Thai court halts government’s wind power purchase scheme over selection irregularities

The Central Administrative Court‘s ruling to halt the government’s scheme to purchase 1,500 megawatts of wind power, on grounds of alleged irregularities in power plant selection, prompted the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to gear up for an appeal.

The judgement came in response to Khon Kaen Wind 2 Co, a subsidiary of the SET-listed Energy Absolute (EA), who had voiced concerns over the lack of transparency in the ERC’s decision-making process.

EA, a firm specialising in renewable energy and electric vehicle development and operations, previously had another subsidiary — Thep Sathit Wind Farm Co —file a petition against the ERC’s approval of a power purchase deal between power providers and the state grid.

Thep Sathit Wind Farm was not included in the renewable scheme, with the ERC citing their failure to meet the minimum technical requirements for wind power development. The company, however, views ERC’s resolution as illegitimate, as detailed in an EA press release from October 3.

The process for selection did not provide clear details regarding the criteria for the approval or rejection of projects, spotlighting an alleged transparency deficit. EA’s press release urged the ERC to revise its regulations and selection criteria to instil trust among potential future participants in the scheme.

An anonymous ERC officer revealed that the commission is currently preparing documents for an appeal against the Central Administrative Court’s decision. The scheme, with a capacity of 5.2 gigawatts, covers bio-gas (335MW), wind power (1,500MW), on-ground solar farms (2,368MW), and on-ground solar farms with energy storage systems (1,000MW).

The scheme attracted a significant amount of interest, with numerous companies proposing projects totalling nearly 17GW in capacity. However, only 175 companies were selected in an auction, and the total capacity was reduced to 4.85GW.

In related news, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approved a new electricity tariff of 3.99 baht per kilowatt hour. This is aimed at reducing the power bill for homes and businesses from September to the end of the year.

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