ASIA POWERS UP

       Expo for the whole continent offers Thai investors a chance to glimpse the future of the country's energy supply options, writes Umesh Pandey
       Thai investors looking to tap into the growing market for renewable energy and the energy sector overall are set for a treat early next month when the country hosts the Power-Gen Asia exhibition.
       The event from Oct 7-9 at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani, will draw high-level delegations from China, India and the rest of the region, said Glenn Ensor, event director of Power-Gen Asia.
       One day will be dedicated to energy needs in India and ways to tap this market. Mr Ensor stressed the Indian government over the years has relaxed the rules and regulations for importing equipment related to production of electricity and renewable energy.
       India and China are hungry for resources and have been blamed as the key drivers for oil prices floating at $70 a barrel despite the global crisis.
       India in particular has been powerstarved with a high level of economic growth the past few years.
       Mr Ensor said that despite problems that still exist in India, the potential for an energy venture is tremendous.
       So far, the highest number of exhibitors has been from China because they focus on outward expansion to export their manufacturing technology, he said.
       The quality of the products from China has improved dramatically, while the prices are among the lowest, he added.
       Thai companies looking to focus on renewable energy could see several exhibitors from this segment as PowerGen Asia added a separate section for it.
       "This is a growing sector and what better place to debut it than Thailand,where the government set an ambitious target of achieving 8% of the country's energy needs from renewable sources by 2011," he said. Currently about 0.5%of energy is from renewable sources.
       To meet that target, Mr Ensor said the government has to take the lead in providing the platform and also at times subsidising the high cost.
       Citing the example of solar power, he said it costs five times as much to produce a kilowatt of electricity from solar energy than it costs from a fossil fuel source. But with Ensor: Tremendous the gradual depotential for ventures pletion of fossil fuels, the region's pivot to renewable energy has become a hot topic.
       As Asian economies take the leading role in helping shore up the global economy, the need for energy continues to rise and some including Thailand are also looking at the nuclear option.
       Thailand has been studying plans to undertake nuclear and renewable energy as domestic natural gas resources are sufficient to serve the country's needs for another seven years.
       Earlier this month, energy business operators said they wanted to see the use of natural gas for electricity generation cut even lower than the 60%planned under the revised power de-velopment plan (PDP), saying the risk of dependence is still too high.
       The plan to cut natural gas use in the power sector to 60% from the current 74% is still not enough to limit the risk of blackouts in the future,said Suvit Limvattanakul, chairman of the Power Producer Industry Club of the Federation of Thai Industries.
       The 15-year PDP ending in 2022 also aims to maintain lignite and imported coal usage at 20-21% and increase hydropower purchases from neighbouring countries to 10% from 1%. Nuclear power would account for 5% of the total.
       He argued that the prices of imported gas from Burma and liquefied natural gas from Qatar are both higher than gas from the Gulf of Thailand by 20% and 40%, respectively. And too much reliance on gas cuts Thailand's bargaining power.
       Power producers will need to import more natural gas unless the country discovers more reserves or shifts to a new source of fuel.
       On the Web:http://www.powergenasia.com/index.html