Its local renewable projects are located in Roi Et, Yala and Lop Buri, while it has invested overseas in hydropower from the 1,086.8MW Nam Theun 2 dam project in Laos. At 73MW, the solar farm in Lop Buri is the world’s largest. Construction is set to begin this quarter, with commercial operation slated for November 2011, president Vinit Tangnoi said yesterday.

The company’s investment in renewable power will be in line with the Energy Ministry’s 15-year renewable-energy development plan. After the solar project, Egco will embark on a biomass power plant in the South. “We are exploring more choices, both biomass and wind power. We should finalise the biomass investment next year, and the 10MW plant could be set up in Krabi or Surat Thani, which offer large-scale palm-oil production,” he said.

Local partners have been invited to join the US$ 10-million (Bt323 million) project. A 50MW wind-power project with an investment of $100 million in Nakhon Ratchasima is also expected to start up next year, or in 2012. Vinit said Egco would acquire two or three electricity plants overseas, with the deals expected to be completed in the current quarter. “ The acquisitions might reduce the revenue proportion of renewable energy,” he added.

He said the company was interested in acquiring more small hydroelectric projects in Laos, which would help Egco to maintain its revenue proportion of renewable energy. It is pursuing an additional 10per-cent stake in Nam Theun 2, now held by Italian-Thai Development, in order to build up its holding to 35 per cent. The share-purchase agreement is expected to be signed this quarter, for an undisclosed amount. Italian-Thai will then see its stake diluted to 5 per cent, with the remainder of the project held by the Laos government and Electricite du France.

Vinit added that the new electricity projects would drive revenue in 2012, but revenue and profit this year could decline from last year’s level.

Nation, July 15 2010