Energy investors who won an auction under the state's "Energy for All" renewable scheme are pushing ahead with their projects after the latest legal hurdle that caused more delays was cleared.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) recently resolved to drop a complaint made by one investor over alleged irregularities in the auction held in 2021 to grant investors licences to develop and operate power plants.
Introduced in November 2019, Energy for All is designed to facilitate businesses and communities to jointly invest in biomass and biogas-fired power plants.
The scheme faced several delays caused by the pandemic, a cabinet reshuffle and the revision of its conditions and business model.
Winners of the auction were supposed to sign power purchase agreements with the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), the state electricity distribution arm, by the deadline of Dec 29 last year, but the signing was delayed after the complaint was lodged with the NACC.
A source at the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), which oversaw the bidding, said the ERC postponed the deadline to Feb 28 this year, enabling 43 winners to continue their projects.
Authorities granted them licences to develop and operate power plants, with generation capacity of 149.5 megawatts in total.
The winners are divided into two groups: 16 to develop biomass power plants with a combined generation capacity of 75MW, and 27 to build biogas power generation facilities with a capacity of 74.5MW.
According to the ERC, once power purchase agreements between energy firms and the PEA are signed, power plants must start operation within three years.
Officials want Energy for All to be part of state efforts to boost the economy through huge investment in clean energy projects.
This renewable scheme is expected to be another channel to earn revenue for energy firms.
The firms are granted a feed-in tariff, which is a guarantee to buy electricity at fixed prices. The tariff is 2.797 baht per kilowatt-hour (unit) for biomass projects and 3.571 baht per unit for biogas projects.
Communities that join the scheme can earn money by selling agricultural refuse, including leftovers from corn, rice, sugar cane, palm and cassava, to power plant operators. Some villagers opted for fast-growing plants like bamboo, acacia and napier grass for sale.
Using parts of sugar cane as fuel for electricity generation can help the government deal with PM2.5 ultra-fine dust, as some of the pollution is caused by slash-and-burn methods from sugar-cane growers, which is less time consuming and makes harvesting easier.
Officials said the success of the first phase of Energy for All will lead to a second round of auctions for new projects, currently being prepared by the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency.
Department chief Prasert Sinsookprasert said it is working with agricultural officials to find locations for new projects and ensure transmission systems are ready. The capacity for the second phase is expected to increase to 400MW.
