Thailand prepares for power shortages

BANGKOK, February 16 (TNA) - The government, through the Ministry of Energy, is preparing for, probably, power shortages in the coming months, as neighbouring Myanmar will temporarily suspend its gas supply to Thailand for maintenance of its production bases. Thai Energy Minister Pongsak Raktapongpaisarn told reporters on Saturday that he will call a meeting with all relevant agencies next week to prepare measures to timely cope with the situation, as Myanmar will suspend its gas supply to Thailand in early April for the maintenance of its production bases. According to the Thai energy minister, Myanmar plans to repair its Yadhana natural gas production base from April 4-12, casuing a halt of its gas supply to Thailand by at least 1.1 billion cubic feet per day; while its repair of a gas pipeline at the Ayang Pagoda has not yet been complete either, causing Thailand to lose another 275 million cubic feet per day of natural gas supply for power production, or a total of some 1.375 billion cubic feet per day during the period, which may affect Thailand's power production of about 4,100 megawatts. The energy minister assured, however, that there would not be any declaration of a state of emergency, caused by power shortages in the country. The minister said that he has, however, urged all concerned agencies to start looking for alternative energy, including liquefied natural gas (LNG), and to see whether Thailand's now shut-downed diesel or heating oil power plants should be reopened, as least for a temporary basis, despite their higher production costs. Meanwhile, private-run Thai Solar Energy Public Company Limited announced that it will invest approximately 7 billion baht this year on 10 projects on producing electricity powered by solar energy in Suphan Buri and adjacent Kanchanaburi Provinces. The company's chief executive officer (CEO) Catherine Maleenont said that the 10 projects will produce a combined electricity of 80 megawatts, with electricity producing under the first phrase of the projects expected to be supplied to the state-run Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) by late this month and the second phase by mid-2013. (TNA)