Faced with a lack of energy options, Thailand looks to coal

The world's dirtiest fuel may be the country's best hope to ensure future energy security.

By Daniel Ten Kate | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
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from the April 5, 2007 edition

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Bangkok, Thailand - As the Thai economy continues its steady growth, policymakers are drafting energy strategies with a view toward keeping the lights on for the next 15 years.

To do that, planners say, Thailand must nearly double its electricity production to about 55,000 megawatts each year.

But as Thailand is learning and Malaysia has already discovered, coal could be the key to energy security in the coming decades. To secure supply in a cost-effective way that won't hold the country hostage to gas imports from regimes like neighboring Myanmar or Iran, analysts say the most viable option is coal – a fuel source hated by environmentalists who see it as the main driver of global warming.

"As much as I don't like coal, due to the carbon emissions, I'm equally worried about the need for Thailand to diversify fuel sources," says Mark Hutchinson, an independent regional energy analyst. "And there's really nothing other than coal."

A power plant fueled by natural gas has the added benefit of, on average, producing about half as much carbon dioxide, a third as much nitrogen oxides, and 1 percent as much sulfur oxides as a coal-fired plant.

Of the 22,684 megawatts Thailand uses each year, nearly 70 percent comes from gas and about 15 percent from coal.

While the reliance on gas is already considered high, Thai Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand has warned that 90 percent of Thailand's power could come from gas if the country does not embrace either coal or nuclear energy.

That trend is particularly worrisome because Thailand already relies on Burma (Myanmar), an oppressive military-run state, for about a third of its gas.

In future years, as domestic natural-gas production in the Gulf of Thailand peaks, Bangkok may have to import increasingly expensive liquefied natural gas from Middle Eastern countries like Iran.

"Certainly it's a concern to be so reliant on natural gas," says Norkhun Sitthiphong, the Ministry of Energy's deputy permanent secretary who is overseeing the electricity plan. "Natural gas is subject to volatile world market oil prices, and we know exactly what can happen when they rise quickly."

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