SATUN, 25 April 2014 – There may be an upcoming power shortage due to necessary equipment maintenance at two natural gas fields in the south. In response, the Ministry of Energy permanent secretary has distributed an energy policy to all provinces nationwide, giving notice about how to best handle the situation.
The first place where equipment maintenance is occurring is Bongkot Field in Songkhla province and it has already begun, having started on April 10 and will end on April 27. The second area is the natural resources field in the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area (JDA), which will be closed for major maintenance from 13 June-10 July.
The Chana power plant, located in Songkhla province must stop its power generation since natural gas from the maintenance fields cannot supply the fuel. Therefore, the Satun Energy office asks for cooperation from the public by consuming power wisely, as well as entrepreneurs in the local area and other related sectors.
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) has prepared measures about how to best handle the situation, including revising its maintenance plan for the southern power plants so they won’t be forced to close down during maintenance periods that are very close to each other.
Basically, the transmission equipment and preventive systems need to be examined to make sure everything is in proper condition and ready to be used. As for the backup electric transmission system, a central Thailand plant can transmit up to 1,050 megawatts, although the normal volume transmitted to Southern plants is 500 megawatts.
