Alro clears wind farm development
The Agricultural Land Reform Office (Alro) said yesterday that 17 wind farm projects located on Sor Por Kor government land are legal and can continue as planned.
The much-awaited decision clears the way for wind farm developers to continue their multibillion-baht investment in the renewable projects.
Sompong Inthong, Alro’s secretary-general, said the investigation by related authorities found that all the wind farm projects followed Alro’s regulations, which state that the benefits generated from the land must be paid to the farmers, meaning they were earned from an agricultural purpose.
A dispute emerged earlier this year when the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that it was inappropriate to rent out Sor Por Kor land in Chaiyaphum, which had been designated for farming purposes, to build wind farms. It further ordered the revocation of a licence to develop a wind farm there.
That ruling immediately raised concerns among other wind farm developers about whether their licences could be revoked, prompting them to suspend investment in renewable energy projects.
Mr Sompong said development of Thepsathit Wind Farm in Nakhon Ratchasima remains halted because it is a separate case in which a group of villagers filed a lawsuit against the developer and requires a court ruling.
SET-listed Energy Absolute Plc (EA), a renewable power generator, said it would continue its 20-billion-baht investment to run a 260-megawatt wind farm in Chaiyaphum province as planned.
Omsin Siri, vice-president for corporate communications, said EA will seek a loan because construction is due to start this year, with a goal of operations starting in the second quarter of 2018.
She said the company invested about 40 million baht for design and preparation of the project.
Mrs Omsin said EA aims to increase its renewable power generation committed to state utilities to 664MW by 2018, well above 278MW last year.
The additional capacity is expected from new projects in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Songkhla provinces to come online this year with 126MW from each, and other new projects.
EA’s first renewable energy project was an 8MW solar farm in Lop Buri in 2012. Its total power-generating capacity rose to 188MW in 2015 and 278MW in 2016.