10% Cut In Plant's Power Use Sought: Thailand Energy Crisis

[webfact]

10% cut in plant's power use sought
TINNAKORN CHAOWACHUEN,
WATCHARAPONG THONGRUNG
THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- The Industry Ministry will seek cooperation from factories throughout the Kingdom by asking them to reduce their electricity consumption by 10 per cent this year, permanent secretary Witoon Simachoked said yesterday.

Some 70,000 manuals on energy-saving practices will be delivered to plants by the middle of next month, ahead of the halt in Myanmar's natural-gas deliveries to the Kingdom between April 5 and 14.

Bang Chan Industrial Estate is identified as facing the highest risk of an electricity "brown-out" during the delivery-suspension period.

This forms part of the government's strategy for tackling the power crisis caused by the Yadana gas field's temporary shutdown in April.

Thailand's roughly 70,000 factories consume about 12,000 megawatts of electricity. The 4,000 plants located in industrial estates use the bulk, at 8,300MW.

If all factories cooperated in the power-saving project, the country would save at least 1,000MW.

"Any factories giving their strong cooperation in the energy-saving project will be ranked by the ministry with good grades. The Industrial Works Department will analyse the factories into different grades based on their operational practice, which follows a set of regulations set by the department," he added.

Grade A will be awarded to factories that have strictly complied with the regulations, and Grade B to those that have done so to a satisfactory level. Grades C and D will be for those requiring different degrees of improvement.

Grade A and B plants will receive an inside track from the department when it comes to renewing business-operation licences and exemption from licensing fees.

The national energy regulator will ask department stores nationwide to promote energy-saving, with the target of saving a combined 300MW.

They will be invited to join the campaign next week, which will ask them to alternately turn off power for one hour at noon on April 5.

Meanwhile, Energy Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal yesterday said the 2013 Power Development Plan would eventually trim the country's heavy dependence on natural gas to 45 per cent from the current 70 per cent, and would boost the share of clean coal in power generation to 20 per cent from 18.8 per cent.


-- The Nation 2013-02-28

[Locationthailand]

So for a little down time, which they have known about for a year, they have created a 'manual' on how to save electricity and printed 70,000 copies to be distributed. Right. Can anyone explain the sheer stupidity of doing something like this for a 1 month maintenance requirement? And by now most of the industrial requirements will be met by standby generators. What pure nonsense.

[jamhar]

a 10% energy savings should be no problem if everyone chips in.

Turn off unnecessary lights,

Turn off unnecessary AC

Use fans instead of AC where possible

This shouldn't be a problem if everyone chips in.

The lack of planning from the government is, however, a problem!

My god, its their function to GOVERN, and be ready and deal with situations like this.

[kbvicar]

I reckon I need to stockpile hoard buy a bunch of batteries for my GF's vibrator because if there's no juice April 5th-14th the recharger won't work and I'll be offshore during that time.

Oh well, I'm sure she'll figure something out....

[thomash]

One solution would be to some how get the Thais to stop blasting their AC at super low temperatures as I have never been around people who like it so ice cold in a room or on a bus. It is amazing considering Thailand is such a hot, sunny country I have never seen people who are so afraid of being in the sun or the heat!

[fxe1200]

a 10% energy savings should be no problem if everyone chips in.

Turn off unnecessary lights,

Turn off unnecessary AC

Use fans instead of AC where possible

This shouldn't be a problem if everyone chips in.

The lack of planning from the government is, however, a problem!

My god, its their function to GOVERN, and be ready and deal with situations like this.

They should create a law, to make water heaters and solar panels (solar thermic type with a heat exchanger or photo voltaic, heading south at the correct angle according to the latitude) for every new built house mandatory. These items could be mass produced in different sizes or modules, and would pay off in quite a short time. They have all natural resources, but they never will learn.

[Thai at Heart]

a 10% energy savings should be no problem if everyone chips in.

Turn off unnecessary lights,

Turn off unnecessary AC

Use fans instead of AC where possible

This shouldn't be a problem if everyone chips in.

