Companies awarded new renewable power development projects from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) expect bright business prospects in the clean energy sector, driven by higher electricity generation capacity.
SET-listed Thai Solar Energy, a renewable energy developer, and Gunkul Engineering, a renewable energy developer and construction firm, were among 72 companies participating in a recent auction under the ERC's second-phase renewables scheme, with total power generation capacity of more than 3.6 gigawatts.
In this auction, the ERC first approved projects with a total capacity of 2.14GW, comprising 1.58GW of solar farms to be developed by 64 companies and 0.56GW of wind farms by eight companies. Kathleen Maleenont, chief executive of Thai Solar Energy, said the company obtained licences to develop solar farms with a capacity of 136MW.
The company plans to spend 4 billion baht developing solar farms and sell electricity to the Provincial Electricity Authority at a feed-in tariff rate of 2.1679 baht per kilowatt-hour under a 25-year contract.
The new projects are projected to increase Thai Solar Energy's electricity generation capacity to 378MW, up from 242MW at present. The 242MW capacity includes 34 renewable projects in operation and seven projects under construction.
Ms Kathleen said Thai Solar Energy will participate in ERC's other auction for the remaining capacity in the second phase, aiming to increase its power generation capacity.
"We set an additional capacity target of at least 100MW in the new auction," she said.
Gunkul Engineering was granted licences to develop renewables projects with a capacity of 319MW.
They include wind farms with a capacity of 284MW and solar farms with a capacity of 35MW. The facilities are scheduled to start commercial operations between 2027 and 2030. The new projects will bring the company's total capacity to 1,800MW.
Gunkul Engineering aims to increase its capacity by 35% between 2025 and 2026, an increase of 100-150MW a year, said Sopacha Dhumrongpiyawut, chairwoman of Gunkul's executive board.
Comments