“The JDA-A18 power plant will be shut down for maintenance for 12 days, from August 20-31. During this time the system will lose around 421cu/m of natural gas per day,” Dr Twarath Sutabutr, Director of Energy Police and Planning, announced in a statement issued this week.
“We want to confirm that this will not affect the production of electricity in Southern Thailand, even though the power plant has to switch from using natural gas to diesel fuel while the maintenance is carried out,” Dr Twarath said.
“PTT Public Company Limited will supply the natural gas, but we also have NGV gas reserve off-site and ready for delivery at the main gas station. We have amassed our maximum storage of fuel oil before proceeding with the shutdown, which should be enough.
“We have also contacted the Energy Ministry in Malaysia to buy electricity from them in case of emergency,” he added.
Dr Twarath continued, “We have asked every government department, as well as major industrial factories, tourism businesses and residents, to help us save energy during this time and reduce their power usage from 6pm to 9:30pm, which are the main hours that people use electricity the most.
“To help save energy, several things people can do to help include turning off lights that you don’t need, adjust air conditioning to 26ºC (instead of lower temperatures) or just use fan mode, and people should also unplug all electrical appliances after they have finished using them.”
During the shutdown, the Energy Ministry will monitor the situation closely and report current information to the public via media outlets, Dr Twarath said.
People can also check the daily report of electricity usage during the shutdown at www.sothailand.com or the EPPO Thailand Facebook page.
“If you have any questions or concerns regarding the electrical distribution issue, call the PEA Call Centre national hotline at 1129 (24 hours),” Dr Twarath said.
The shut down for annual maintenance last year brought no power outages in Phuket. (See story here.)
In 2013, however, suffered the “worst blackout ever”, as all 14 provinces throughout Southern Thailand suffered complete blackouts as the power grid throughout the South failed. (See story here.)