The lack of planning from the government is, however, a problem!

My god, its their function to GOVERN, and be ready and deal with situations like this.

They should create a law, to make water heaters and solar panels (solar thermic type with a heat exchanger or photo voltaic, heading south at the correct angle according to the latitude) for every new built house mandatory. These items could be mass produced in different sizes or modules, and would pay off in quite a short time. They have all natural resources, but they never will learn.

If they gave constructors or house owners a tax break to foam walls and roofs correctly the air conditioning consumption would go down by 30%.

[fxe1200]

a 10% energy savings should be no problem if everyone chips in.

Turn off unnecessary lights,

Turn off unnecessary AC

Use fans instead of AC where possible

This shouldn't be a problem if everyone chips in.

The lack of planning from the government is, however, a problem!

My god, its their function to GOVERN, and be ready and deal with situations like this.

They should create a law, to make water heaters and solar panels (solar thermic type with a heat exchanger or photo voltaic, heading south at the correct angle according to the latitude) for every new built house mandatory. These items could be mass produced in different sizes or modules, and would pay off in quite a short time. They have all natural resources, but they never will learn.

If they gave constructors or house owners a tax break to foam walls and roofs correctly the air conditioning consumption would go down by 30%.

But they do not know, what insulation means and may confuse it with a new glucose drink. But you are right. It is just frustrating to see, that the Thai government is not able to solve any problem in this country.

[OzMick]

a 10% energy savings should be no problem if everyone chips in.

Turn off unnecessary lights,

Turn off unnecessary AC

Use fans instead of AC where possible

This shouldn't be a problem if everyone chips in.

The lack of planning from the government is, however, a problem!

My god, its their function to GOVERN, and be ready and deal with situations like this.

They should create a law, to make water heaters and solar panels (solar thermic type with a heat exchanger or photo voltaic, heading south at the correct angle according to the latitude) for every new built house mandatory. These items could be mass produced in different sizes or modules, and would pay off in quite a short time. They have all natural resources, but they never will learn.

Quite a short time? In Oz experience they are taking 5 years to return capital, but that was with a 50% govt subsidy for installation and on a 100% above retail price excess production purchase contracts. The price of electricity is rising at ~10% annually, much of that due to these ridiculous subsidies in a country with ample good quality coal. But without them, few people would bother.

Now if your average Thai home was fitted with 1kW of panels what would they be powering? A small refrigerator (<10% of the time), a 40W fan or two and little else. However when workers come home, kids from school - the bloody panels are producing SFA. If EGAT buys their excess (via an expensive meter), what price will they pay? At the wholesale price of energy it will take many years to pay for these installations which may save some fuel costs, but will do nothing to reduce the need for generating plant during peak load periods.

[moggie]

close down pattaya on alternative days? sorry!!.......... only joking

[h90]

a 10% energy savings should be no problem if everyone chips in.

Turn off unnecessary lights,

Turn off unnecessary AC

Use fans instead of AC where possible

This shouldn't be a problem if everyone chips in.

The lack of planning from the government is, however, a problem!

My god, its their function to GOVERN, and be ready and deal with situations like this.

in factories???

[dunque]

I reckon I need to stockpile hoard buy a bunch of batteries for my GF's vibrator because if there's no juice April 5th-14th the recharger won't work and I'll be offshore during that time.

Oh well, I'm sure she'll figure something out....

Perhaps the gap can be filled the old fashioned way

[khunken]

Meanwhile, Energy Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal yesterday said the
2013 Power Development Plan would eventually trim the country's heavy
dependence on natural gas to 45 per cent from the current 70 per cent,
and would boost the share of clean coal in power generation to 20 per
cent from 18.8 per cent.

There's a substantial body of people who see this 'crisis' as panic being spread so as to force local people to accept 'clean coal' generators. Apart from the fact that clean coal is an oxymoron ('cleaner' would be closer to the truth), Thais know that the coal-fired plant in Lampang (or is it Lampun?) is an absolute disaster to the health of those in it's vicinity.

