Plants May Shut On April 5 To Ease Power Woes: Thailand

[webfact]

Plants may shut on April 5 to ease power woes
Somchai Samart,
Suwanee Bantitsak,
Watchara Pussayanawin
The Nation
Songkhla

BANGKOK: -- More than 8,000 factories plan to cut operating hours or shut down altogether on April 5, when power reserves fall to a critically low level of 750 megawatts, or only 2.63 per cent of the country's 28,479MW generating capacity.
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Energy Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal said members of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) were willing to cooperate with the government on energy saving by reducing non-essential operations and might close down some plants on April 5. They will shift production to other days that will not affect the power reserve as much.

Meanwhile, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and business operators in some Southern provinces have stepped up preparations for the expected peak power consumption in April, including a plan by Egat to purchase additional electricity from Malaysia.

Pongsak with the FTI to seek joint solutions to deal with the possible power shortage during one of the hottest months of the year. Myanmar has warned that supply from a gas field in the Andaman Sea will be temporarily suspended for a short time in April for drill-rig repairs. The Myanmar gas is used to fuel Thai power plants.

"This collaboration with FTI members will help boost the power reserve above the danger zone," Pongsak said. "The ministry will talk with the FTI again in the next two weeks to conclude how much FTI members can help save energy."

The industrial sector accounts for 40 per cent of total electricity consumption in Thailand. If it can reduce power consumption by 10 per cent, it would therefore reduce overall electricity use by 4 per cent.

FTI chairman Payungsak Chartsutipol said that if major industries suspended operations on April 5, this would save a huge amount of energy. The federation will call a meeting with members in all 42 industrial categories soon to see how much they can help. He believes that 8,000 factories that are members of the FTI will be willing to support the effort.

Meanwhile Worapot Intarathong, director of operations for Egat's Southern region, said demand in April was forecast to surge to 2,500 megawatts from the normal average of 2,350MW.

Total power-production capacity in the South is 2,100MW, plus 300MW per day it purchases from Malaysia and a back-up reserve of 600MW. But this year the South might not be able to depend on the 600MW reserve, as Myanmar's Yadana gas field will temporarily suspend the supply to Thailand in April.

Egat has arranged for Malaysia to double its electricity supply to 600MW per day. The authority will also activate its diesel-run power plant in Surat Thani, which has capacity of 240MW per day.

In a related matter, according to the Provincial Electricity Authority, the installation of the fourth power-transmission line from Kanom power plant to Samui was 90 per cent complete. The 54-kilometre line can transmit 115 kilowatts to the island. The project cost is Bt4 billion, and it is set to start providing electricity next month.

Samui and nearby Koh Pha-ngan suffered blackouts for a few days in December caused by electrical short circuits in the main undersea cable.

In an impromptu inquiry by the House of Representatives yesterday, Energy Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal said Thailand was risking national energy security from depending too heavily on natural gas to generate electricity. It has to seek alternatives to reduce this risk. However, the possible rise in electricity prices and the consequent impact on business will also have to be factored in if using other sources to produce power.


-- The Nation 2013-02-22

RELATED

Manufacturers foresee chaos during April's energy outage

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/621157-manufacturers-foresee-chaos-during-aprils-energy-outage-thailand/

[ChrisY1]

Certainly shows a lack of smart management when current levels of infrastructure start to fail like this.....

[tomross46]

This will impress the Japanese. After the floods, PM told the Japanese investors that they would not have any more problems with manufacturing in Thailand, Now because in poor planning, factories are being asked to close. What will this do to the GDP? What does Big Brother say?

[Katipo]

Please let it be my factory too, please let it be my factory too! Satu satu....

[kotsak]

If the single celled brains screw this up like they did with the decisions that led to the floods then we are in for more laughs tears ..

[Chao Lao Beach]

The Gov has known about this for over 7.5 months, yet did nothing, now they are screaming, it's the Burmese fault, just to make it a nationalistic issue of course

Edited February 22, 2013 by Chao Lao Beach

[Credo]

The Burmese are being silly. Why would you do maintenance on something that isn't broken? Why would you plan ahead almost 8 months?

