resulted in an extra 1000MW is purely an attempt to slag off PT as I am aware of many solar projects that went ahead over the last two years. Solar projects receive a tariff adder of over 6 baht per kWh so if all of the solar projects that were proposed went ahead we would be paying more than the current residential rate of less than 2 baht per unit

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Solar projects receive a tariff adder of over 6 baht per kWh so if all of the solar projects that were proposed went ahead we would be paying more than the current residential rate of less than 2 baht per unit

Sorry, but can you translate the above comment into non-technical terms.

If the intention is to promote solar power, why would there be a surcharge on solar power amounting to three times the current power rate (based on your numbers above)?

[witsawakorn]

 

Solar projects receive a tariff adder of over 6 baht per kWh so if all of the solar projects that were proposed went ahead we would be paying more than the current residential rate of less than 2 baht per unit

Sorry, but can you translate the above comment into non-technical terms.

If the intention is to promote solar power, why would there be a surcharge on solar power amounting to three times the current power rate (based on your numbers above)?

In order to promote development of Renewable Energy the government passed legislation in 2007 that allowed for developers of renewable power projects to be paid a higher rate for power (known as an "adder" than conventionally fuelled projects receive. The bonus payable depends on the type of project with Solar receiving the highest at 6.5 Baht/kWh on top of the current retail rste which is over 3 Baht/kWh (not less than 2 Baht/kWh as i said earlier). The cost of the incentive payment is passed on to the end user as it is factored into the Ft (Fuel Price adsjustment) tariff that appears on everyone's power bill. A similar system is used by almost every country that is trying to promote Renewable Enery decvelopment. Thailand's Solar Power Generation capacity increased from 2MW in 2007 to 432 MW at the end of 2012 so the policy seems to have had an effect. Sorry for any confusion

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Thanks for the clear explanation...

[Naroge]

The gentleman seems to be confusing two issues. The problem caused by the Myanmar shutdown is a lack of gas fuel, not a lack of generating capacity, though there may be some loss if some plants are gas fuelled only.

Solar plants would reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, but would do nothing to alleviate the shortage of generating capacity which occurs at peak load periods, typically when solar is not available.

Dr. Piyasvasti is not confusing any issues. There are certain plants that are fuelled by gas only, and the amount of installed capacity is not keeping pace with increased demand so during the hot season Thailand could run into problem should there be an unexpected/unplanned shut down of a power plant.

With reference to solar power, they do actually produce their maximum output at mid day, about the same time as Thailand has its peak demand.

[samran]

The gentleman seems to be confusing two issues. The problem caused by the Myanmar shutdown is a lack of gas fuel, not a lack of generating capacity, though there may be some loss if some plants are gas fuelled only.

Solar plants would reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, but would do nothing to alleviate the shortage of generating capacity which occurs at peak load periods, typically when solar is not available.

if you knew the size of this blokes intellect, you'd never use the word 'confusion' when refering to him.

he'd wipe the floor with most people on the topic of energy policy. The fact that Thailand does have a very well thought out energy policy comes down to the fact it was mostly designed by him.