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dam-l LS: NT2 and pumped storage in Thailand
Copyright 1999 Wilmington Publishing Limited
Water Power & Dam Construction
January 27, 1999
HEADLINE: TENDERS; LAOS.
BODY:
Pre-planning. Pre-planning is in progress for the construction of a dam,
power stations, intake, tunnel,
transmission line, downstream channel and infrastructure. These will form
part of the Nam Theun 2
hydroelectric project. The Government of Laos has applied for a loan to
the World Bank and International
Development Association.
Contact:
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Lane Xang Avenue, Vientiane, Laos.
Tel: +856 21 412340, 412344, fax: 856 21 412341.
Copyright 1999 Wilmington Publishing Limited
Water Power & Dam Construction
January 27, 1999
SECTION: Pg.6
LENGTH: 292 words
HEADLINE: MORE PUMPED STORAGE FOR THAILAND.
BODY:
Pumped storage is assuming a higher profile in Thailand as its power
sector privatises. The Electricity
Generating Company of Thailand (EGAT), which will continue to regulate
power transmission in the
planned privatised market, now has two major pumped storage projects in
its latest power development plan.
The plan foresees capacity to 2011, and the pumped storage plants have
been included even though planned
new generating capacity has been reduced by some 7000MW, compared with the
previous plan. The new
figures emerged at the Greater Mekhong Subregion fifth electric power
forum (10-12 December 1998).
The two projects are at Lam Ta Khong (see pp36-38 in this issue) and
Kiridhan. Their total installed capacity
is 1660MW. While Lam Ta Khong's 4x250MW units have long been in the plan
and are now scheduled for
commissioning between 2002 and 2005, Kiridhan's three 220MW units, for
which feasibility studies were
conducted in 1995, are also now firmly included for commissioning after
2005.
The Kiridhan plant will be located some 200km southeast of Bangkok on the
Thai border with Cambodia.
The feasibility study proposed a 4Mcu m active storage artificial upper
reservoir at 600m asl, linked to an 11
cu Mm lower pond at about 160m asl.
An underground powerhouse will accommodate the three pump turbines, and
230kV transmission lines will
link the power station to the nearby Chantaburi and Rayong 2 substations.
Both Lam Ta Khong and
Kiridhan, along with the other hydro power plants, will continue to be
owned and operated by EGAT as
transmission system owner, operator and regulator.
Thailand's total installed capacity by 2011 is now expected to be
39,673MW, compared with 47,277MW
under the previous development plan.
Copyright 1999 Wilmington Publishing Limited
Water Power & Dam Construction
January 27, 1999
SECTION: Pg.36
HEADLINE: PUMPED STORAGE; THE FINAL PUSH.
BODY:
The Lam Ta Khong pumped storage project in Thailand is set to be the last
major scheme implemented by
EGAT in its current form. Richard Mogg* reports.
Lam Ta Khong pumped storage project is set to be the last major project
developed by the Electricity
Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) in its traditional role as the
country's vertically-integrated power
utility. EGAT has played an important role in developing an efficient
national electricity system for Thailand,
and Lam Ta Khong will help to stabilise northeast Thailand's power
supplies.
The northeast's 19 provinces cover an area of 169,600km2, about one-third
of Thailand's total land area, and
is home to some 20M people who are mainly involved in agriculture. Annual
per capita electricity
consumption (1993) is steadily rising through an average of about 970kWh.
Until the 275MW
Theun-Hinboun hydro plant came on-line earlier this year in central Laos,
demand for electricity in northeast
Thailand was almost double the region's existing generating capacity.
Theun-Hinboun, a private investment joint venture led by Thailand's MDX
Group, is operated by Electricite
du Laos to supply EGAT's northeast region with almost all of its output.
But power still needs to be drawn
from other EGAT regions at peak demand periods. To meet the northeast's
evening peak, Lam Ta Khong
will use surplus energy to store water by day.
Although Thailand's overall electricity demand is fast diminishing, the
requirement in the northeast still
shows promise. With an eventual capacity of 1000MW, and forecast to
generate an annual 989GWh, Lam Ta
Khong was authorised by the Royal Thai Government for inclusion in
Thailand's Seventh National Plan
(1992-1966).
The existing reservoir, in operation by the Royal Irrigation Department
(RID) since 1968, will be used as the
EGAT stand-alone pumped storage scheme's lower pond. With a capacity of
230M cu m, and an annual
average of 230M cu m, the Lam Ta Khong waters play a crucial role in the
socio-economy of the
predominantly agricultural lower northeast.
Lam Ta Khong's first two 250MW pump turbines are due to be commissioned in
February and April 2000,
respectively; the final two are scheduled to go into service in early
2003. The project got off the ground when
a feasibility study was prepared in 1989 by the Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA). The
northeast's Khon Kaen University also conducted a detailed environmental
impact study (EIA). EGAT then
submitted the project for evaluation by the National Economic and Social
Development Board, prior to final
approval by Royal Thai Government in early 1994.