In this Internet age, it is far more difficult to impose huge dams & dirty generation plants on local people. The dependence of 70% on natural gas is only a problem when a substantial portion of that is imported. Thailand needs to rely on a range of types of generation with a target of close to zero imports.

[asupeartea]

I have made a super cheap and easy water heater. Put one of those blue tanks on a platform, size to needs, up high enough to receive water right out of the water system but low enough to control. Pipe it into your house with a valve to mix it with cold water on the inside. Position is so it warms when you need the hot water -- morning sun, evening sun or both. Put a screen to stop the sun from overheating the tank; mine is a semi-circle of heavy unbending plastic that has an overhang above the tank. During the dry season, cover the bugger most of the time but mostly remove the cover during the rainy season. It's not fool-proof since it doesn't work if there is no sun or the rain sucks the heat out of the tank -- hence the overhang on the screen -- but you're talking about a VERY cheap setup here.

a 10% energy savings should be no problem if everyone chips in.

Turn off unnecessary lights,

Turn off unnecessary AC

Use fans instead of AC where possible

This shouldn't be a problem if everyone chips in.

The lack of planning from the government is, however, a problem!

My god, its their function to GOVERN, and be ready and deal with situations like this.

They should create a law, to make water heaters and solar panels (solar thermic type with a heat exchanger or photo voltaic, heading south at the correct angle according to the latitude) for every new built house mandatory. These items could be mass produced in different sizes or modules, and would pay off in quite a short time. They have all natural resources, but they never will learn.

[Scott]

Where I work, there are air conditioners in most of the offices. The AC is never cleaned. I clean the filters on the one in my office, but I have to put a chair on a desk to get up to it. The compressors are never cleaned or maintained until they quit working. In several of the offices, the AC runs all day and the compressor is constantly on, but the office no longer gets cool.

I wonder how much electricity would be saved with the most rudimentary maintenance.

[Thai at Heart]

Where I work, there are air conditioners in most of the offices. The AC is never cleaned. I clean the filters on the one in my office, but I have to put a chair on a desk to get up to it. The compressors are never cleaned or maintained until they quit working. In several of the offices, the AC runs all day and the compressor is constantly on, but the office no longer gets cool.

I wonder how much electricity would be saved with the most rudimentary maintenance.

A tiny bit. But proper water treatment for cooling towers in big systems can save a boat load.

[xenomorph]

a 10% energy savings should be no problem if everyone chips in.

Turn off unnecessary lights,

Turn off unnecessary AC

Use fans instead of AC where possible

This shouldn't be a problem if everyone chips in.

The lack of planning from the government is, however, a problem!

My god, its their function to GOVERN, and be ready and deal with situations like this.

There could be a lot of saving in building insulated houses that could would hold the cooled air in a room for as long as possible. The Thai practice of building houses with walls consisting of only concrete and bricks, is just such a waste of electricity when using air conditioners.

[OzMick]

Where I work, there are air conditioners in most of the offices. The AC is never cleaned. I clean the filters on the one in my office, but I have to put a chair on a desk to get up to it. The compressors are never cleaned or maintained until they quit working. In several of the offices, the AC runs all day and the compressor is constantly on, but the office no longer gets cool.

I wonder how much electricity would be saved with the most rudimentary maintenance.

Well, yes, it is a waste of energy when the motor/compressor runs constantly. The good news is that this is because the refrigeration gas has leaked out , so the compressor is not doing any work, and it takes very little power to spin an unloaded motor.

Edited February 28, 2013 by OzMick

[Soutpeel]

Where I work, there are air conditioners in most of the offices. The AC is never cleaned. I clean the filters on the one in my office, but I have to put a chair on a desk to get up to it. The compressors are never cleaned or maintained until they quit working. In several of the offices, the AC runs all day and the compressor is constantly on, but the office no longer gets cool.

I wonder how much electricity would be saved with the most rudimentary maintenance.

Well one hopes your company insurance covers you in event of you falling off the chair....LOL