Thailand and coal

This article is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

This article is part of the Coal Issues portal on SourceWatch, a project of Global Energy Monitor and the Center for Media and Democracy. See here for help on adding material to CoalSwarm.

The U.S. Geological Survey reports that while Thailand has some domestic lignite production it is a net importer of coal.

Coal mining

The USGS reports that the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), the country's largest electricity utility, and "several coal mining companies owned and operated most of the county’s major coal exploration and mining businesses". It stated that in 2007 lignite production "decreased by 4.4% to 18.239 Mt from 19.071 Mt in 2006."

The USGS lists coal companies in Thailand as being:

• Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand which operates the Mae Moh coal mine in Lampang Province. This mine produces approximately 20 million tonnes;
• the Banpu Public Company Ltd which operates the Lampang (LP-2) coal mine in Lampang Province and the Chiang Muan coal mine in Phayao Province. The combined production of these two mines is approximately 3.4 million tonnes;
• the Lanna Lignite Public Company Ltd which operates the Ban Pakha coal mine in Lamphun Province. This mine produces approximately 1 million tonnes of coal.

Power Stations

The USGS reports that EGAT "invested $6 billion to build the country’s first nuclear powerplant. The nuclear plant would produce 4,000 megawatts of electricity as part of the nation’s long-term energy plan to cope with looming power shortages. Thailand currently relies on natural gas for 70% of its electricity generation; the remainder was supplied by coal, hydropower, and oil."

Coal-fired power stations financed by international public investment institutions

Coal-fired power stations financed by international public investment institutions include:

• Map Ta Phut BLCP power station, Thailand

Mae Moh coal plant

The Mae Moh coal plant is located in Thailand’s northern region, while BLCP and GHECO-I are located on the country's eastern seaboard. Mae Moh started its operation in 1978 with a capacity of 75 MW, reaching a maximum capacity of 2,625 MW in 1996. More than 30,000 residents in the Mae Moh area have been displaced by the plant, and thousands have reportedly suffered from severe respiratory problems. The surrounding crops and farmlands were affected by air-born ash from the power plant, as well as by acid rain, which is attributed to sulfur dioxide released by the coal power plant, according to Greenpeace reports.

Thailand to build coal plant in Burma

According to 2011 conceptual plans of the Italian-Thai Development Public Company Ltd., which has been given a 60-year construction grant by the Burmese junta to establish a deep-sea port and industrial estates in Tavoy, Thailand will build a 4,000 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant—the largest in Southeast Asia—on the Maungmagan beach in Burma. The electricity generated by the power plant, which will be 100 percent owned by Thailand, will be used both for export to Thailand and to supply the electricity demand of new industrial estates in Tavoy.

Citizen Action

In February 2011, over 10,000 people formed a human chain to protest a coal plant proposed by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) for Nakhon Si Thammarat Province.

Articles and resources

Related SourceWatch articles

• Burma and coal
• Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT)
• Global use and production of coal
• International Information on Coal