The total cost of the Lam Ta Khong project was assessed at 21,800M Thai
baht (Bt) (US$872M 1994
figures), with Bt12,195M in foreign currency and the rest in Thai domestic
funds. The foreign currency
portion, as well as some of the local currency portion for construction
supervision, was financed by loans
from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Japan's
Overseas Economic
Co-operation Fund (OECF). The remaining local currency came from EGAT
revenue and Thai commercial
banks. Work started on the Lam Ta Khong project in February 1994; by July
1998 the two-unit Stage 1 was
40% complete, only very slightly behind schedule.
A four-part environmental mitigation programme for Lam Ta Khong, based on
Kon Khaen University's EIA,
has been given a Bt236M (US$9.4M) budget by EGAT. Along with traditional
environmental protection
factors such as reducing soil erosion and protecting fish and wildlife,
the plan includes a number of measures
to improve the quality of life for local people, mainly farmers and
fishermen. For the upper pond EGAT
acquired about 26ha of land from two villages on the forested plateau
above the lower reservoir.
Some 350m above the Lam Ta Khong lower reservoir, the rectangular upper
pond is under construction,
bound by a rock-filled retaining dike lined with an asphaltic membrane.
With an area of 0.34km2 and a depth
of 48m, the upper storage pond will have an effective storage capacity of
9.9M cu m. Twin morning glory
intakes lead into two 690m-long penstocks which plunge beneath the main
Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchisima
highway to reach reversible pump-turbines. The horseshoe-shaped cavern
powerhouse is located 350m
below ground; surge tanks of the pump-turbines are actually 40m below the
surface of the lower reservoir.
The system is designed to pump about 9M cu m of water daily into the upper
storage reservoir, using surplus
power from the EGAT grid.
Lead civil works contractor for EGAT's Lam Ta Khong project is an
international joint venture between three
companies, Vianini (Italy), Dragados (Spain) and Nawarat (Thailand), while
project management and
engineering is in the hands of Japan's Electric Power Development Co.
Pump-turbines, generator-motors and
power station systems are being supplied and installed by a French
consortium consisting of CEGELEC,
GEC, Alsthom-Neyrpic and GEC Alsthom Electromecanique. Supply and
installation of transformers and
fire extinguisher systems is by Japan's Sumitomo Corporation.
Japan's Hazama Corporation Ltd is engaged in excavating some 1.2km of
tunnels and galleries, while
Spain's ABB Hidro Equipmamentos partners ABB Hidro Electricos SA in the
supply and installation of
hydraulic systems, including intake gates and penstock and tailrace
linings. The switchyard and associated
switchgear comes jointly from Siemens AG and Siemens Ltd, while the
telecommunications contract was
awarded to Fujikura and the control system was won by Mitsubishi
Corporation.
Freshwater fisheries are a vital factor in the northeast's domestic
economy, so EGAT paid particular attention
to the design of the hydro power station's outflow into the Lam Ta Khong
reservoir. Several studies were
made by scientists of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok,
into formulating a design for the
tailrace and outflow, to minimise disturbance to aquatic creatures
resident in the reservoir. The first pumped
storage project in Asia to feature an underground powerhouse, Lam Ta Khong
also has over 20km of tunnels
and galleries. AIT research included special design features to ensure
adequate stability and drainage in the
loose alternate layers of sedimentary sandstone and silkstone prevalent in
the terrain of the Pak Chong
district.
Since the late 1980s, demand for electricity in Thailand has increased by
10-15% annually. To meet surging
demand, EGAT has turned more and more to thermal plants, owing to their
shorter lead time and the limited
national resources remaining for hydro power development. The large base
load capacity developed by
thermal plant results in surplus power availability in off-peak period.
Pumped storage units have already been
added by EGAT to both Bhumibol (Tak) and Srinagarind (Kanchanaburi) hydro
power stations. EGAT
would like to add another pumped-storage unit to Bhumibol, as well as
similarly equip Chulabhorn
(Chaiyaphum). Thus pumped storage technology and operation fits into the
daily power demand scenario.
Development of a second stand-alone pumped-storage project, the Khirithan
scheme for southeast Thailand's
Chantaburi province, has been put on-hold by EGAT for two years, or until
the economic smoke clears in
Asia. Plans for Khirithan construction were well advanced, but EGAT is now
in a wait-and-see mode.
According to Vatana Meevasana, of EGAT's Hydro Power Construction
Division, the Lam Ta Khong project
Stage 1 should be completed within the original budget, despite some 70%
devaluation of the Thai baht since
its epochal flotation in July 1997. EGAT is somewhat economically
insulated in this case by World Bank and
OECF hard currency funding. Project cost for installation of the final
Stage 2 twin units, however, may be a
different story.
EGAT has identified at least 40 more sites suitable for pumped storage
development of some sort, and the
total pumped storage potential is assessed by EGAT to be 32,110MW.
Self-sufficiency has become Thailand's plan for survival in a hostile
global economy. The high cost of capital
equipment, much of it sourced overseas and costed in expensive hard
currency, is a stumbling block.
But EGAT plans greater pumped storage development, to meet an increasing
proportion of energy demand in
Thailand.
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Aviva Imhof
South-East Asia Campaigns
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley CA 94703 USA
Tel: + 1 510 848 1155 (ext. 312), Fax: + 1 510 848 1008
Email: aviva@irn.org, Web: http://www.irn.org
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