Thai firms to study $200M solar power plant investment

PTT has signed an agreement with affiliate IRPC to look into investing about 6 billion baht or $200 million in a solar power plant with capacity of 50-90 megawatts.

This is the first time that PTT, Thailand's top energy firm, has shown ineterst in solar power. It stated that it would take six months to complete the study and it put the project in the context of its aim to secure long-term energy reserves for the country.

In February, PTT bought a 25 percent stake in the Xayaburi hydropower project in Laos, but the $3.5 billion dam project may be delayed after representatives of four lower Mekong countries -- Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia -- failed to reach agreement on construction of the 1,285-megawatt power plant.

It aims to boost its generating capacity to 6,000 megawatts in the next 10 years from 700 MW, reports Reuters.