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Thailand Nepal And Electricity Policy By Dr. A.B. Thapa Very recently the Thai
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was reported in news
media as saying that the Thailand is
already a fairly developed country, thus his
country does not anymore need foreign
assistance. He thanked the donor community for
the generous assistance provided to Thailand in
the past. He even urged the donors that
whatever assistance was until now being
provided to the Thailand be transferred to
other needy developing countries. It might be
worthwhile to ponder about the untiring efforts
of the Thai people behind the
unprecedented success in accelerated economic
development of their country in recent years
while the economic growth of many countries
like Nepal remained virtually stagnant .
Broad overview of the recent economic development
of the Thailand could be of great
interest to our country with particular
emphasis on the electricity sector Electricity
sector is very important for both Nepal
and Thailand. Electricity sector is very
important for Nepal because the hydro
electricity development potential is our biggest
resource. Similarly the electricity sector is
very important for Thailand because the fast
economic growth of that country was prompted
by the consumption of electricity
on an enormous scale in manufacturing and
tourism sectors. Thailand or Siam Thailand, officially the Kingdom of
Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia. Thailand is the only Southeast
Asian country, just like Nepal, never to have been occupied
by any European or other foreign power, except in war. Thailand has come under the rule of
many governments, both civil and military. The country was known as Siam until 1939 (when
it was renamed Thailand), and again for a few years in the late 1940s. In 1949 the name
Thailand was adopted a second time. Thailand is bordered on the west and
northwest by Myanmar (formerly Burma); on the northeast and east by Laos and Cambodia; and
on the south by the Gulf of Thailand (also known as the Gulf of Siam, the northwestern
portion of the South China Sea), peninsular Malaysia, and the Andaman Sea. With an area of
513,115 sq km (198,115 sq mi), the country is similar in size to France In
2002 the total population of Thailand was 62,354,402. Status of Thai
Economy The recent history of Thailand’s
economy is defined by more than a decade of sustained and rapid economic growth beginning
in 1985, followed by a severe recession that started in late 1997. During the boom years,
economic growth averaged more than 7 percent annually, one of the highest rates in the
world. The crisis of 1997 and 1998 wiped out some of the gains of the boom and forced
major adjustments in Thai industry and economic policy Thailand’s economy is closely linked
to world markets through trade as well as through investment and other capital flows. The
importance of trade to the economy, measured as the value of trade as a percentage of GDP,
increased from 54 percent in 1980 to 83 percent in 1996. The composition of trade has
shifted dramatically towards manufactures; between 1980 and 1999 manufactures as a
percentage of total exports increased from 25 percent to 74 percent. In 2000
Thailand’s exports, comprising more than 200 different commodities, earned $69.1
billion, while import spending totaled $61.9 billion. Thailand’s economy is highly
vulnerable to fluctuations in world prices of its major imports, such as oil, as
a result the energy sector has become
extremely important. On the other hand, it has successfully taken advantage of
growth in world demand for many of its traditional exports, including seafood
products, clothing and textiles, and electronics. Japan is Thailand’s largest trading
partner, followed by the United States and Singapore. Generation of
Electricity in Thailand In 1999 Thailand produced 89.4 billion
kilowatt-hours (KWh) of electricity, up from about 3 billion KWh in 1968. Of this, 91
percent was produced by generating plants powered by oil, gas, and coal. The country
imported 1 billion KWh of electricity from hydroelectric plants in neighboring Laos. At
present the total installed capacity of
power stations in Thailand might be well
over 20 million KW. Thailand also imports natural gas along a pipeline
from Myanmar At present Nepal is
misled by our planners who appear to be
completely ignorant of the basic principle
of power engineering planning that the
electricity generation expansion should be matched
against the demand in terms of energy
as well as capacity. As a result, we
would continue to run into enormous
daytime and nighttime energy surpluses for
quite some time whereas there could soon
be power shortages during the peak hours
in the evening and the Nepal Electricity
Authority would be forced to resort to
load shedding. Thailand’s electricity
authorities have proven themselves to be
extremely capable in handling the electricity
planning. They have undertaken their
generation expansion plan with great care
taking full advantage of the experience gained
by the developed countries in this field .
