Thailand's Mobile Network Operators Warned To Get Ready For Power Crisis

[Mudcrab]

i'd be more worried about how to keep cool with no power....... no air-con.....no fans.....people will be dropping like flies.

Really I've been living here 6 years no electric in the day at all and generator supply 6pm-6am no aircon as the generator is to small.

It's only a power cut not the end of the world I find it hilarious all these comments when I be been coping with it for 6 years no problems I'm so used to it now I have no need for electric in the daytime.

My hero...

but how are typing this message...its only 17:00 you aint switched your generator on yet and dont have power during the day..dont need it....Nuclear powered PC ?

please dont tell me your doing this from an I-pad ?...

Amazing how some people seem to spend all of their waking hours telling us how Thailand is a third world country, and then when the power might or might not fail, complain how it doesn't have all the comforts of "home"

[thunder30101]

An article I read recently said the reason for the shutdown is to stabilize the platform bases, and this scheduled maintenance was known and told to thailand a year ago (contract agreements), so no reason for this mess other than the usual thai do nothing attitude until it is too late.

[lomatopo]

No ATMs are far more likely to cause problems.

[zydeco]

i'd be more worried about how to keep cool with no power....... no air-con.....no fans.....people will be dropping like flies.

Maybe this is some sneaky plan to drive the Europeans out of Thailand? Either that, or we are all supposed to live like Graham Greene from now on.

[zydeco]

i'd be more worried about how to keep cool with no power....... no air-con.....no fans.....people will be dropping like flies.

how did people do it in the days BAC ?...."Before Air Con"

When I was young, a/c had not quite begun to be omnipresent. And I lived in a part of the USA that is hotter than Bangkok from June until late September. What did you do? You built houses to catch the southwesterly "breeze", although it was like an oven blast more than a breeze, and the houses often had a dogtrot to funnel the breeze through the house. Oh, yea, you basically lived on your screened in porch that sometimes circled the entire house. Attic fans helped with the interiors. In other words, you didn't know any better and you lived with it. People accustomed to a/c today simply could not live in those conditions.

[lemonjelly]

i'd be more worried about how to keep cool with no power....... no air-con.....no fans.....people will be dropping like flies.

Maybe this is some sneaky plan to drive the Europeans out of Thailand? Either that, or we are all supposed to live like Graham Greene from now on.

Become a recluse with an opium habit ?......

[lemonjelly]

i'd be more worried about how to keep cool with no power....... no air-con.....no fans.....people will be dropping like flies.

Really I've been living here 6 years no electric in the day at all and generator supply 6pm-6am no aircon as the generator is to small.

It's only a power cut not the end of the world I find it hilarious all these comments when I be been coping with it for 6 years no problems I'm so used to it now I have no need for electric in the daytime.

My hero...

but how are typing this message...its only 17:00 you aint switched your generator on yet and dont have power during the day..dont need it....Nuclear powered PC ?

please dont tell me your doing this from an I-pad ?...

Amazing how some people seem to spend all of their waking hours telling us how Thailand is a third world country, and then when the power might or might not fail, complain how it doesn't have all the comforts of "home"

You referring to my post / me ?......I don't complain about 'comforts of home', I was merely stating that many people would have problems coping with the heat.....you ok with that ?

[lemonjelly]

i'd be more worried about how to keep cool with no power....... no air-con.....no fans.....people will be dropping like flies.

Really I've been living here 6 years no electric in the day at all and generator supply 6pm-6am no aircon as the generator is to small.

It's only a power cut not the end of the world I find it hilarious all these comments when I be been coping with it for 6 years no problems I'm so used to it now I have no need for electric in the daytime.

yeah, great , good for you.....now spare a thought for the sick/elderly that might struggle without electricity in the hottest time of the year.

[Soupdragon]

this Country is run by <deleted> wits..1 week to the next the story changes; its idiotic

the cynical side of me says the goverment is playing up the consequences of the "crisis" as if there are no black outs...they can run around patting themselves on the back and saying they averted the "crisis"

The cynical side of me says there may well be limited power cuts, just enough to be an inconvenience, then the Government will push through the construction of dirty power stations saying they are desperately needed to cover any future shortages.

[Mampara]

What I don't understand is why Myanmar must close all it's gas pipes to Thailand at once and not close them sequentially to do their maintainance. 12.5% drop in gas flow over three weeks is better than 25% reduction of gas flow for 1.5 weeks. And why has this never happened before? I think a message is being sent to start treating Myanmar more as a good neighbor and partner, and less as an adversary, because if it decides to be an adversary, Thailand is in the poop big time.

I doubt there is anything malicious about it. Am sure some pipe line engineer somewhere has an answer.

dont know the specifics of this shut-in, but there are TV members who work over there and mayl know the specifics

This shut in has been know about for at least 6 months, and seeing as Thailand is a customer, unless in an emegency shut in situation, The Thailand govement would have been informed and consulted and to a degree Thailand would have had say to agree to this ie Burma hasnt just made the decision unilaterally and not told anyone, thats not the way its works.

