Industrial estate developer Hermes Cooperation Co is planning to jointly conduct a feasibility study with a US company for a green hydrogen-derived electricity project to serve tech companies interested in investing in data centres and cloud services at the company's new industrial estate in Chon Buri.
The move follows an earlier announcement by the company that it would jointly develop a 2.8-billlion-baht industrial complex in the same province with the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand to serve S-curve industries.
"Hermes aims to form a joint venture with the US company to develop a power plant fuelled by green hydrogen," said Somchai Thaisa-nguanvorakul, founder and chairman of SNC Former Plc.
Hermes is a subsidiary of SNC Former, a manufacturer of auto parts and components for car air conditioning systems, which has diversified into new businesses, including industrial estate development.
According to Mr Somchai, Hermes will make use of water treated under the reverse osmosis technology to produce green hydrogen.
Known for its ability to fuel power generation and manufacturing processes, green hydrogen is produced by using electricity made from renewable energy to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen.
Mr Somchai said Hermes and its partner initially plan to produce green hydrogen that can be used to generate 200 megawatts of electricity to serve the investment projects of tech firms on the new industrial estate, which covers a 1,231-rai area of land.
Around 1 billion baht is required to generate 1MW of electricity, he said.
The firm will seek more business partners interested in the green hydrogen-based power generation facility project, added Mr Somchai.
Hermes sees an opportunity to invest in clean energy development after the government invited tech firms, including Google and Microsoft, to expand their businesses in Thailand.
One major challenge for the authorities is to make sure Thailand has sufficient renewable power to serve the entire operations of tech firms as they are committed to campaigns for carbon neutrality, a balance between carbon dioxide emissions and absorption.
The Board of Investment said earlier that it had already approved 37 investment project proposals, including the construction of data centres and cloud service-related businesses. Their investment value amounts to 98.6 billion baht.