Energy Minister promotes community-based power
Energy Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong, who is currently on a tour of the Northeast, visited a rice product promotion centre in Ban Non Rang in Khon Kaen on Thursday (December 19) to see firsthand the success of the centre and promote the community-based power plant policy to more than 1,000 farmers.
The Energy Ministry is actively supporting community-based biomass power plants in region, which has plenty of agricultural land but little in the way of water resources. Energy crops such as Napier grass, are low-cost, low-maintenance, and need very little water. The Ministry will fund power plants in areas that have the resources, with the farmers selling the crops to the plant and receiving electricity at low price in return. The Minister believes this policy will help increase income and stimulate the economy at the local level.
This project aims to enter into purchase contracts with local farmers for 20 years for bamboo, Earpod wattle, or Napier grass.
Community-based power plants will use a Feed-in Tariff (FiT) mechanism in renewable power investment for Very Small Power Producers (VSPP) with 10 MW for non-firm power plant. Next year, the government will start buying 700 MW from private producers and has scheduled the commercial operation dates for two types of projects: Quick win project in 2020, followed by the general project the year after.
Under the programme, the party who proposes the project, either private or public, can hold 60 to 90 per cent of ownership while the community, which must have more than 200 households, holds the other 10-40 per cent (10 per cent preferred stock and additional stock up to 40 per cent) The biomass energy must yield a profit of not less than Bt0.25 per unit and that of solar cells Bt0.50 per unit.
The community-based power plant should generate income for the locals and reduce the flow of migration to other areas in search of work.
