Electricity Generating Plc (Egco), a subsidiary of state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat), plans to spend 30 billion baht from the 2022 investment budget to expand, including increasing its electricity generation capacity by 1,000 megawatts this year.
"We will allocate 8 billion baht for construction of power generation facilities and 22 billion to support our mergers and acquisitions plan," said Thepparat Theppitak, president of Egco.
The company wants to focus on both fossil fuel-fired power plants and those based on renewable energy.
At present, Egco has electricity generation capacity of 5,959MW, calculated on its equity-based ownership in power businesses. Electricity produced by renewable sources, including biomass, hydropower, solar and wind power as well as geothermal power, accounts for 1,364MW of the total.
Its power generation facilities are located in eight countries: Thailand, Laos, the Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia and the US.
In a move towards clean energy development, Egco bought a 17.46% share in Apex Clean Energy Holdings Llc, which develops utility-scale clean energy projects in the US, in October last year.
The US government aims to produce 1,000 gigawatts of electricity from renewable energy sources nationwide over 15 years.
Mr Thepparat said earlier the agreement not only makes Egco a partner of Apex, but also enables Egco to gain benefits from assets to be developed and operated by Apex in the future.
Egco recognised Apex's operating profits of 435 million baht in 2021.
Mr Thepparat said his company will continue to seek more investment opportunities in Thailand and overseas. It is currently in talks with prospective business partners.
The company is also preparing to adopt new technologies by teaming up with its allies, including Egat, to jointly study hydrogen-to-power technology in solid oxide fuel cells and solid oxide electrolyser cells.
The technology, expected to be the electricity generation technology of the future, will ensure stable power generation, with very low or nearly zero air and water pollution.
This technology is being used in the US, Japan, India and South Korea, with combined electricity generation capacity of 600MW.