The economic rebound and the Fifa World Cup scotched energy policy planners' bid to cut electricity use during a natural gas supply disruption from the Malaysia-Thailand joint development area (JDA), but no major blackouts occurred during the period, officials said yesterday.
The Chana power plant in Songkhla province resumed operation yesterday after the Malaysia-Thailand joint development area's A18 block shut down for annual maintenance from June 13 to July 8.
The JDA's A18 block in southern Thailand was originally scheduled to shut down for annual maintenance for 27 days from June 13 to July 10, resulting in a supply disruption of 420 million cubic feet per day. That block resumed operation yesterday, two days ahead of schedule.
Earlier, 430 business operators in the industrial and tourism sectors vowed to cut electricity use by 247 megawatts during peak hours of the JDA shutdown to minimise chances of power outages, said the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
But that target failed to be achieved, as industrial operators in the South, mainly in the natural rubber, palm oil and seafood sectors, have been receiving a large number of production orders, while tourism is booming, ERC chairman Direk Lavansiri said yesterday.
Electricity supply in the South was estimated at a maximum of 2,450 MW during the gas disruption, while demand peaked at 2,359 MW.
"Restaurants, pubs and hotels heavily consumed electricity before the World Cup football matches started at 11pm. Breweries in Surat Thani province, which is a regional hub for beer production, meanwhile, could not cut power use, as beer demand was high," said Mr Direk.
"Some factories in the agricultural sector also could not cut their power use like they promised due to additional purchase orders from abroad," he said, adding that only Siam Cement’s Nakhon Si Thammarat factory was able to cut power use, by 25 MW.
Energy permanent secretary Areepong Bhoocha-oom said the A18 gas block closure resulted in a decrease of 710 MW or 29% of the electricity generating capacity in the South.
The disruption resulted in higher electricity production costs as power plants switched to diesel or bunker oil from gas, while additional power supply was purchased from Malaysia.
Kurijit Nakornthap, a former deputy energy permanent secretary and now director-general of the Mineral Fuels Department, said the JDA's gas supply would be disrupted again next May.
"Because all the petroleum blocks in the JDA are more than 10 years old, more and more wells must be drilled to maintain production at an average of 1.2 billion cfpd. These disruptions cannot be avoided," he said.
Soonchai Kumnoonsate, governor of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, said Egat expected to start operating a second combined cycle power generator at the Chana power plant in Songkhla in the third quarter for 800 MW at a cost of 20 billion baht.