''The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) has confirmed Thailand will have to build more Coal-fired Power Plants to meet its Energy needs since future supplies of natural gas are uncertain and renewable energy is expensive.
Renewable energy such as hydroelectric power plants and solar cells were remarked to have unstable production capacities, are not commercially viable on an industrial scale and involve high investment costs.
At present, 68% of Thailand's electricity is produced from nat gas, 9% from coal, the rest from fossil fuels and renewable energy. Thailand's energy consumption grows at 3% p. a. and is estimated to reach 70685 MW in 2030. The plan is to reduce natgas consumption while increasing renewables by 2030.
Read the original article at the Bangkok Post ''
It is funny how Egat takes the press on a tour to a lignite-fired power plant in Berlin to sell them on ''great advances in emission-control technology'', Merkel is on the other hand setting in motions in place to scale down the share of coal in Germany's energy mix.
This is a pretty backward move if all the talk about renewable energy ends in a new lean towards more coal. Perhaps Mr. T should be allowed to return and be given a cushy position in Agriculture, where all he has to do is to get farmers to just churn out ricehulls for biomass, ha!
Besides coal though, solar players have been on a great run so far, and foreign interest has been steadily growing (and buying in).
With all that said, this is another ''oh well, this is Thailand'' moment, and I would favor Egat to decide the future trend here over any other.
Now, time to get some exposure.
