Electricity Generating Plc (Egco) has started operating a pipeline to transport oil to the Northeast, as part of its efforts to help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by truck transport.
The pipeline would also support the company’s energy-related businesses, said Thepparat Theppitak, president of Egco, the SET-listed power generation arm of the state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.
The transport of oil from Saraburi in the central region to the northeastern province of Khon Kaen is expected to reduce emissions by 80,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.
Egco operates the pipeline through its subsidiary Thai Pipeline Network (TPN). Customers of TPN will also receive carbon credits when they use the pipeline, said Mr Thepparat.
Carbon credit refers to the amount of CO2 emissions reduced by environmental projects, including clean energy development and environmentally friendly businesses. The credits can be sold to other companies to offset the carbon dioxide they release into the air.
Egco holds a 44.6% share in TPN, which was awarded a 20-year contract for oil transport by the Department of Energy Business. The contract can be extended by another two periods, each lasting 10 years.
The 12-billion-baht pipeline is designed to have a carrying capacity of 5.4 billion litres, which can be increased to 7.4 billion litres in the future.
Egco spent part of this year’s 30-billion-baht investment budget on supporting the oil pipeline business. Another portion of the budget is to be used to expand its power business this year by increasing capacity by 1 gigawatt.
Additional capacity of 250 megawatts is projected from various new projects, including wind farms in Taiwan and the US, which will start commercial operations this year, said Mr Thepparat.
The remaining 750MW would come from Egco’s plan to acquire new power generation assets based on both fossil fuels and renewable energy.