[Semper]

April 5, another holiday.

[webfact]

Factories agree to suspend production to prevent power outage April 5
By Digital Media



BANGKOK, Feb 21 - Industrial factories have agreed to suspend production on April 5 when Myanmar’s gas supply stoppage is set to start in order to avoid power outages in Thailand .

The temporary suspension of gas supplies for maintenance work on the Yadana gas field will leave Thailand with reserve electricity of only two per cent--750 megawatts. However, cooperation from the industrial sector will help increase electricity in reserve to reduce risks of an outage on April 5, said Energy Minister Pongsak Raktapongpaisarn.

The agreement came after the talks between the energy minister and Payungsak Chartsutthipol, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).

The FTI will negotiate with 42 industrial groups, comprising more than 8,000 plants, to see which factories could suspend their production. Initially, automotive, petrochemical, steel, plastics and paper industries are ready to halt production to cut electricity use on April 5.

The suspension will neither impact domestic and overseas orders nor workers who will still have a long holiday during the Songkran Festival period during April 12-16.

To offset its production after the production suspension on April 5, several factories will operate on compensatory holidays when electricity use are likely to drop on April 7, a part of compensatory holidays of the Chakri Memorial Day or on April 11 before the long Thai New Year holiday.

FTI Auto Industry Club head Supparat Sirisuwannangkul said the automakers and suppliers will meet Friday to discuss readiness of 1,700 auto and auto parts plants to halt production on April 5.

Advanced and clear notification from the government help them in their production plan to avert any effect, he said.

The energy minister said electricity utilisation in the industrial sector accounts for the country’s highest electricity use ratio or 40 per cent. The cooperation will help cut risk of power outage. (MCOT online news)


-- TNA 2013-02-22

[Bpuumike]

April 5, another holiday.

Not April 1st?

[Robby nz]

1/ Turn off the air con in all govt offices

2/Turn off all advertising signes.

That should be enough to keep a fair few factories open

[JAS21]

The Burmese are being silly. Why would you do maintenance on something that isn't broken? Why would you plan ahead almost 8 months?

I think that it's called routine maintenance. All my working life was in the Electrical Supply Industry, however we did all our routine maintenance in the Summer when the demand for electric was at it's lowest. I wonder why they don't do their maintenance when the demand is at its lowest and not towards its highest.

Planned maintenance takes a lot of planning, budget/contractors/spares etc etc ... it takes a lot of preparatiuon and planning.

Edited February 22, 2013 by JAS21

[webfact]

Energy Ministry assures Thailand of back-up plans to deal with power shortage

BANGKOK, 22 February 2013 (NNT) – The Energy Ministry has come out to assure the people of Thailand that back-up plans have been prepared to deal with any power shortage, expected in April.

Energy Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal said on Thursday that he has already discussed worries over possible power shortage with the Federation of Thai Industries, who has agreed to advise all plants in the eastern seaboard to cut down their production and power use during April 5-14.

With gas supply from Myanmar set to be halted for pipeline maintenance during this period, Mr. Pongsak stated that the public should also play their parts in saving power.

If all measures work as hoped, the Energy Minister said that power outage may not happen as Thailand has power reserve of 1,500 megawatts in place.

However, the Energy Ministry has instructed oil-and-gas giant, PTT, to stock up bunk oil and diesel, which power plants may need for electricity generation.

Moreover, PTT was also ordered to import an addition of 5,000 tons of LPG and to prepare extra supplies of NGV to make sure there will not be any shortage of both types of gas.

Mr. Pongsak went on to brush aside claims that the Energy Ministry has been trying to make the halt of gas delivery from Myanmar more serious than it should, in order to pave way for more excuses to raise electricity bills and to build more power plants.


-- NNT 2013-02-22

[EvilDrSomkid]

The Burmese are being silly. Why would you do maintenance on something that isn't broken? Why would you plan ahead almost 8 months?

I think that it's called routine maintenance. All my working life was in the Electrical Supply Industry, however we did all our routine maintenance in the Summer when the demand for electric was at it's lowest. I wonder why they don't do their maintenance when the demand is at its lowest and not towards its highest.

