EA prepares to petition the Prime Minister to reconsider. Adjust the purchase of renewable energy (RE) electricity appropriately, pointing out that the auction system should be used for the lowest cost of electricity. "Aon" should review the NEPC resolution on March 9, 2023 that prohibits RE litigants from bidding on projects. New, new, behind Phetchaburi Administrative Court There is an order to suspend the project “Thepsathit Wind Farm”, a subsidiary of EA.

Mr. Sompot Ahunai, Chief Executive Officer of Energy Absolute Public Company Limited or EA, revealed that on September 29, 2023, the Phetchaburi Administrative Court issued an order to stay the enforcement of the administrative order according to the request of the person. The lawsuit is filed by Thepsathit Wind Farm Company Limited, a subsidiary of EA, against the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in a dispute regarding the unlawful issuing of orders by government officials.

The Phetchaburi Administrative Court has issued an order to stay the enforcement of the Office of the Energy Regulatory Commission's announcement on the list of people who have passed the appeal consideration on minimum technical readiness. According to the pass or fail criteria (Pass/Fail Basis), renewable energy power generation projects in the form of Feed-in Tariff (FiT) for the year 2022-2030 For groups with no fuel costs, dated March 10, 2023, issued in accordance with the resolution of The Energy Regulatory Commission at its meeting No. 13/2023 (No. 841) on March 10, 2023, and there was no name list of Thepsathit Wind Farm Company Limited, who had passed the consideration and had temporarily appealed. Until there is a judgment or order otherwise.

The reason the court ordered the relief Due to the implementation of the announcement of the Energy Regulatory Commission regarding the announcement inviting the purchase of electricity from renewable energy in the form of Feed-in Tariff (FiT) for the year 2022-2030 for wind energy 2022 ("Announcement Invitation”) Initially, there may be a problem with legality, and the selection of those entering into the power purchase agreement has been carried out in accordance with the aforementioned announcement. This likely has a problem with legality. As a result, the plaintiff became the person who did not pass the appeal consideration regarding the minimum technical readiness according to the Pass/Fail Basis criteria according to the Energy Regulatory Commission announcement.

Furthermore, the selection criteria have not been announced. and criteria for scoring minimum techniques, pass or fail (Pass/Fail Basis), or criteria for quality scores Giving more and less weight to scores used in selection As a result, the process of selecting applicants for electricity production may not be transparent and fair, causing the country to lose benefits from purchasing such electricity. and will be bound throughout the life of the electricity sales contract It cannot be fixed in any way for the entire 25 year period, which is damage that cannot be repaired later.

“From this administrative court order, it is indicated that the Energy Regulatory Commission should revisit the criteria for selecting electricity sellers with clear scoring methods and conditions. To build confidence in those who will join in developing such projects in the future. The purchase quantity for this round is 5,203 megawatts. EA offered 20 projects, totaling 2,000 megawatts, and only 1 project was selected,” Mr. Somphot said.

In addition, the signing of the power purchase agreement, which will take place in October 2023, does not need to be accelerated because the project aims to purchase electricity from renewable energy. To increase electricity production from clean energy To support Thailand in reducing carbon dioxide emissions only. In addition, the amount of reserve electric power of the country is currently more than 30 percent. Therefore, there is no impact on security related to reserve power. When the Administrative Court orders a suspension of the said project. Relevant agencies including the National Energy Policy Committee (NEPC), the Energy Regulatory Commission and the 3 Electricity Agencies, and government officials. How to proceed? This is because there is legal uncertainty regarding the procedures. And if you follow the invitation announcement In the future, there may be problems with legality.

Mr. Sompot also said that he will write to the relevant agencies and the Prime Minister as Chairman of the NEPC Board to consider purchasing additional electricity from renewable energy in the FiT format for the year 2022-2030 for groups with no fuel costs. Expanded round of purchasing part 1”, additional purchase amount totaling 3,668.5 megawatts, still using the same rules for selection. There is likely to be a problem with legality and the NEPC resolution dated March 9, 2023 also stipulates additional conditions. With the condition that “The person submitting an offer to purchase additional electricity must not be a complainant, appellant, person suing government agencies, committees, sub-committees, working groups or officials involved in the procurement of electricity from renewable energy according to the ERC regulations and Invitation announcement including NEPC, Energy Regulatory Commission. and Ministry of Energy Be liable in disciplinary, civil, criminal or administrative matters. from having performed such duties,” which the said resolution It is considered a restriction on the rights of private companies that exercise their rights legally.

“New round of selection. The auction method should be used, like China and Inye, so that the cost of electricity when it reaches the people is as low as possible. Lower than the FIT power configuration For example, if the current purchasing criteria is 10 baht more expensive than the auction bid, there are 22 million Thai households that will have to pay a price of more than 6 billion baht/year. It also affects other private sector costs, affecting competitiveness. I would like to "beg" the government to reconsider the resolution of NEPC on March 9, 2023 because if the matter were adhered to, the EA would probably not be considered,” Mr. Sompot said.

A source from the Ministry of Energy said they were following the situation closely. Especially the impact on energy policy in driving the National Energy Plan. From the information received from the Energy Regulatory Commission, it is confirmed that the selection process will be carried out according to regulations. The Energy Regulatory Commission in a transparent, fair, and equitable manner, with 175 people passing the selection process, has a sales volume of 4,852.26 megawatts. The main issue that Thepsathit Wind Farm of EA did not pass consideration is that it does not have land under its ownership because it is land. Agricultural land reform (Agricultural Land Reform) was thus dropped from consideration. In the case of land, it is considered important because in the past there have been problems causing many projects to be delayed. However, the Energy Regulatory Commission on October 4, 2023 will discuss the matter. Because the process is considered to be in the court. Therefore, the defendant must be considered according to the procedures.

Source: Thai News Agency