They buy electricity from the private
developers and the Laos Government in
conformity to their actual demand and the
purchase price has been fixed based on
their true value to the Thailand’s
electricity authority. Private developers are
paid for peak hour supply at a rate
almost twice as much as such payment rate
for the rest of the time. Unfortunately the
decision makers in our NEA never learned to
follow sound engineering practice in launching
generation expansion plan. They could have
easily applied the time of the day tariff
for the purchase of electricity from the
private developers. Instead, the NEA is
appearing to ridicule itself by considering to
introduce the time of the day tariff for
its sale to its innumerable big and small
customers. Thailand has already
embarked on the construction of the pumped
storage schemes to meet the growing demand
for peaking energy. Many such pumped storage
schemes are either in operation or under construction
or planned for the construction in future. Lam
Ta Khong Pumped-Storage Project is one of
such schemes which has recently been completed. Thaialnd’s Electricity
Purchase Tariff Thailand purchases electricity
from the private developers as well as
from the Government of Laos. The
electricity purchase tariff in force at the
end of 1991 was tied up with the
supply time. The rates were as presented
hereinafter: (a) from 18.30 to 21.30 - 5.80 US
Cents/KWh; (b) from 8.00 to 18.30 - 3.32 US
Cents/KWh; (c) from 21.30 to 8.00 - 2.65 US Cents/KWh. Lam Ta Khong Pumped-Storage
Project Lam Ta Khong is one
the several pumped-storage schemes in Thailand that
are either in operation or under construction or planned
for construction in near future. The construction of
this 1000 MW scheme was scheduled for completion
by the end of 1999. The scheme
lies some 190 km northeast of Bangkok, and
takes advantage of 400m difference in elevation
between Lam Ta Khong reservoir and a
point of the Khorat Plateau which rises steeply
to the east of the reservoir where an
upper reservoir is being built. The 2.2
km long waterway between the two reservoirs
provides an effective head of 360 m as the
water passes from the 600m x 600m x 40m deep
upper basin through two 550m long steeply
inclined underground power station which, at
175 m long, 25m wide and 49m high, is one of the
largest underground caverns in southeast Asia
and out through two 1.4 km long tailrace
tunnels. There is an underground surge chamber
associated with each tailrace tunnel, and
nearly 6 km of additional tunneling for access,
drainage and cable laying. While the Thailand
has even built the 1000 MW Lam Ta Khong
pumped storage plant operating at a head
of 360 m that consumes about 3 KWh hour
electricity to produce only about 2 KWh
electricity during the peak hours, Nepal much
to the disgust of every sensible person
is going to kill the 4000 MW Upper
Karnali hydropower project operating at a
head of about 370 m Instead, Nepal is
intending to build a 300 MW Mini Upper
Karnali Project by sacrificing the 4000 MW
Mega Upper Karnali Project which could be the
most attractive hydropower project in the whole
world to generate cheap peaking power. The
per KW capacity investment cost of the Mega
Upper Karnali Project could be very close to
such cost of the Lam Ta pumped
storage plant despite the fact that the
Upper Karnali project would not require
electricity for pumping. Views expressed in
the World Bank assisted feasibility report on
Upper Karnali Project is presented hereinafter. World Bank’s
Disapproval of Small Upper Karnali The World Bank has
disapproved of the small Upper Karnali project. The
relevant excerpt from the World Bank supported Upper
Karnali project study report is presented below. “Even when assuming that
the KR 1 A run-of-river project ( small 300 MW Upper
Karnali project) is a sunk cost, it will be seen
that a single large power plant (4180 MW) associated
with the major storage project is less costly
than the combined cost of smaller plant at
the same location (3532 MW) and a second power plant
at the foot of the storage dam ( 408 MW) discharging
directly into the KR 1A run-of-river project head
pond. Based on this assessment, it appears
that the later development of the major hydro
storage project at Site KR 1 ( mega Upper
Karnali Project) would cause the KR 1A
run-of-river project to be effectively discontinued.
There may be limited opportunity for secondary energy
generation during the periods of spillage”. Demand for Peaking
Power in India At present India is
experiencing an acute shortage of peaking
energy. At the beginning of the Eight Plan,
the total peaking shortage was 20% whereas the
energy shortage was only 9% of the total
power generation. The thermal and nuclear power
stations are suitable to supply electricity to
meet the base load demand of the
system. It is not economic to use them
to supply peaking energy. Gas turbines can
be used to meet the peak load demand
because of low specific investment costs and
quick start up. However, the efficiency is
limited due to the high exhaust gas
temperature of the turbine. India is making every
effort to improve the hydrothermal mix for
ensuring better system operating condition. However,
the share of hydropower in the overall
power generating capacity has steadily declined
since the last few decades. The share of
the hydropower in the overall power
generating capacity was 50.6% in 1963.
But few years before it has come
down to only 25.66%. The 4000 MW Upper Karnali
project electricity could be exported to India
to the mutual benefit of both the
countries. It is certain that the generation
cost of the Upper Karnali Project electricity
would be much cheaper by comparison with
such cost of the mammoth Karnali Chisapani
Project because of far greater head. It is
hoped that the concerned ministry and the NPC
would refrain from taking treacherous
decision to implement the 300 MW mini
Upper Karnali Project. (Dr. Thapa writes on water resources) |
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editor: spotligh@mos.com.np |
