Thailand's state-run utility Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) will modify the 576 MW third unit of the Bang Pakong power plant (Bang Pakong TPP-3) to integrate 160,000 tons of palm oil for power generation along with natural gas. The project is slated to take 2 months to complete. EGAT expects palm oil to be ready for use at the facility along with natural gas as fuel for power generation by mid-January 2019.
Using palm oil at the Bang Pakong plant is expected to support local farmers and palm oil producers. This move has been approved by the government, which passed two edicts supporting the purchase of raw palm oil for energy production at the facility and the increase of domestic biodiesel production.
Bang Pakong (Chachoengsao Province, Thailand) includes five gas-fired units with a total capacity of 2,490 MW: two conventional gas-fired units (TPP - 3 and 4, unit 3 being converted to biomass) rated 576 MW each and commissioned in 1992, and three CCGT units (628 MW blocks 3-4 commissioned in 1992 and 710 MW block 5 commissioned in 2009). Two conventional steam gas-fired units (1,052 MW) were commissioned in 1993 and 1994 but were stopped in 2014.