Energy
Electricity production
Govt warns over Lao dam plan
The government threatened on Tuesday not to buy electricity from Sanakham dam in Laos after it learned the project might affect the Mekong River.“The country’s territory is our paramount concern,” Somkiat Prajamwong, secretary-general to the Office of National Water Resources, said on Tuesday after a ...
Apinya Wipatayotin
'Energy for All' deals in sight at last
Energy officials expect to sign power purchase agreements (PPAs) under the “Energy for All” renewable power scheme in March next year.Energy for All, which allows private investors and communities to co-invest in power plants fuelled by renewable resources, has faced several delays for nearly a ...
Yuthana Praiwan
Chinese dams and the Mekong drought
The latest reports from the Lower Mekong Basin are cause for growing concern that another period of drought will succeed that of 2019, affecting Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Expected rainfall from late May through June and July has not arrived, and the level of ...
Agencies told to find ways to mitigate Laos dam impact
Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon urged authorities concerned to discuss and find ways to mitigate the possible environmental impact from the Sanakham Dam project in Laos in the upcoming scheduled public hearings.“[The committee] is concerned about the impact of the dam, as it is located ...
Bangkok Post Reporter
MEA opens solar power buy-back scheme from customers
The Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) will let type-1 electrical users (residential customers) who have installed solar panels on their house roofs to sell electricity left over after personal use back to MEA to generate household income.The MEA announced on its Facebook on Thursday (July 30) ...
The Nation Reporter
The unseen human cost of cheap power
On July 23, 2018, the villagers of Attapeu, a sleepy town in southern Laos, suffered their worst nightmare when the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy hydropower dam suddenly burst, unleashing massive torrents of water that swallowed local villages, killing 71. More than 7,000 were made homeless.The survivors lost ...
Bangkok Post Reporter
Rethink 'Asia battery' plan
Two years ago this month, the villagers of Attapeu in southern Laos encountered their worst nightmare when the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy hydropower dam, which was under construction, failed. Massive torrents of water swept through several villages, causing 71 deaths, heavy damage to properties and left around ...
Cleaning up the Energy Ministry
Since the resignation of Energy Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong, the vacant post has been highly sought after by ambitious power brokers not for its budget, one of the smallest in government, but for its control of lucrative energy contracts plagued by graft and corruption.A running joke ...
Yuthana Praiwan
Energy Ministry plans to buy solar energy generated by public under new project
The Energy Ministry aims to launch a new public solar energy project with an annual target of 50 megawatts and the pilot phase to be completed in 60 days, Minister Sonthirat Sonthijirawong said.“The ministry will work with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand [Egat], the ...
The Nation Reporter
Energy minister comes up with plan to spark economy
Energy Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong has come up with a plan to help mitigate the impact of Covid-19 and plans to propose it to Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam on Thursday (June 25).Sontirat said this plan will help accelerate investments, such as community power plants to ...
The Nation Reporter