Planned maintenance takes a lot of planning, budget/contractors/spares etc etc ... it takes a lot of preparatiuon and planning.

It was mean to be sarcastic, I believe.

However, I think that if most malls and hotels turn their thermostats from 20 to 25 degrees it will make a big difference.

[Bpuumike]

The Burmese are being silly. Why would you do maintenance on something that isn't broken? Why would you plan ahead almost 8 months?

I think that it's called routine maintenance. All my working life was in the Electrical Supply Industry, however we did all our routine maintenance in the Summer when the demand for electric was at it's lowest. I wonder why they don't do their maintenance when the demand is at its lowest and not towards its highest.

Planned maintenance takes a lot of planning, budget/contractors/spares etc etc ... it takes a lot of preparatiuon and planning.

Very true but TIT

[rubl]

Come on guys, think positive.

Surely after many holidays in April the Thai economy will soar again in May (in comparition to April that is )

[anon467367354]

here in Nonthaburi near Tanaamnon they changed all the streets lights and added around 30% more of them, but they also have an additional light for the sidewalks that no one uses or would want to. And to top it off, some idiot puts up an industrial grade 4meter x4 meter television screen in a bright orange sports complex industrial strength frame that plays commercials with sound from 6am -10pm. what a waste of electricity, resources, and now people have to hear commercials being played all day when they haven't even cleaned up from last year's flood yet.

[Pimay1]

here in Nonthaburi near Tanaamnon they changed all the streets lights and added around 30% more of them, but they also have an additional light for the sidewalks that no one uses or would want to. And to top it off, some idiot puts up an industrial grade 4meter x4 meter television screen in a bright orange sports complex industrial strength frame that plays commercials with sound from 6am -10pm. what a waste of electricity, resources, and now people have to hear commercials being played all day when they haven't even cleaned up from last year's flood yet.

Ever thought of using a pellet gun to shout out the pixels of the screen. Should be fun and take about three nights to put it out of service.

[PETERTHEEATER]

The Burmese are being silly. Why would you do maintenance on something that isn't broken? Why would you plan ahead almost 8 months?

It's known as 'preventative maintenance' carried out to prevent failures in the future. Much maintenance can be done by shutting down parts of a plant and running on parallel duplicate plant installed for that reason but as with any mechanical plant it will fail eventually and usually at a critical time. So, the maintenance management have to schedule 'outages' to gain access to critical components that have to be replaced or overhauled in-situ.

The problem in this case is that the Burmese are scheduling their maintenance during a high demand period for Thailand when, in the past, it has occurred during a lower demand period.

Consumers in Thailand have also built more houses, bought more electrical appliances etc so demand increases especially during the hot season when all those new AC Units are working hard.

[Skywalker69]

This will do wonder for the export industries.

[rubl]

This will do wonder for the export industries.

Not to worry, all will be peachy rozy, wonderful, booming:

Industry Minister confident possible April power crisis when Myanmar temporarily

halts gas supply to Thailand won't affect investor confidence /MCOT

[Pimay1]

This will do wonder for the export industries.

Not to worry, all will be peachy rozy, wonderful, booming:

Industry Minister confident possible April power crisis when Myanmar temporarily

halts gas supply to Thailand won't affect investor confidence /MCOT

And there will be a 10% increase in tourisim due to people wanting to have romantic dinners by candle light.

[rubl]

Regarding the shutdown in Myanmar I thought I had read that that's a yearly occurance at around the same period. That suggests that time is convenient for the Myanmar companies involved in the complex.

Question now is, for what percentage does the export to Thailand account in the output of the two fields involved? One would assume the Myanmar company/authorities would be somewhat customer minded in their selection of a 'maintenance period'

Mind you the Myanmar will also be aware that April is a low productivity month for Thailand.

Edited February 22, 2013 by rubl

[kwonitoy]

Regarding the shutdown in Myanmar I thought I had read that that's a yearly occurance at around the same period. That suggests that time is convenient for the Myanmar companies involved in the complex.

