The process should solve and manage waste-water problems for entire communities, the company’s president Dr Supraween Wiratchapornrawee predicted.
If the project is approved, the process will be conducted first in Phetchaburi province and extend to other suitable areas. Supraween said the advantages of the project included: one, the governmental sector could purchase electricity at a low price; two, the amount of waste water from industry, agriculture, and community could be decreased; and three, the time spent in building and setting up the system was shorter when compared with other power sources.
Supraween added that Thailand still relied on imported energy by purchasing more than 55 per cent of it – such as gasoline, natural gas, coal, and electricity – from other countries.
Figures show the amount of available energy had decreased every day. As a result, alternative energy has been designated on the national agenda by the government, according to the Alternative Energy Development Plan (AEDP) of 15 Years (2008-2022).
The goal was to increase alternative energy to 25 per cent of the whole energy usage in the country by focusing on available resources to generate electricity and making their sources sustainable.
“That is to say, the risk from using only one source of energy is minimised as the options of renewable energy are increased,” she said.
Finding more alternative energy sources has become an urgent issue and it must comply with the government’s policy. Also, waste-water released from industrial and agricultural sectors as well as households has become a significant issue. It is getting more serious, even though policy and measurement were imposed to manage the problem.
Therefore, when the two problems – increasing alternative energy source and managing waste-water – were integrated, synthetic gas from waste-water was developed to generate electricity as an alternative energy.
This was a solution that helped decrease environmental pollution because this type of energy was unpolluted and friendly to the environment. Synthetic gas with high potential to generate a new of type of energy used in the country would be able to solve waste-water problems and effectively reduce water pollution.
She added that last year the company presented a proposal about developing synthetic gas made from waste-water to generate electricity with the capacity of 8 megawatts per hour.
The power produced from the project would be sold to the Provincial Electricity Authority, which has been approved to comply with the regulations for power purchase.
“That is to say, the purchase is in line with the framework of renewable energy encouragement according to the AEDP – and with the regulations of power purchase determined by the management committee. With that scope, the Provincial Electricity Authority can consider purchasing by itself,” said Supraween.
“Moreover, the goal for electricity generation according to AEDP 2015 is to be able to generate 600mw in 2036 – whereas the current capacity is only 300-400mw, requiring higher generation. Thus, the offer from our project is not beyond the framework of AEDP.
“The company firmly believes our project has the potential and creates an opportunity for Thailand to have a new alternative energy that is clean and friendly to the environment at a reasonable price. At present, the company is ready in terms of capital, technology and lands to build a power plant as soon as the Provincial Electricity Authority responds to its offer and [draws up] a contract with Supraween Energy One Nine Co.
“Lastly, Supraween Energy One Nine also aims to be a complete electricity producer – waste-to-energy type – and is ready to cooperate and help every kind of industry manage its waste.
“Furthermore, we plan to establish two small power plants with capacity of 90mw in 2018. The total capacity that we can produce is 188mw,” said Supraween.