Thailand Starts Up Gas-Fired Plants

Three gas-fired combined cycle co-generation plants have entered commercial operation in Thailand, the UK technical adviser on the project said December 5.

Mott MacDonald said the final of the three plants, ABPR3, 4 and 5, entered commercial operation in Amata City industrial estate in Thailand's Rayong province. Each has a capacity of 132MW and is capable of producing 30 metric tons of steam per hour. They were developed by Amata B. Grimm Power (Rayong) which has entered into a 25-year power purchase agreement with state utility Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat). Each plant will sell 90 MW of electricity to Egat and up to 30 MW of electricity to industrial users in the area.

As technical adviser to lenders to the projects, Mott MacDonald undertook a technical appraisal, a technical due diligence review, and monitored construction up to completion of each plant. 

Mott MacDonald's project manager, Pakorn Prabhawong, said: "These plants have been commissioned as part of the country's wider national power development plan that aims to achieve 5,922 MW capacity online before 2025." The UK company was involved in their development since 2015, and had worked with the developer's Thai parent company B Grimm Power on other thermal plants previously in Rayong and Chonburi - the two provinces on Thailand's coast to the southeast of the capital Bangkok. B Grimm Power also has a solar project in Vietnam.

Japan’s Mitsui last month said it secured financing for a 2.5 GW gas-fired combined cycle plant (CCGT) in Chonburi province for which construction was expected to begin by end-2018.

As well as having its own offshore gas production, Thailand has one LNG import terminal (which imported 3.95mn mt/yr in 2017) now being expanded and plans to open a second in 2022.