Question now is, for what percentage does the export to Thailand account in the output of the two fields involved? One would assume the Myanmar company/authorities would be somewhat customer minded in their selection of a 'maintenance period'

Mind you the Myanmar will also be aware that April is a low productivity month for Thailand.

Not sure of the percentage, but there is a 42" diameter pipeline called Yadana that runs from the field of the same name offshore Burma that powers the Ratchaburi powerplant.

[rubl]

After a bit of searching:

"The Yadana gas field is located in the Andaman Sea, approximately 60 kilometers offshore the nearest landfall in Myanmar.

This major energy resource contains more than 5,3 trillion cubic feet (150 billion cubic meters) of natural gas, with an expected field life of 30 years. In 2007, production averaged more than 21.5 million cubic meters per day.

The field was developed under a conventional production sharing contract by four investors:

Total, operator, 31.2%

An affiliate of U.S. based Unocal (today, Chevron Corp. further to its acquisition of Unocal in 2005) of the United States, 28.3%

Petroleum Authority of Thailand Exploration & Production (PTT-EP), 25.5%

State-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), 15%."

http://burma.total.com/myanmar-en/total-in-myanmar/yadana-project/description-of-the-yadana-project-200162.html

"Contractually, Myanmar is entitled to take up to 20% of Yadanas production for domestic consumption. Initially, it was lifting about half its entitlement, or 40 to 50 million cubic feet per day (1.1 million to 1.4 million cubic meters per day). Since December 2006, it has been taking 100 million cubic feet per day (2.8 million cubic metersper day). The gas is piped further north to a cement plant in Myaingkalay and then on to Yangon via a pipeline built and operated by MOGE that ties into the Yadana pipeline at Kanbauk."

http://burma.total.com/myanmar-en/total-in-myanmar/yadana-project/a-project-benefiting-myanmar-and-thailand-200160.html

[Soi Sauce]

Turn off yer air, turn on yer fans, and open yer windows, now!

Electric use cut by 50-80% immediately.

Simple solution, really.

[jamhar]

This has to be a misreport.

I cant imagine any country willingly let 97% of its electrical production to stop for any length of time. its either a misreport or some shenanigans goings on somewhere.

[Mosha]

Extend Songkhran to a 30 day holiday.

[canman]

The Burmese are being silly. Why would you do maintenance on something that isn't broken? Why would you plan ahead almost 8 months?

It's known as 'preventative maintenance' carried out to prevent failures in the future. Much maintenance can be done by shutting down parts of a plant and running on parallel duplicate plant installed for that reason but as with any mechanical plant it will fail eventually and usually at a critical time. So, the maintenance management have to schedule 'outages' to gain access to critical components that have to be replaced or overhauled in-situ.

The problem in this case is that the Burmese are scheduling their maintenance during a high demand period for Thailand when, in the past, it has occurred during a lower demand period.

Consumers in Thailand have also built more houses, bought more electrical appliances etc so demand increases especially during the hot season when all those new AC Units are working hard.

I am fairly sure that Credo was being sarcastic. I also understand that this shut down is for some non-routine major maintenance and I suspect the timing has more to do with the availability of foreign contractors to carry out the work than anything else.

Edited February 23, 2013 by canman

[bigbamboo]

The Burmese are being silly. Why would you do maintenance on something that isn't broken? Why would you plan ahead almost 8 months?

It's known as 'preventative maintenance' carried out to prevent failures in the future. Much maintenance can be done by shutting down parts of a plant and running on parallel duplicate plant installed for that reason but as with any mechanical plant it will fail eventually and usually at a critical time. So, the maintenance management have to schedule 'outages' to gain access to critical components that have to be replaced or overhauled in-situ.

The problem in this case is that the Burmese are scheduling their maintenance during a high demand period for Thailand when, in the past, it has occurred during a lower demand period.

Consumers in Thailand have also built more houses, bought more electrical appliances etc so demand increases especially during the hot season when all those new AC Units are working hard.

I am fairly sure that Credo was being sarcastic. I also understand that this shut down is for some non-routine major maintenance and I suspect the timing has more to do with the availability of foreign contractors to carry out the work than anything else.

Or they could just be winding up (successfully too) their old friends, the Thais!