SET-listed Sakol Energy (SKE), a compressed natural gas trader and biomass power plant operator, has downgraded its revenue target for 2023, which was earlier projected to surge to almost 1 billion baht from 497 million in 2022, due mainly to a delay in operating a new refuse-derived fuel (RDF) production facility.
The company said it expects revenue to grow by 10% in 2023.
SKE cited a technical problem that put back the full operation of the RDF factory in Saraburi, which was initially scheduled to open in this year's first quarter.
The new date for the commencement of commercial operations at the plant should be before the end of this year, the company said.
The 400-million-baht plant, located in Kaeng Khoi district, has a production capacity of 200,000 tonnes of RDF a year.
SKE runs an RDF production facility in Chon Buri with capacity of 80,000 tonnes per year.
The company will have enough RDF to supply its key customer SET-listed Siam Cement Group (SCG), Thailand's largest cement producer and industrial conglomerate, and other customers, which are mainly power plant operators, once the new RDF factory becomes fully operational.
In 2021, SKE signed an agreement to sell 135,000 tonnes of RDF to SCI Eco Co, SCG's waste management arm, for three years.
SCG is committed to cutting carbon dioxide emissions by changing fuels used in its cement-production process. The firm is replacing coal with fuel made from waste.
Jakkraphong Sumethchotimetha, managing director of SKE, said the company expects to be able to better control the cost of RDF production after the government decided to reduce electricity prices by decreasing the power tariff to 3.99 baht per kilowatt-hour (unit) from 4.45 baht per unit.
He said the power tariff reduction helps the company cut its production costs by 13%, or around five baht per tonne of RDF.
SKE is also operating a 9.9-megawatt biomass power plant in the northern province of Phrae.
It has also diversified into the fintech business by acquiring all the shares in Vanta Capital, which specialises in running software for securities trading, for 43.5 million baht.
Mr Jakkraphong expects to start seeing a return on investment in this new business within this year's third quarter.