8 December 2003
Tuesday September 16, 12:09 PM
BANGKOK (Dow Jones)
The state Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand has given the government of Laos an end-September deadline to provide a new time frame for the development of the Nam Theun 2 hydropower project, or it may drop plans to buy electricity at earlier agreed terms.
EGAT Governor Sitthiporn Rattanopas said late Monday that even if the Thai agency drops the planned power purchase from its 2004 power development plan, it could revive talks with Nam Theun 2 in the future if it makes a new proposal with an attractive electricity charge.
"We may review the plan to buy the electricity from Nam Theun 2, if the electricity charge in a new proposal is attractive," he said.
The status of the 1,070-megawatt Nam Theun 2 project has been in doubt after Electricite de France (F.EDF) unit EDF International, the largest shareholder in the consortium formed to develop the plant
announced in July that it would withdraw from the project.
"We need to have information by the end of this month about the progress of the project and when the project can start to supply electricity," in order to include the project in an annual review of EGAT's power development plan, Sitthiporn said.
"If we don't have the information by the end of the month, we will have to terminate the plan and find other alternatives to replace it," he said.
EGAT and the project developer were to have signed a 25-year power purchase agreement July 18, but EDF International announced that it was pulling out, under public pressure in France for overspending on risky, expensive projects.
Commercial operations at the Nam Theun 2 project are targeted to start 72 months after the signing of the power purchase agreement.
The agreement would have committed EGAT to buying at least 920 megawatts of the 995 MW Laos hopes to export to Thailand at 1.64 baht ($1=THB40.650) a kilowatt-hour.
EDF International holds a 35% stake in the project, but it wants to sell. EGAT affiliate Electricity Generating PCL (H.EGA) and state-owned Electricite du Laos each hold 25% stakes and Italian-Thai Development PCL (H.ITD) holds the remaining 15%.
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