SET-listed Super Energy Corporation, a local solar farm operator, is emphasising expansion in Thailand to benefit from the country's growing renewable energy development, including the government's efforts to facilitate clean power usage in the data centre business.
The National Energy Policy Council resolved in June to approve a pilot direct power purchase agreement (PPA), enabling foreign investors, especially in data centre and cloud service businesses, to directly buy clean electricity from power companies.
At present, if power companies want to sell electricity produced by renewable resources, they are required to sell it to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) and state power distribution agencies, which then distribute electricity through their grids to companies and households.
Super Energy chairman and chief executive Jormsup Lochaya said the company plans to scale up its hybrid power plant, aligning with the government's plan to serve renewable power demand from data centre operators expanding their business in Thailand.
"Our 16-megawatt facility is a hybrid because it is a combination of a solar farm with an energy storage system, allowing it to supply electricity around the clock," he said.
The facility is in the firm PPA category, which refers to a steady supply of electricity provided to Egat.
Usually renewable power, except electricity produced by refuse-derived fuel, is in the non-firm PPA category. Sun, wind and biomass are intermittent sources of power because their production depends on weather conditions and seasons.
Mr Jormsup said Super Energy's 44-billion-baht budget will support its renewable energy development projects in the pipeline, including those awarded by the Energy Regulatory Commission in an auction under its renewable energy scheme.
The company won 19 licences in the auction: 17 licences to develop solar farms and solar farms with energy storage systems, with a combined power generation capacity of 141MW; and two licences to build wind farms, with a total capacity of 85MW.
These projects require 18 billion baht from the budget.
The company will spend 6 billion baht developing three waste-to-energy power plants in Phetchaburi, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Prachin Buri.
The remaining 20 billion baht will go to the development of four wind farms in Vietnam.