SET-listed Sakol Energy (SKE), a compressed natural gas trader and biomass power plant operator, expects revenue to soar to almost 1 billion baht next year, driven by demand for refuse-derived fuel to support carbon dioxide emission reduction.
SKE expects its revenue to reach 500 million baht this year, said managing director Jakkraphong Sumethchotimetha.
Refuse-derived fuel, or RDF, is needed by operators of waste-to-energy projects, now being promoted as part of campaigns against global warming.
SKE diversified into the waste-to-energy business and expanded its RDF production facilities to serve growing demand for such fuel.
The company spent 400 million baht developing a new RDF plant in Saraburi, with production capacity of 200,000 tonnes a year.
A new source of revenue will come from a long-term purchase agreement to supply RDF to Siam Cement Group (SCG), Thailand's largest cement maker and industrial conglomerate, which is replacing coal with RDF in its cement-making process under its goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, said Mr Jakkraphong.
SKE earlier signed an online agreement to sell 135,000 tonnes of RDF to SCI Eco Co, the waste management arm of SCG, for three years. SKE said it can increase the amount to 150,000 tonnes if more RDF is needed, he said.
SKE operates an RDF production facility in Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate in Chon Buri through its subsidiary N15 Technology Co. Its production capacity stands at between 80,000 and 100,000 tonnes a year.
Premium-grade RDF for SCG and other RDF-fired power plant operators is expected to play a key role in racking up revenue for SKE next year.
Mr Jakkraphong said RDF-fired power generation will continue to gain momentum, thanks to concerns over carbon dioxide emissions, which are blamed for causing global warming and climate change.
He said many firms have adopted carbon neutrality campaigns by replacing coal with RDF.
Carbon neutrality refers to efforts to strike a balance between carbon dioxide emissions and absorption.
SKE also supports the state's clean energy development by operating a 9.9-megawatt biomass power plant in Phrae's Ban Mae Krathing.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha vowed last year during the 26th UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow that Thailand would be more serious in addressing climate change, striving to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, along with a net-zero target, a balance between greenhouse gas emissions and absorption, by 2065.
