PEA installs marine electric cable at Koh Samui

SURAT THANI, THAILAND, February 9 (TNA) - The Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) has already installed 37.5 kilometres long of marine electric cable in the Gulf of Thailand, designed to prevent a blackout on the popular tourist island of Koh Samui, while electricity supply to the island from a new station is expected to start in March. Senior PEA and tourism officials have inspected the installation of the 115-kilovolt underwater electric cable which links between Khanom district of Nakhon Si Thammarat province with Koh Samui off Surat Thani province. So far officials have installed 37.5 kilometres out of the total distance of 54 kilometres marine electric cable. Another electricity station will be built on Koh Samui and supply is expected to start in early March. The new supply station is constructed as officials projected that it could cater to demand by people on both Koh Samui and Koh Phangan a minimum of 10 years. Daily demand presently is at about 200 megawatts. The PEA has allocated more than four billion baht for the construction of the marine electric cable to ensure that electricity supply would meet the rising demand of people and tourists visiting Koh Samui and to also cater to the government’s policy on boosting the country’s tourism industry as Thailand embarks on the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community at the end of 2015. Koh Samui was blackened for three days in early December last year due to electric short circuit, forcing tourists to leave the island while entrepreneurs of small hotels and bungalows who did not have electric generators of their own were hurt as their revenue was lost. Normally, about 20,000 tourists visit Koh Samui on holidays. (TNA)