Thai analysis: Rows over energy issues could reach boiling point this year

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ANALYSIS
Rows over energy issues could reach boiling point this year
Chularat Saengpassa
The Nation



Govt to push ahead wIth controversIal power plants as communItIes in South vow to protect theIr envIronment

BANGKOK: -- SEVERAL energy issues are threatening to trigger serious conflicts between the government and communities this year.

Just as activists, conservationists and local communities have expressed their firm intention to protect their environment from potentially harmful power plants and demanded better management of energy affairs, government figures look set to stick to their much-criticised plans.

Energy Minister Narongchai Akrasanee, for example, has vowed to push hard for the 800-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Krabi this year.

He has insisted that the planned plant must start generating electricity for the country's distribution system by 2019, in line with the already-approved plan.

"It is one of our key performance indicators. The Office of the Public-Sector Development Commission will evaluate our performance based on these grounds," he said, adding that he would try to go ahead with the plan no matter what opposition might arise.

Once established, the coal-fired power plant in Krabi will support the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand's (Egat) goal of boosting coal as the energy source for power generation from 14 per cent to 23 per cent by 2030.

If things go as Egat plans, two more power plants will go up in Songkhla very soon, too. Also in the pipeline are projects to construct coal-fired plants in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Trang and Satun.

While Egat has conducted campaigns to promote the image of clean coal and its safe use at power plants - with several press tours to foreign countries where such facilities have been in service - many are not convinced.

Outspoken academics, activists and environmentalists have used the slogan: "Clean Coal is a Dirty Lie".

Egat documents, after all, reveal that bituminous coal for its facilities will be between 0.1- and 1-per-cent sulphur and 0.73-0.85-per-cent arsenic. Moreover, the coal will contain cadmium, lead and mercury.

So, even if Egat tries hard to tell the public that the clean coal is environmentally friendly, opponents believe the use of such coal will cause environmental and health impacts anyway.

The way the state enterprise organised a public forum on September 28 on a project to construct a coal pier for the planned new power plant in Krabi was not at all friendly, it has to be said.

Even though the event took place during martial law, it was still strange to see a huge number of armed soldiers and policemen turning up. When combined with security volunteers, their number was well over 700.

More than 1,500 Egat officials and supporters of the project were also mobilised to crowd the venue of the public forum, making it impossible for the project's opponents to squeeze in.

Hundreds of people had in fact gathered that day in the hope of protecting wetlands in the area.

In principle, members of the public can have their say on projects that will have big impacts on health, the environment and natural resources.

In practice, however, activists, academics and environmentalists - let alone general members of the public - have found it hard to make their voices heard when they disagree with government projects. Even at public forums, they have hardly had any chance to speak up.

Aside from that, no matter what they say, government agencies seem set to go ahead with their plans anyway.

Greenpeace Southeast Asia Campaign director Tara Buakamsri said that during the past two decades, several communities from Lampang to Chachoengsao, Samut Songkhram, Rayong, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Songkhla, Trang and Krabi in fact had already come forward in a bid to protect their hometowns from coal.

"Coal has been polluting the environment. It has been touted as a material to ensure energy security, though," he said.

Several opponents of coal have spoken out in chorus that authorities should explore other energy sources, and use something that is much friendlier to the environment than coal. They have pointed out that even China is trying to cut down on the use of coal.

Financial cost being put first

In the eyes of many activists, Thai authorities have sadly put financial cost ahead of health cost.

Wiwat Chancherngpanich, Egat's assistant governor for power-plant construction, has recently commented that coal is a good choice for electricity generating because with coal production, costs range only from Bt2.8 to Bt3 per unit.

"When using wind energy, the cost is between Bt5 and Bt6 per unit," he said. "When using solar energy, the cost ranges between Bt8 and Bt9 per unit."

In recent years, activists have therefore had concerns that some widely circulated pieces of information - such as electricity-blackout risks and the need to build more power plants - may be misleading. They have also been worried about the government's preparations for the next round of petroleum concessions.

