Ratch Group Plc, Thailand's largest private power generation company by capacity, plans to spend 1.72 billion baht to expand the capacity of a gas-fired power plant in Pathum Thani's Nava Nakorn Industrial Promotion Zone as it moves closer to its goal of 10 gigawatts of electricity generation capacity.
The expansion is a joint investment in Nava Nakorn Electricity Generating Co, the operator of the power plant, said Choosri Kietkajornkul, Ratch chief executive.
The company aims to increase electricity generation capacity to 215 megawatts, up from 185MW, and steam production to 45 tonnes per hour from 40 tonnes per hour.
It is the third expansion of the facility, originally designed to produce 125MW of electricity and 30 tonnes of steam.
The new investment was reported to the Stock Exchange of Thailand on Thursday.
Construction of additional facilities is scheduled to begin in December this year. The expansion is expected to be completed and ready for commercial operations in June 2024.
Ratch invested in the power plant through its wholly owned Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Co, which holds a 40% share in Nava Nakorn Electricity Generating.
Nava Nakorn Plc and Global Power Synergy Plc, the power generation arm of national oil and gas conglomerate PTT Plc, each own a 30% share.
The power plant, which is in the small power producer category, started operations in June 2016.
It sells 90MW of electricity to the state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand under a 25-year power purchase agreement, and supplies the remainder to factory operators in Nava Nakorn Industrial Promotion Zone.
To grow the business, the firm earlier increased the plant's capacity by 60MW and steam output by 10 tonnes per hour.
The latest capacity expansion is in line with Ratch's plan to achieve the 10GW goal by 2025, up from 8.29GW at present.
Ratch earlier acquired two coal-fired thermal power plants, with a combined capacity of 2,045MW, for roughly 25.4 billion baht from PT Paiton Energy in Indonesia through its wholly owned RH International (Singapore) Corporation Pte.
The acquisition was the last of the firm's coal-based energy projects as a result of the state's commitment to greenhouse gas reduction, Ratch said.
