Thailand’s Energy Regulatory Commission prepares court appeal due to alleged irregularities in the process of selecting power plants
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is preparing to file an appeal against the Central Administrative Court’s decision to suspend the government’s plan to buy 1,500 megawatts of wind power under the state renewables scheme, due to alleged irregularities in the process of selecting power plants.
The verdict was issued after Khon Kaen Wind 2 Co, a subsidiary wholly owned by SET-listed Energy Absolute (EA), lodged a complaint with the court on Oct 10 against the ERC and accused the commission of lacking transparency and fairness.
EA is a renewable energy firm and an electric vehicle developer and operator.
Previously Thep Sathit Wind Farm Co, also a subsidiary of EA, filed a petition with the Phetchaburi Administrative Court against the ERC’s decision to approve a power purchase between power companies and the state grid.
Thep Sathit Wind Farm was not selected to join the renewables scheme. The ERC said Thep Sathit Wind Farm did not meet the minimum technical requirements for wind power generation development, but the company believes ERC’s resolution is illegitimate, according to an EA press release issued on Oct 3.
The selection process did not give clear details of the criteria to approve or reject projects proposed by companies participating in the scheme. This reflected an alleged lack of transparency.
“The ERC needs to review its regulations and criteria to choose power plant developers to build trust among companies which may join the scheme in the future,” EA said in its press release.
An ERC officer who requested anonymity said yesterday that the ERC is working on documents that would be used to appeal against the Central Administrative Court’s verdict.
The 5.2 gigawatt capacity of the scheme includes bio-gas (335MW), wind power (1,500MW), on-ground solar farms (2,368MW), and on-ground solar farms with energy storage systems (1,000MW).
The scheme drew huge interest from a number of companies which proposed projects with a total capacity of almost 17GW.
Only 175 companies were chosen in an auction, and the total capacity was reduced to 4.85GW.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2665436
