Ratchaburi-EEP Renewable Energy Co (REEP), a private power producer, plans to invest 2 billion baht in developing a refuse-derived fuel (RDF) power plant in Samut Prakan, says chief executive Kanapod Nitsiriphat.
The company expects to begin construction this year and start up the plant in December 2016.
The project is to be located on the site of a 159-rai landfill in Praksa district that handles waste in Samut Prakan.
REEP will operate the RDF-fired plant while REEP's parent firm, Eastern Energy Plus Co (EEP), oversees the landfill.
Ratchaburi Electricity Energy Holding, Thailand's biggest private power producer, had been a partner with a 40% stake in REEP but pulled out over a management issue.
REEP is still looking for a new partner.
EEP is a waste-to-power firm that manages Praksa's mountainous landfill. The area has been used by Samut Prakan as a landfill for more than three decades.
The planned facility will include waste separation, the RDF power plant, and fuel and fertiliser production. The plant will have a capacity of 9.98 megawatts.
Total solid waste at the landfill amounts to 10 million tonnes, with 2,500 tonnes added each day.
A signing ceremony for the project took place yesterday in Bangkok with Advance Power Conversion, a local construction firm focused on renewable energy. The Industrial Works Department is expected to grant a development licence next week.
The RDF plant will turn 600-800 tonnes of solid waste into power each day.
The project earlier won incentives from the Energy Ministry, including a feed-in tariff at five baht per kilowatt-hour for 20 years and a bonus charge of 70 satang per kilowatt-hour for eight years.
The new power plant is expected to employ 300 workers when running at full strength, Mr Kanapod said.
"We think this project will be a pilot project for RDF power plants and it will run smoothly for 24 hours, seven days a week," he said.
REEP is looking for another nearby landfill site to develop an RDF facility with a capacity of 105 MW.
That potential project would require an investment of 10 billion baht to generate power from 7,500 tonnes of waste daily under the small power producer scheme.
According to Mr Kanapod, waste separation is the most crucial process for RDF production because Thailand has poor management of household waste, the first link in the chain.
REEP recently reached an agreement with the administration on Koh Samui to manage waste for all areas of the island and later develop an RDF plant.
Mr Kanapod said parent EEP would seek a listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand next year to muster funds for future expansion.
EEP was set up in 2011 to specialise in waste-to-energy projects. It spent more than four years developing its own technology for use in RDF projects.