After years of waiting and adjusting power purchase plans, electricity authorities finally accepted bids from investors who want to build community-based power plants and sell electricity to the national grid.

Contenders were invited to place their technical and price bids from April 27 to 30 for the construction of biomass and biogas power plants with a combined generation capacity of 150 megawatts. Biomass and biogas plants will have equal shares of generation capacities. Bid winners are expected to invest altogether about 15 billion baht in building such power plants.

After receiving bids, the Provincial Electricity Authority and eight other organizations will consider technical bids. Winning contenders are required to be registered companies with readiness in terms of land, finance, electrical systems and fuels. They must have memorandums of understanding with community enterprises each with at least 200 members. The list of technically qualified contenders will be announced on May 21.

The community-based power plant project was designed to benefit the farmers and community enterprises that grow energy crops because they will have a 10% stake in their local power plants and plant operators must buy energy crops from farmers to the amounts equivalent to at least 80% of their generation capacities. 

Source: TNA