BANGKOK, May 22 – Energy Minister Pongsak Raktapongpaisal today flatly ruled out any relationship between last night’s electricity blackout in 14 southern provinces and the government’s plan to build a strongly-opposed coal-fired electricity generation plant.
He admitted that part of the problem was insufficient power supply from electricity generating plants in the South which compels the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) to distribute additional power from the Central region.
He said the 500kV transmission line in Prachuap Khiri Khan was struck by lightning cutting off the power supply from the Ratchaburi electricity plant to the South.
Mr Pongsak said high-powered transmission lines, not only in the South but also in Bangkok and the Northeast, will be improved to prevent a similar incident.
An ad hoc committee was set up to find out details of the power outage, he said, adding that the command system at the power generating centre will be reviewed for a clear-cut procedure on
decision-making.
To solve the immediate problem last night, the government bought 200 megawatts of power from Malaysia, at an expense of Bt12 million, to supply to some southern provinces, he said.
Vitoon Simachokdee, permanent secretary for industry, said the power outage severely affected five of 14 southern provinces, at a cost of Bt400 million in losses.
Direct damage was estimated at Bt100 million, broken down to Bt60 million in Surat Thani, Bt20 million in Chumphon, Bt10 million in Krabi and Bt3 million in Trang, while the indirect damage was estimated at around Bt300 million, he said.
Small- and medium-sized factories without back-up power generators were mainly affected, he said.