It appears this is a sheduled maintence shut-in and there may be certain work which requires a complete shut in, eg work on the gas compression units offshore, maybe tie-in work into existing pipelines etc, there are many possible very good reasons why this is being done the way it is

The fact remains, Thailand has know about this for a long time and appears to have been caught with their pants down, as they have done FA planning to mitigate the possible shortages, but every article I have read on this seems to spin its the big bad people in Myanmar are turning our gas off

To me most of this "crisis" is Thailand own creation, they have not made prepartions and now are trying blame Burma for their own lack of planning...

Me thinks there is something fishy going on. Firstly Burma sells power to Thailand Right? Secondly the peak power consumption for Thailand will be in April Right? Which means that this will be the most profitable and best time to sell power to Thailand! so why the shut down at the peak power consumption period when the most money can be made? common sense tells every businessman that the most money is to be made during peak seasons. I think there is something much deeper going on don't you?

[surangw]

no back up batteries in the systems?

[thaicbr]

i'd be more worried about how to keep cool with no power....... no air-con.....no fans.....people will be dropping like flies.

Really I've been living here 6 years no electric in the day at all and generator supply 6pm-6am no aircon as the generator is to small.

It's only a power cut not the end of the world I find it hilarious all these comments when I be been coping with it for 6 years no problems I'm so used to it now I have no need for electric in the daytime.

Tanintai. Where do you live? From reading your posts I'm guessing by the sea on a hill so presumably you get a nice cool breeze, and I'm guessing plenty of windows to let that lovely breeze in. And a generator for your water pump. Many of us do not have that luxury including Thais.

We have to work and live in a rectangle of concrete (in my case the apartment only has one small window. Great for sleeping late. Crap for airflow)

Wait. Wait. Are you also saying you don't have a fridge? How do you keep your beer cold?

[Locationthailand]

What I don't understand is why Myanmar must close all it's gas pipes to Thailand at once and not close them sequentially to do their maintainance. 12.5% drop in gas flow over three weeks is better than 25% reduction of gas flow for 1.5 weeks. And why has this never happened before? I think a message is being sent to start treating Myanmar more as a good neighbor and partner, and less as an adversary, because if it decides to be an adversary, Thailand is in the poop big time.

And what is not said or declared is these systems have standby diesel generators so if the communications fail it will most likely only be at spasmodic microwave level, not central communications. And it's not as if gas is in short supply, there is a global glut, that can't even be stored so a little forethought and a timely order placed would have had all this resolved. Management by crisis. PTP MO.

[Satcommlee]

Most Cellphone Mast's only have Battery Back-ups, and a recharge rate that could not sustain prolonged and regular outages.. ie: 2 hour rotating black-outs.

But I hear they are switching the escalators off on the skytrain, so I'll think we will be OK.

As for me 2.5KW generator is on standby..

[DagonKhan]

What I don't understand is why Myanmar must close all it's gas pipes to Thailand at once and not close them sequentially to do their maintainance. 12.5% drop in gas flow over three weeks is better than 25% reduction of gas flow for 1.5 weeks. And why has this never happened before? I think a message is being sent to start treating Myanmar more as a good neighbor and partner, and less as an adversary, because if it decides to be an adversary, Thailand is in the poop big time.

I doubt there is anything malicious about it. Am sure some pipe line engineer somewhere has an answer.

dont know the specifics of this shut-in, but there are TV members who work over there and mayl know the specifics

This shut in has been know about for at least 6 months, and seeing as Thailand is a customer, unless in an emegency shut in situation, The Thailand govement would have been informed and consulted and to a degree Thailand would have had say to agree to this ie Burma hasnt just made the decision unilaterally and not told anyone, thats not the way its works.

It appears this is a sheduled maintence shut-in and there may be certain work which requires a complete shut in, eg work on the gas compression units offshore, maybe tie-in work into existing pipelines etc, there are many possible very good reasons why this is being done the way it is

The fact remains, Thailand has know about this for a long time and appears to have been caught with their pants down, as they have done FA planning to mitigate the possible shortages, but every article I have read on this seems to spin its the big bad people in Myanmar are turning our gas off

To me most of this "crisis" is Thailand own creation, they have not made prepartions and now are trying blame Burma for their own lack of planning...

Me thinks there is something fishy going on. Firstly Burma sells power to Thailand Right? Secondly the peak power consumption for Thailand will be in April Right? Which means that this will be the most profitable and best time to sell power to Thailand! so why the shut down at the peak power consumption period when the most money can be made? common sense tells every businessman that the most money is to be made during peak seasons. I think there is something much deeper going on don't you?

If there's anything fishy going on, it's at the Thai end.

This is a scheduled shutdown for maintenance. It happened last year, oh, and the year before that... and even the year before that and... you get the picture...

[KHR1010]

Amazing how some people seem to spend all of their waking hours telling us how Thailand is a third world country, and then when the power might or might not fail, complain how it doesn't have all the comforts of "home"

Really I've been living here 6 years no electric in the day at all and generator supply 6pm-6am no aircon as the generator is to small.

