The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat)may dust off shelved plans for a lignite-fired power plant in Saba Yoi district if local residents agree. Narongsak Wichetphan, president of Egat’s fuel business office, has said that the agency would take another look at the plan and study new information on mining techniques, the environment and land ownership, in the light of possible future energy shortages.
Between 1988 and 1992, Egat and the Mineral Resources Department surveyed a 545-square-kilometre area and found a large deposit of lignite. Egat planned to develop a mine and power plant on the site at an estimated cost of 10 billion baht. The project was shelved because of growing opposition to lignite-powered plants, especially the one at Mae Moh district in Lampang. Mr Narongsak said the situation had now changed and Egat planned to revive the scheme. But the agency would abide by the constitutional requirement that local people must have a say in the decision-making. “What we must do now is create an understanding with local people. This will take one or two years”, he is quoted as saying.