PM outlines steps toward new fuels
Palm oil
production,
NGVs given emphasis
Bangkok Post, 16 June, 2004
Yuwadee Tunyasiri
Kultida Samabuddhi
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is preparing to lay the foundations for Thailand to switch to using alternative energy sources. Emphasis will be placed on the production of palm oil for use in bio-diesel fuel, hydro-powered electricity generation and the development of natural gas vehicles (NGVs).
One day after declaring the use and development of alternative fuels, including gasohol and natural gas, as part of the national agenda, Mr. Thaksin is clearly trying to show he means business.
"The government will do anything it can to promote any fuel that we can produce ourselves - compressed natural gas [CNG], bio-diesel or gasohol," Mr. Thaksin said.
The prime minister will also seek regional cooperation in increasing the production and use of alternative fuels at the third Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) in China this month.
Since oil would likely become more expensive in the future, the country had to start finding alternative fuels and conserving energy sources immediately, otherwise it would find itself facing economic turmoil within the next 10 years, he said.
The government would begin by increasing the amount of land area available for planning palm, while the country would maximize use of several dams to generate hydro-electricity.
It would also promote the use of natural gas among vehicles presently powered by petrol or diesel.
Mr. Thaksin said palm oil has a more "promising future" than rice as a fuel source. "In the long run, palm oil will be more profitable than rice and have more security in terms of marketing."
He ruled out concerns that heavy promotion of palm oil could lead to a surplus in output that could send its price tumbling, saying that even if bio-diesel from palm were to account for 10% of the total diesel consumed in the country, production would be barely adequate.
The prime minister said he had already ordered the Energy Ministry and the Irrigation Department to install generators that could utilize hydropower in the production of electricity.
Under an operational plan produced by the Energy Ministry to promote alternative fuel, the ministry set a target of 350 mega watts of electricity production from hydro-power. Some 150 MW would come from small power plants to set up at 41 dam sites, 35 MW from improving efficiency at 20 small power plants, 30 MW from 403 small reservations run by the Irrigation Department and 135 MW from 35 new hydro-powered production plants.
Mr. Thaksin said the government would also promote the use of CNG in vehicles with diesel engines and ask manufacturers to modify vehicles with petrol-powered engines so they could also use natural gas for fuel.
Agriculture Minister Somsak Thepsuthin, meanwhile, said the ministry would increase production of oil palm cassava and molasses for use as alternatives to fossil fuel.
Mr. Somsak said the Irrigation Department would also speed up the installation of power generators in 130 small-and medium-size dams countrywide.
He said oil palm plantations were being expanded in the Central Region, adding that there are plans to double the cultivation area within the next five years. Trees producing palm oil are planted on about a million rai of land in Thailand , mostly in the South.
Mr. Somsak also suggested collecting a fee from exporters of agricultural products to fund the production of crops that could be used as alternative fuel.
Cassava and molasses can be used to produce ethanol which, if mixed with regular petrol, produces gasohol.
Chalermpol Lairungruang, director of the Agriculture Department's Field Corp Research Institute, said cassava production would be increased from 18 million tonnes to 20 million tonnes within five years and sugarcane production would be increased from 10 tonnes per rai to 15 tonnes per rai.
Thailand currently uses 6.7 million rai of land for the production of cassava and 5 million rai for the production of sugarcane.
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