In advance of next month’s ASEAN Power Week being held in Bangkok at IMPACT from 1-3 September, a panel of government and industry experts from Thailand and Asia joined together today at Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit to provide a preview of the international event’s highly anticipated key topics that are expected to be of great interest to the country’s future energy plans.
The panel session provided a general update on Thailand’s progress in diversifying its electricity generation and shared insights into what would constitute strong, sustainable options for renewable and alternative energy sources that would offer the greatest potential to fortifying Thailand’s energy security.
Thai experts from government and industry were:
• Ms.Kulwaree Buranasajjawaraporn, Director of Solar Energy Development Bureau, Department of Alternative Energy & Efficiency (DEDE);• Mr. Songwut Khandee, Manager of Alternative Energy Encouragement Division, Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA); and
• Mr. Kowit Cheungsatiansup, Vice President of Corporate Planning, Global Power Synergy Company Limited Thailand.
Regional representatives from the private sector were:
• Mr. Markus Lorenzini, President and Chief Executive Officer, Siemens Limited Thailand;
• Ms. Sarah Fairhurst, Partner, The Lantau Group (HK) Limited; and
• Mr. Darren Garwood, Region General Manager-Asia Pacific, GE Power & Water.
According to Dr. Heather Johnstone, ASEAN Power Week Director and moderator for the panel discussion, energy demand is expected to double in the Asia Pacific region by 2030 and therefore Thailand, as ASEAN’s second largest energy consumer, is one of the key countries actively looking at how it can improve efficiencies to help cut the demand by 15 percent by 2035.
“Organisations like DEDE have been helping position Thailand to maximize the opportunities that are available and has prepared the 10-year Alternative Energy Development Plan (2012-2021) which aims to promote alternative energy usage and reduce dependency on energy imports – this is an excellent starting point for today’s discussions and also the topics that will be showcased at next month’s ASEAN Power Week.”
“As we’ve heard today from our panellist, achieving targets like this take strong collaboration between government and industry and we believe events like ASEAN Power Week are crucial in enabling business relationships to develop, grow and thrive in an atmosphere of knowledge sharing an optimistic outlook for the future in relation to new innovations and technologies,” she said.
Mrs. Kulwaree Buranasajjawaraporn, Director of Solar Energy Development Bureau for the Ministry of Energy’s Department of Alternative Energy & Efficiency (DEDE), said, “Biomass, biogas, solar, wind – whether it be locally produced and imported – brings strong opportunity to Thailand and its businesses. Furthermore, learning processes as we implement new technologies and find out what will suit our needs are beneficial to both sides of government and industry, particularly how to integrate biofuels and renewables together for Thailand’s full benefit.”
Mr. Markus Lorenzini, President and CEO of Siemens Limited Thailand, added that the key to the issue of energy security is balance. “As we see it, there are four key challenges in the power generation market: climate protection; resource efficiency; creating a reliable power supply; and affordability. Thailand is, in comparison to its neighbouring countries, well developed in the power generation mix between natural fuel and renewable technologies and we hope it will continue with their power generation concept to have high efficiency power generations installed in the country with strong balance of renewable energy sources,” he said.
“Siemens Thailand are very proud that we have contributed to building Thailand’s power generation fleet with EGAT over the last many decades, and are regarded a role model for wind power generation in Thailand – we recently helped install the biggest on-shore wind farm in SE Asia in Nakhon Ratchasima.”
According to Mr. Kowit Chuengsatiansup, Vice President – Corporate Planning for Global Power Synergy Company Limited Thailand, strong, diversification of energy development relies on private and public working together. “We are working with the Thai government to create more power for more people across all the provinces of Thailand using things like agricultural waste and biomass – things that are left over from the farming sector in Thailand, as one of the country’s biggest industries. We see big potential in this area for our business and therefore working with the government will be paramount to our success. Our view is that the private sector can help coincide with public policies and implement these effectively into society.”
Ms. Sarah Fairhurst, Partner and co-Founder of The Lantau Group (HK) Limited, shared insight into analysis their teams had done in the region regarding the value in diversity and found some interesting results. “Surprisingly, there is no value in diversity simple for the sake of diversity. We must look at the sources themselves to make sure the source is valuable and creates value for the markets that are considering their diversification strategy,” she said. “As we see it, there are many good things about Thailand’s energy diversity plans – looking at what will provide the most economic value, as well as understanding challenges to implementing wind and solar energy technologies.
“There has been quite a lot of discussion in the region and we are seeing renewed investment into clean coal technologies. The next, critical step to this is helping highlight to the public that coal is still a highly viable energy source. It’s important that events like ASEAN Power Week can be a useful forum for people to better understand that it is possible to build clean coal technology with many economic, social and environmental benefits,” said Ms. Fairhurst.
Complimenting Thailand on its efforts, Mr. Darren Garwood, Regional General Manager - Asia Pacific, GE Power & Water, said that the country is considered quite progressive and the region’s leader in regards to its renewable energy efforts. “Gas will continue to play a majority role in the region’s energy mix, with multiple avenues to managing it successfully. The integration and implementation issues will take careful management by both the public and private sectors, with overriding social issues in regards to integrating energy sources within local communities to ensure current and new energy projects are successful.”
Mr. Songwut Khandee, Manager of Alternative Energy Encouragement Division for Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), said, that it is the PEA’s role to ensure they continue to better serve consumers. “Whether we are generating energy via local or imported sources from neighbouring countries, our main focus is on making power generation more efficient for consumers which provides costs benefits for all.”
ASEAN Power Week, including POWER-GEN Asia, Renewable Energy World Asia and the POWER-GEN Asia Financial Forum, will be held from 1-3 September at the IMPACT Exhibition & Convention Centre under the theme “Investing in a Sustainable Tomorrow”. The event is the largest and most comprehensive conference and exhibition for the power generation industry in ASEAN, anticipating more than 7,500 delegates and attendees from over 60 countries around the world.
The three day program features seven conference tracks of more than 50 sessions featuring over 150 international experts who will present and discuss the most important topics in the power generation industry, focusing on strategic and technical power issues and challenges, the continued growth of the renewable and alternative energy sectors, and the financial marketplace within power generation.
For further information please visit www.powergenasia.com | www.renewableenergyworld-asia.com | www.powergenasiafinance.com