SET-listed Clover Power Plc, a renewable power plant operator and constructor, expects to see revenue soar by 50% this year after it diversified into supplying renewable fuels, especially wood pellets which are in high demand in Japan.
Saithsiri Saksitthisereekul, chief executive of Clover Power, attributed the growth to the prices of wood pellets which rose by 30% at the end of last year, driven by growing demand for this type of biomass from power generation businesses in Japan.
The company became a renewable fuel suppler after it last year acquired a 60% share in Vietnam-based DKC Energy Co, a local wood pellet producer, from Thien Minh Duc Group Joint Stock Co for 227 million baht.
DKC Energy plans to increase wood pellet production capacity to 140,000 tonnes a year, up from 100,000 tonnes, within this year and to 450,000 a year in 2025 in order to meet demand from Japanese customers.
The wood pellet market in Japan is expanding significantly, according to Kasikorn Research Center.
Demand for wood pellets in Japan was previously expected to increase to more than 5 million tonnes in 2022 from 1.2 million tonnes in 2019, but Japan could produce only 126,000 tonnes, causing it to import around 4.9 million tonnes, said Kasikorn Research.
To further grow its biomass fuel business, Clover Power is constructing a new refuse-derived fuel processing plant at Phichit industrial estate in the North, with annual production capacity of 50,000 tonnes.
The facility is scheduled to operate within the second quarter of this year.
In the power sector, Clover Power won three licences to develop biomass power plants under the state's Energy for All renewable scheme. Each project has electricity generation capacity of 6.6 megawatts.
The company currently operates four power plants -- two biomass power plants, a waste-fired power plant and a gas-fired power plants -- with combined capacity of 23.6MW.
Mr Saithsiri said the government plans to use more renewable energy, with the aim to increase power generation capacity from renewable fuels to 30 gigawatts within 2037, up from 10.7GW in 2018.
"We hope to tap into this new opportunity. Though we may lose an auction for renewable power plants, we can provide services under engineering, procurement and construction and operation and maintenance contracts," he said.
Clover Power is also looking for investment opportunities in the biomass power sector in Japan.