SET-listed Ratch Group, a leading Thai private power developer, is gearing up to develop a new power plant once its ageing combined cycle power plant, which has supplied electricity to the Central region for almost 25 years, is formally retired.
Named "RG", the 3,645-megawatt facility in Ratchaburi is scheduled to be retired between 2025 and 2027.
Ratch is waiting for policymakers to decide on whether they will establish a bidding process for a new power plant development project which must be in line with the national power development plan, said Choosri Kietkajornku, chief executive of Ratch.
She said Ratch is ready to push ahead with a new development plan to replace RG.
"We are ready to start looking for a construction site and select new technology to make sure the new power plant will have greater efficiency than the old one," Ms Choosri said.
RG was Ratch's first power generation facility after it spun off the state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand in 2000.
The facility consists of two thermal power generators, each with generation capacity of 735MW, and three gas-fired generators, each with capacity of 725MW. The former will retire in 2025 while the latter will retire in 2027.
At present, Ratch's total power generation capacity stands at 10,807MW.
The company earlier announced it aims to increase the capacity to 12,460MW by 2030.
The new capacity will come from 16 projects, including fossil fuel and renewable energy development, across Southeast Asia.
Ms Choosri said Ratch plans to allocate a budget of 15-30 billion baht next year. Some 8 billion baht will support the development of projects in the pipeline while the remainder would go to asset acquisition.
The company is also running non-power businesses. They are the Yellow and Pink Line monorail routes, two motorways -- the Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima and Bangkok-Kanchanaburi routes -- a biomass production facility in Laos, and an investment in Prince Hospital in Sakon Nakhon.