Egco starts up green power

       NET PROFIT FOR H12009 vs H12008 B4.6 billion B4.2 billion
       Egco Group Plc, Thailand's secondlargest private power producer, will spend 2 billion baht developing renewable energy next year, president Vinit Tangnoi said yesterday.
       The company is conducting a feasibility study and seeking equipment suppliers and contractors for the projects.
       The plan envisages an eight-megawatt wind turbine project worth one billion baht in Nakhon Ratchasima and a solar power grid with a capacity of 13.5 megawatts in Lop Buri.
       Its renewable business will invest through its subsidiary Natural Energy Development Co, the equal-stake venture of Egco, Hongkong-based China Light Power Asia and Diamond General Asia, a subsidiary of the Japanese industrial conglomerate Mitsubishi Heavy Industry.
       Although solar power production is not viable commercially at present due to the high cost, the company is hopeful of gaining support from the climate change concern body, the United Nations, in carbon-credit trading.
       "We can't sell power from our solar farm, even with the adder tariff (a special purchasing rate that is higher than that for conventional fuels) provided by pol-icymakers to help us shoulder the high cost," Mr Vinit said.
       "But we hope if we are success in receiving the certification on carbon credit from the United Nation, the carbon-credit income should be enough to offset the cost and make the project viable."
       The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand has offered special purchasing rates for power generated from renewable energy.
       For solar power, producers get eight baht a unit more than the three baht that Egat pays for power generated from mainstream fuels.
       For wind power, producers will get an adder tariff of 4.50 baht a unit, Mr Vinit said.
       Egco's first-half revenue rose 11% to 19.7 billion baht from 17.7 billion baht a year earlier, with net profit rising 9%year-on-year to 4.6 billion baht from 4.2 billion baht.
       He attributed the growth to the additional power output from its newly started-up power plants in Saraburi,Kaeng Khoi Power Plant unit 2 and the Philippines' coal-fired Quezon power plant.
       The company also confirmed the startup schedule of its new 1,086-megawatt hydropower plant in Laos, Nam Theun 2, on Dec 15 as planned.
       Shares of EGCO closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 75.25 baht, unchanged, in trade worth 22.36 million baht.