The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US$ 170 million loan to support the construction of a 1600 MW natural gas-fired power plant in Thailand.
The new plant will be built in Nong Saeng district north of Bangkok under a public private partnership arrangement, and is the first independent power producer project to reach financial close in Thailand since the 2008 global economic crisis, according to the ADB.
A subsidiary of J-Power – Japan’s largest wholesale power supplier – will develop and operate the plant, with the electricity to be sold to the state-owned Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand under a 25-year power purchase agreement.
Thai energy firm PTT Public Company will supply the gas, and a consortium of contractors led by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will build the facilities. The overall cost of the project is US$ 1.1 billion.
The ADB said the new plant – which is scheduled to begin operating in 2014 – would provide clean, affordable electricity to help meet the country’s rapidly increasing appetite for electricity.
The news comes just days after the Bank approved a US$ 465 million loan to support the construction of a 440 MW hydropower plant on the Nam Ngum River in the northern part of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR).
This plant is also planned to supply power to the Lao PDR’s energy-hungry neighbour, Thailand, as well as generating upwards of US$ 770 million to fund poverty reduction programmes in the Lao PDR.
