The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) expects to grant permission for the second phase of waste-to-energy projects via an auction next month after completing the investment criteria.
Khomgrich Tantravanich, secretary-general of the ERC, said his board will meet to approve the criteria this week, paving the way for state electricity distribution arms -- Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) and Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) -- to start receiving investment proposals from participating companies.
The MEA oversees waste-to-energy projects in Bangkok, Nonthaburi and Samut Prakan, while the PEA supervises the remaining 73 provinces.
The second-phase development consists of 34 projects to be operated by small power producers, each with an electricity generation capacity of 10-50 megawatts, and very small power producers, each with less than 10MW in capacity.
Total capital expenditure is estimated at 50 billion baht for the development of the projects, with a combined capacity of 282.98MW, said Mr Khomgrich.
Authorities' target is for 600MW of electricity to be produced under the second phase of the waste-to-energy scheme, with 200MW from industrial waste and 400MW from community waste.
They expect to grant operation licences with a total capacity of 300MW to power companies this year. The licences for the remaining 300MW are scheduled to be granted in 2023.
The ERC is speeding up development after the National Energy Policy Council decided in November last year to help local administrative bodies deal with waste in their areas through the waste-to-energy scheme.
The Interior Ministry, which oversees local administrative bodies nationwide, supports the scheme under its cooperation with the Energy Ministry. The scheme gained approval in a public hearing last month.
Authorities are encouraging investors to join the scheme by offering them feed-in tariffs ranging from 1.81-5.08 baht per kilowatt-hour over 20 years.
The ERC expects waste-to-energy projects to start commercial operations between 2025 and 2026.
The first phase of waste-to-energy, with combined capacity of 344MW, ran from 2016 to 2020. Community waste was used to produce 313.2MW of electricity while industrial waste was used to produce 30.8MW.
Part of the waste fuel was used to produce heat which was supplied to factories, especially for food processing and cloth dyeing. The heat volume stood at 135 kilotonnes of oil equivalent.
