Electricity giant envisages Thailand as power hub for ASEAN region

CONSIDERABLE interest is expected from foreign investors when the initial public offering (IPO) of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) is held in 2004. It will be the country’s largest IPO, with market capitalization estimated at $7.2 billion once it is listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

SITTHIPORN RATANOPAS Governor of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand

CHALIT RUENGVISESH Governor of the Metropolitan Electricity Authority

Thailand’s main electricity producer and distributor, EGAT currently meets more than 70% of the nation’s electricity needs. It aims to remain the dominant enterprise in a more liberalized Thai electricity industry.
EGAT is positioning itself to become the focal point of a proposed ASEAN power grid that would facilitate economic energy exchange among member nations via cross-border transmission lines. Demand for power is expected to double in the region over the next eight years.

EGAT plans to build two hydropower plants with a combined capacity of around 5,000 MW on the Salween River in Myanmar to serve rising demand for electricity in ASEAN countries. Sitthiporn Ratanopas, EGAT’s Governor, believes that Thailand’s geographical location at the center of ASEAN makes it the ideal candidate to become the region’s power hub. “It would benefit every ASEAN country,” he says of the scheme.

EGAT has drawn up a list of interconnection projects that it hopes to achieve by 2020. “We have some interconnection transmission between Thailand and our neighboring countries,” says Mr. Sitthiporn. “We started with a project between Thailand and Malaysia, and we have implemented transmission already.”

Distribution of electricity in Thailand is provided mainly through the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) and the Provincial Electrical Authority (PEA), both of which are scheduled for privatization. “We have been improving and developing electricity distribution systems to enhance efficient services and reinforce reliability,” says Chalit Ruengvisesh, Governor of MEA, which, at present, is the sole distributor of electricity in Bangkok.