ELECTRICITY / VERY SMALL POWER PRODUCERS
Small hydropower plants revived
The Energy Ministry has revived a plan to buy electricity from very small hydropower producers by including them in the government-sponsored Very Small Power Producers (VSPP) programme, which aims increase the incomes of communities with small electricity plants.Electricity generated by the small hydropower plants will be sold to the grid system of the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), according to Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand.
Between 80 and 90 small hydropower projects were built nearly 30 years ago to provide electricity to remote areas where the PEA could not install transmission systems.
Around 40 of the plants stopped oper ations after the communities where they were located were connected to the national grid via transmission lines.
''If those inactive small hydropower plants restart production, communities will have electricity to sell to the national grid system while Tambon Administration Organisations or local co-operatives will earn revenue for local development,'' said Dr Piyasvasti.
For example, the Panghai and Huaykang power projects in Doi Saket district, Ching Mai, with electricity production capacity of 30-40 kilowatts each, could generate 500,000 baht per year to each community, noted Dr Piyasvasti.
The Energy Ministry has a policy of encouraging communities to depend on local energy as much as possible. If all villages can maximise the utilisation of raw materials in their communities, such as animal manure for bio-gas energy production or used cooking oil for biodiesel production, Thailand's dependence on imported fuel would decrease.
Panich Pongpirodom, director-general for the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency, said the department first began construction of very small hydropower plants in 1978. The 80 to 90 small plants had an overall capacity of 2,900 kilowatts.
However, only 39 of the plants are now operating, generating 1,200 kilowatts. If they were restarted, the country would gain an additional 1,700 kilowatts of electricity from the now-inactive projects. Local communities could earn a total of 25 million baht from the VSPP project, according to Mr Panich.