TPIPP announces coal-free green initiative plans by 2026

TPI Polene Power (TPIPP), the largest waste-to-energy (WTE) project developer and operator in Thailand, announced its coal-free plans as part of a broader green initiative. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET)-listed firm intends to be fully fuelled by renewable energy sources by 2026.

Pakkapol Leopairut, TPIPP Executive Vice-President for accounting and finance, detailed the company’s ambitious green transition plan. Coal consumption, which stands at 872,000 tonnes for this year, is projected to be more than halved to 320,000 tonnes in the following year. By 2026, the company aims to eliminate the use of coal.

The shift towards renewables kicked off with the launch of the Mission to No Emissions campaign in 2022. TPIPP is set to allocate more than 15 billion baht to this sustainability drive. It plans to replace coal with refuse-derived fuel (RDF), solar and wind energy, as well as heat harnessed from the cement production process at a factory operated by parent company TPI Polene.

Leopairut revealed that RDF’s contribution to the fuel mix is expected to rise from the current 50% to 74% in 2026. Simultaneously, the share of solar and wind energy will increase from 11% to 18%, with the balance supplied by heat. The firm’s power generation capacity for this year is estimated at 496 megawatts (MW), with 150 MW derived from coal and the remainder from heat and renewable fuels.

As part of its strategy to expand capacity through green energy, TPIPP will construct a 9.9 MW WTE facility in Nakhon Ratchasima, which is slated to commence operations in early 2026. In 2021, the company won the right to build an 8 MW WTE plant in Songkhla province, and it anticipates the plant will be operational by next year.

Currently, 70% of TPIPP’s power output is sold to the state grid, while the remaining 30% is supplied to TPI Polene under the independent power producer scheme.

Despite the expiration of the adder tariff granted to its two WTE generation facilities, which reduces its revenue, Worawit Lerdbussarakam, TPIPP’s Vice-President, expects a 12% increase in revenue to 12.2 billion baht this year, up from 10.9 billion in 2023. This optimistic projection is attributed to a cost reduction programme and surging power demand.

In 2024, TPIPP aims to decrease the production cost of RDF by between 5% and 10% from 730 baht per tonne last year. The company aims to bring the cost down to 700 baht a tonne next year, as per Lerdbussarakam.