It's only a power cut not the end of the world I find it hilarious all these comments when I be been coping with it for 6 years no problems I'm so used to it now I have no need for electric in the daytime.

My hero...

but how are typing this message...its only 17:00 you aint switched your generator on yet and dont have power during the day..dont need it....Nuclear powered PC ?

please dont tell me your doing this from an I-pad ?...

You referring to my post / me ?......I don't complain about 'comforts of home', I was merely stating that many people would have problems coping with the heat.....you ok with that ?

Don't take it personally, this is just a chance for those who think it benevolent to live like they are on Giligan's Island to jump on their proverbial sopbox and preach to the masses how holier-than-thou they are.

But what is lost in their tiny little minds is the legitimate gripe that many of us have against the government for not preparing properly for this event with the ample warning they had. I have dozens of employees, vessels with laycan dates into BKK, fabrication yards and offices many stories up, these will all face serious challenges should the power go down for seriou lengths of time. I am required to plan and abide by rules and regulations put forth by this government and market conditions, which I do. Now the expectation of the government to reciprocate to industry is in question, with the dismal incompetence of this government we may be paying demurrage charges, wages and etc. for no productivity. It is not unreasonable to expect better from an emerging economy such as Thailand. This is a good lesson for the practice of mitigating risk when doing business in SE Asia, or anywhere for that matter, by divesting resources throughout the region. When we got wind of the potential power outages we diverted as much workload as possible throughout April to our Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia operations to help coup with the possible issues. In the I am a business owner and this is the risk of doing business, but that does not alleviate the culpability that falls on the various municipalities that should be prepared.

It would help to transcend ones thought process above a beer-guzzling xxxxx-monger who is bitter about losing his air-con and sports channel. There are legitimate circumstances that will cause individuals suffer greatly due to the possible incompetence to come.

[PoodMaiDai]

Well crap. I guess I'll have to do without the 10,000 photos of food posted by Thais on my facebook account.

[stoli]

What I don't understand is why Myanmar must close all it's gas pipes to Thailand at once and not close them sequentially to do their maintainance. 12.5% drop in gas flow over three weeks is better than 25% reduction of gas flow for 1.5 weeks. And why has this never happened before? I think a message is being sent to start treating Myanmar more as a good neighbor and partner, and less as an adversary, because if it decides to be an adversary, Thailand is in the poop big time.

I am sure that there are things that Myanmar relies on Thailand for to survive.I don't think they have the upper hand at this point.

[Soutpeel]

i'd be more worried about how to keep cool with no power....... no air-con.....no fans.....people will be dropping like flies.

Really I've been living here 6 years no electric in the day at all and generator supply 6pm-6am no aircon as the generator is to small.

It's only a power cut not the end of the world I find it hilarious all these comments when I be been coping with it for 6 years no problems I'm so used to it now I have no need for electric in the daytime.

My hero...

but how are typing this message...its only 17:00 you aint switched your generator on yet and dont have power during the day..dont need it....Nuclear powered PC ?

please dont tell me your doing this from an I-pad ?...

Amazing how some people seem to spend all of their waking hours telling us how Thailand is a third world country, and then when the power might or might not fail, complain how it doesn't have all the comforts of "home"

Amazing how many people just dont have a sense of humour...

[animatic]

i'd be more worried about how to keep cool with no power....... no air-con.....no fans.....people will be dropping like flies.

how did people do it in the days BAC ?...."Before Air Con"

They owned indentured servants who pulled ropes attached to ceiling fan paddles,

or they sweated like a beer on a hot bar.

[MaxLee]

EVERY BUSINESS better get ready for a blackout, Everybody uses electricity...

Imagine all the gas stations not being able as trillions of Thais bought cars.

But worst of all NOT being ably to charge smartphones for 2 weeks,...

[Satcommlee]

EVERY BUSINESS better get ready for a blackout, Everybody uses electricity...

Imagine all the gas stations not being able as trillions of Thais bought cars.

But worst of all NOT being ably to charge smartphones for 2 weeks,...

I spoke to Somchai the som tum seller outside family mart, he's not too worried..

[Baerboxer]

i'd be more worried about how to keep cool with no power....... no air-con.....no fans.....people will be dropping like flies.

More importantly - no electricity means no water as most households rely on electric pumps rather than water pressure. No water = no toilet flush. Big potential health issue.

[techboy]

So what fails and the mobile operators get into trouble. A power cut is a power cut, right?

Maybe they can hook up bike next to the transmission stations and pay villagers to pedal.

"Maybe they can hook up bike next to the transmission stations and pay villagers to pedal." They would have a surplus of power if they could hook up generators to the jaws of all the incessantly grousing expats.

[astral]

I find it strange that mobile station do not have battery backup?

POTS (Plain old Telephone system) works on 60V provided by large

banks of batteries at the exchange. Always has done.

Why is the mobile network so different?

[Soutpeel]

I find it strange that mobile station do not have battery backup?

POTS (Plain old Telephone system) works on 60V provided by large

banks of batteries at the exchange. Always has done.

Why is the mobile network so different?

believe the mobile towers do have back up generators/batteries