A.T. Biopower Cancels Power
Projects on Shortage of Rice
Husks
A.T. Biopower Co., a Thai utility that makes electricity from plant waste, canceled two projects to build biomass-fueled generators because of difficulties in procuring feedstock.
A shortage of rice husks is hampering expansion and A.T. Biopower will instead invest in solar plants, Chief Executive Officer Natee Sithiprasasana said in an interview in Singapore. The company’s 22-megawatt biomass-fired plant in Pichit, Thailand, needs at least 500 metric tons a day of husks, a by- product of milling rice, according to A.T. Biopower’s Web site.
“There’s not enough rice husk for such power capacities,” Sithiprasasana said. The company is considering “small-capital projects” that can produce 2 to 3 megawatts of solar power, he said, estimating that a plant of that scale would cost about 200 million to 300 million baht ($6.2 million to $9.3 million).
Thailand is drafting a 20-year energy plan aimed at getting 3,000 megawatts of electricity from biomass by 2030, compared with current output of 700 to 1,000 megawatts, Sithiprasasana said. It will struggle to reach that goal because demand for biomass such as sugar-cane fiber and rice husks will outstrip supply, he said.
“Rice straw, cassava and corn-crop waste has higher yield but not easy collection,” Sithiprasasana said. “It’s spread out on the field and that increases costs.”
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