Superblock plans $884m investment to boost its solar power business

Construction News

Thailand-based power distributor Superblock intends to spend BHT30bn ($884m) to boost its solar power business.

The Thai firm is backed by a government drive, which aims to promote green energy development in the country.

At present, 70% of the facilities in Thailand use natural gas as fuel for power generation.

The Asian country intends to produce 6GW of solar power within 20 years, which is almost four times of its present capacity, reports Reuters.

“Thailand intends to produce 6GW of solar power within 20 years.”

Superblock chairman Jormsup Lochaya was cited by the news agency as saying that the company hopes to raise BHT25bn ($737.7m) through share sales and warrant issues to fund its expansion.

It has also received credit financing for BHT6.7bn ($197.7m) from Bangkok Bank, which has been used to develop Superblock’s first solar project.

The firm intends to draw 90% of its revenue from solar projects within 2015.

As well as solar, the Thai energy distributor also has plans to invest around BHT90m ($2.6m) per MW in wind energy sector for a combined capacity of 695MW.

The firm has a target to commission 500MW of solar capacity this year and has signed deals for 396MW of projects so far.

By 2016, the target will double to 1GW, which will further increase to 2GW over the next three years.

Superblock is in talks with a potential partner in Japan for 300MW solar development.

 

Source: http://www.power-technology.com/news/newssuperblock-plans-884m-investment-to-boost-its-solar-power-business-4597756