Sustainable provincial power development plan : case study of Nakhon Si Thammarat Province

Abstract

The study was carried out to survey an energy outlook as well as renewable energy potential in Nakhon Si Thammarat province in order to enhance energy security and energy self-reliance of the province. Most information were reviewed from reports and statistical data prepared by various related agencies and academic institutes. Dialogues and in-depth interviews were also carried out to collect opinion and suggestion from stakeholders, including Provincial Electricity Authority, provincial and local government agency, power producer business, Member of the Parliament of Nakhon Si Thammarat province, community’s leader, the nuclear and coal projects’ antagonists, and both local and national energy policy makers. Regarding to electricity outlook of the province, the study found that electricity generated in the province exceeded its demand, which implies that the province exports electricity to other provinces in the southern part of Thailand and trends to be one of electricity supplier targets for the country. However, electricity generation in the province mainly relies on natural gas, while generating from renewable source only low proportion (installation capacity as of 2011 was only 42 MW). Even though the previous study reported that Nakhon Si Thammarat province had high potential of renewable energy for electricity generation as much as approximately 3,200 MW (without dependable factor), but only about 1,600 MW if multiplied with EGAT’s dependable factor using for PDP2010. In order to promote renewable energy development as well as enhancing energy security and energy self-reliance, the province should have its own power development plan (PDP) which can be integrated with the national plan. Therefore, this present study has proposed a model for sustainable provincial PDP process, where its path way to develop the plan that would consist of accredited committees including provincial PDP committee, provincial energy assumption sub-committee and provincial renewable energy research sub-committee to work under public organization structure and function. However, the authorized local and provincial administratives would be decided by law enforcement and governmental policy. In addition, policy integration, renewable energy database and technology innovation were found to be key successful factors for sustainable energy planning.