Thai Solar Energy reveals 38% hike in profits to almost US$15m

It heralded a raise in solar energy output in Japan to 100MW this year.

Thai Solar Energy (TSE), producer and distributor of solar power to the government sector, has announced a 526.7 million baht net profit from its financial results in 2015, representing a 38% increase from the 381.4 million baht net profit in 2014.

The profit was derived from revenues from a combination of power sales from the company's own solar-rooftop projects and revenue shares from solar-farm joint ventures with the state-run oil company PTT in which TSE holds 60%.

According to TSE's Chief Financial Officer Mr. Tee Seeumpornroj, revenue from TSE's own sales and services came in at 129 million baht in 2015, marking a huge 139% jump from the previous year. Another larger portion of revenues totaling over 1,500 million baht was derived from the solar-farm joint ventures with PTT which produced a total of 80 MW.

Mr. Tee noted that the outstanding financial performance in 2015 came as the result of TSE's efficient management of its solar energy businesses, particularly the 10 solar-farm projects in joint venture with PTT which produced a combined 80 MW, or higher than the guaranteed volumes. TSE booked full-year revenue from the 14 MW generated from its own solar-rooftop projects for the first time in 2015.

"2015 has been a good year for TSE as we were able to generate satisfactory revenues and profits. New projects that are being planned now will further strengthen our performance and help sustain stable growth into the longer-term future," Mr. Tee stated.

Dr. Cathleen Maleenont, the Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, stated that TSE will continue to expand its solar-energy business aggressively this year both in Thailand and overseas, particularly in Japan where the company is currently negotiating with potential local partners on 2-3 solar-farm projects with a combined capacity of 40-50 MW. The negotiations are expected to be concluded in mid-2016.

A recent meeting of the TSE Board approved an investment budget of 2,000 million baht to build a solar-farm power plant with an installed capacity of 17.5 MW in Hanamizuki, Ishikawa. Prospec Holdings Inc. will be contracted to build the plant with construction scheduled to begin in this quarter and to be completed in 2017. This latest project will raise the combined capacity of all ongoing projects in Japan to 42 MW.

"We are ready to expand our renewable-energy business both from solar power and other renewable sources in order to become a market leader in this field in the Asian region, particularly in Japan and AEC. Our target is to produce 100 MW of solar energy from our overseas operations this year, rising to 300 MW within three years," Dr. Cathleen stated.