Gulf Energy Development Plc, Thailand's largest private power producer by capital market, has acquired Chiang Mai Waste To Energy Co to operate an electricity generation facility as it aims to boost the renewable energy business and tackle increasing amounts of garbage.
Chiang Mai Waste To Energy is a licence holder of waste management and power generation based on waste fuel in the northern province.
Gulf bought shares through its wholly owned Gulf Renewable Energy Co from All Waste To Energy Co, which holds a 99.99% share in Chiang Mai Waste To Energy, according to a report submitted to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday.
The value of the purchase was not disclosed.
The acquisition gives Gulf the right to manage waste disposal for Chiang Mai Provincial Administrative Organisation in Doi Saket district, in addition to the operation of the power plant.
The waste management and the power generation facility are among projects in a very small power producer category, with installed electricity generation capacity of not less than 9.5 megawatts, said Yupapin Wangviwat, Gulf's chief financial officer.
The company will get rid of garbage of not less than 650 tonnes a day.
The power plant is scheduled to be built after a power purchase agreement between Gulf and Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), the state power distribution arm, is signed. The construction period will last three years.
Gulf will earn revenue from waste sorting and sanitary backfilling, as well as money from electricity sold to the PEA.
This project, part of Gulf's 10-year capital spending plan worth 74 billion baht, which starts in 2022, not only aims to support the government's attempts to promote clean energy but also helps Chiang Mai solve the problem of limited landfills.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha pledged during last year's UN conference on climate change that Thailand would achieve carbon neutrality, a balance between carbon dioxide emissions and absorption, by 2050, and a net-zero balance between greenhouse gas emissions and absorption by 2065.
"We are highly concerned about climate change and we have developed business strategies that emphasise renewable energy in accordance with government policies," said Ms Yupapin.