Bids Opening for Thailand's 800-Megawatt Power Projects

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--A call for bids from construction contractors and equipment suppliers is imminent from the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) for two new gas-fired power stations. The two units would each have a generating capacity of 800 megawatts (MW) and will be situated at Wang Noi and Bang Pakong.

Each project will cost about $571 million and will receive an LNG fuel feed imported by the national utility PTT. PTT is planning to build an LNG import terminal in southern Thailand that will assist in controlling the projects' operational costs when compared to using fuel oil as a feed. The current schedule calls for Wang Noi in Atthaya to be in operation by 2012 and the Bang Pakong plant in Chachoengsao in 2013.

Egat is revising the environmental impact assessment for the two new plants following an increase in capacity to 800 MW from the original 700 MW specification. The application of new technology will allow for the greater capacity and improve both projects' economies of scale says Egat.

To meet the requirements of power demand growth, Egat is in the process of selecting four possible sites for new coal-fired power stations that would have a combined capacity of 2,800 MW and could be in operation between 2015 and 2017. If plans for these "clean" coal fired projects are stymied by protests from local communities and environmental groups, Egat may turn to power imports from neighboring Burma and Laos to maintain power supply security in the face of demand pressures. The company is also looking at the prospect of expanding the capacity of the new 731 MW power plant at Songkhkla, which is scheduled to start operation in April.

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