Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said Wednesday Thailand would push forward with the construction of more waste-to-energy plants to rebalance the country’s energy resources.
Speaking at a National Energy Policy Council meeting at Government House, Gen Prayut also said prices of liquefied petroleum gas would gradually increase to reflect global-market rates.
He said the additional waste-to-energy plants also are aimed at meeting the country's garbage-disposal needs while cutting oil and gas imports. He ordered authorities to better explain biomass and garbage plants to the public to gain popular support.
The National Energy Policy Council on Wednesday acknowledged the principle of offering special feed-in tariffs for the operators of waste-to-energy plants.
Kurujit Nakornthap, deputy permanent secretary of the Ministry of Energy, said that Thailand paid more than 1 trillion baht for energy imports yearly and that 85% of the crude oil and 15% of natural gas and that percentage was counting.
The Ministry of Energy therefore has invited applications for petroleum exploration and production concessions on 23 inland blocks and six blocks in the Gulf of Thailand to help the country avoid its energy crisis, Mr Kurujit said.
Its Department of Mineral Fuels will receive applications until Feb 18, 2015.
As for LPG, the general said that the local prices will gradually to reflect the gas' global price. Otherwise, he said, continued subsidies will distort Thailand's energy-prices structure and cause larger financial problems.