According to a resolution approved by the National Energy Policy Council on October 22 last year, concessions will cover 29 fields.

While some people expect this round of concessions to lower oil prices in Thailand, others suspect that business groups will be the beneficiaries - not Thai people. The group called Partnership on Energy Reform tried to stage a demonstration last year, but its leaders were quickly arrested under martial law. Some energy seminars were also forced to cancel.

The implementation of martial law may suppress protests by activists, environmentalists and people who disagree with the government's energy policies and plans for quite some time.

But, as the suppressed are unlikely to lie low for too long, quarrels over energy issues may reach boiling point this year.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Rows-over-energy-issues-could-reach-boiling-point--30251684.html


-- The Nation 2015-01-12

[Eric Loh]

Waiting for the activists, environmentalists and the concerned people proposed something else from coal than just opposing.

[jcisco]

I'm surprised given the army and the nations security being of such importance that the position is so dire. I would love to know what the baseload vs capacity for each source, I'm thinking they aren't too squeezed yet, but could be unless they get to action on improving their generation and transmission infrastructure.

ANyone note the Nuclear listing on the proposed sources,

Furthermore how little to gas plants, when it is available, abundant a pipeline is hardly a challenge to supply the plants and a lot easier to handle than coal.

I'm not sure what they are thinking, seems to be a rather ambiguous energy policy, lacking leadership or will perhaps.

Edited January 12, 2015 by jcisco

[steven100]

I just can't fathom the government's thinking on energy. Just recently Prayuth was touting how waste to energy will be Thailand of the future. He mentioned that ministers must lean more towards renewable energy and waste to energy as everyone knows Thailand has a huge waste landfill problem that is only getting worse.

So once again this government is full of crap ...

just talk ... mostly BS

[RPCVguy]

The plans get made, but a bureaucracy (anywhere) can assign tasks to people that run counter to the overall needs/ goals.
I had to do some research a year ago and found the following. Sorry, not all the images contain the source references.

Conversion to renewables takes planning, time and investment. This is a global assessment notated as to what holds strong possibilities for Thailand.

From memory, wind turbines best hold possibilities along several mountain areas, solar is strong but needs to be paired with ways to absorb heat off the panels to achieve peak efficiency. Geothermal has several options, as do water turbines based upon canals, and linked to tides or wave action.

Against that generic breakout as to technological conversion, the stated plan in Thailand is (was/ might be )

A different statement of the plan, specific to "by 2021" is shown here

Yes, nuclear is included , and yes, coal is to be phased out.

What energy is produced by source, or consumed by sector is accessible as a PDF file by year at
http://www.eppo.go.th/info/YearBook/index.html
with 2014 data due out soon. a sample from the 2013 report is shown here:

The options are there, what is to be demonstrated (or not) is a coherent plan and then follow-through.
Note that Coal and Tar-sands are the prime candidates for reserves left in the ground IF ever an international consensus agrees to do what is necessary to avoid the worst options of climate change.
http://static.guim.co.uk/ni/1420621526999/fossil_fuels_done.svg

[rickirs]

The Junta's energy plan will be merely to replace a third of its imported LNG for imported coal for electrical generation, supplemented by increased fossil-fueled power purchases from Malaysia and Vietnam. The end result will be increased environmental pollution with worsening national energy dependence.

One thing you can't accuse this Junta with is an innovative and progressive energy strategy. That died with the overthrow of the Yingluck government. Hail to the Chief (of the NCPO).

[halloween]

The progressive strategy of the Yingluk government was another power line to the south for electricity generated in the north, rather than generating closer to users. Plain dumb.

EGAT, being advised by engineers, is going with what is proven to wok well. You might notice that most of the new plants are co-generation (even if you don't know what that means) which are gas-fired.

Want to bet that the same NIMBY activists would be moaning if hydro dams were planned?