NAKHON SI THAMMARAT, 11 June 2014 — All the 14 southern provinces have been urged to cut down on their power consumption by 250 megawatts to prevent blackouts during a maintenance shutdown of the JDA gas plant.
According to Nakhon Si Thammarat’s chief of energy office Surachate Horadee, residents and the private sector should try harder to cut down on their electricity consumption each day, between June 13 and July 10, during 6.30 am to 10.30 am .
The Thai-Malaysian Joint Development Area (JDA) gas plant has been shut down for 28 days for maintenance purpose, causing around 700 megawatts of gas-produced power to disappear from the system during the period.
According to the survey conducted on June 7, the region has managed to conserve only 26 megawatts, only 10 per cent of its targeted 250 megawatts, raising concerns from the Energy Regulatory Commission that the failure would lead to blackouts in a number of provinces.
