Thai firm explores energy storage venture
A little-known company from Thailand with grand ambitions in clean energy wants to take on Tesla, Inc. at its own game.
Energy Absolute Pcl, which has morphed in recent years from a producer of biodiesel to Thailand’s leading renewable energy company, is eyeing a major push into energy storage with plans to develop a factory somewhere in Asia that would rival Tesla’s Gigafactory in both size and scope.
The Thai company is currently considering its home nation and three other Asian countries as a manufacturing base for a lithiumion battery project that could eventually be worth as much as 100 billion baht ($2.9 billion), Amorn Sapthaweekul, the company’s deputy chief executive officer, said in an interview in Bangkok.
The project’s first phase would consist of production capacity of 1 gigawatt-hour, according to a company statement issued last month.
“We will choose just one location for the manufacturing plant,” Amorn said. “We would prefer to have the plant in Thailand, which will be beneficial for the country’s development. Still, we need to see clear government policy.”
Energy Absolute’s ambitious plans in energy storage would catapult Thailand into a top tier location for battery manufacturing, according to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysis of the market conducted in April. If Energy Absolute were to make good on its plans, Thailand would become the largest center for lithium-ion battery production after China, according to London-based BNEF.
It’s a big bet for a company better known locally as a renewable energy producer and with only limited experience in storage through its 35.2 percent stake in Amita Technologies, Inc., a Taiwanbased manufacturer of lithium ion and polymer batteries.
But it’s also in character. Energy Absolute, founded by Somphote Ahunai, vowed in 2014 to spend about 46 billion baht to increase its renewable energy generation capacity to as much as 570 megawatts by 2017. Capacity at Energy Absolute’s renewable power plants will increase to 404 megawatts this year and will climb further to 664 megawatts next year, according to Amorn.
Since embarking on its renewable energy push, Energy Absolute’s shares have surged, leaping about 135 percent in the past three years.
“Given its sound financial status with cash inflows of at least 6 billion baht annually, it would be able to materialize the first phase,” Thanatphat Suksrichavalit, a Bangkok-based analyst at Phillip Securities Pte Ltd., said by phone. “Funding isn’t an issue. The first phase is to test market demand.”
Energy Absolute’s interest in batteries coincides with the spread of lithiumion batteries from consumer electronics to such uses as electronic vehicles and the power industry. Globally, utilities and homeowners are looking at batteries as a way to make better use of solar and wind power. Energy Absolute first confirmed its interest in the battery project in April. (Bloomberg)