such as cooking. About Baht 6 billion ($153.5 million) of the country's newly approved Baht 30 billion national conservation programme is appointed for the promotion of renewable energy. The government's goal is to triple the production of renewable energy from one per cent to three per cent of total power production within the next five years. Total electric gen erating capacity was 17 500 MWe in 1998. "Burning rice husks will add to Thailand's potential to preserve indigenous fossil fuels, namely natura! gas, lignite and oil reserves, form of incentive payments from the Energy Conservation Promotion Fund (Encon Fund). Successful bidders under the competition will be offered subsidy contracts with an incentive payment for a period of approximately five years. The incentive payment will be in the form of a pricing subsidy per unit of electricity (kWh) sold to EGAT. and reduce reliance on Ali renewable energy technologies in compliance with SPP regulations are eligible: non-conventional energy; waste or The BMP biomass project was rendered possible under Thailand's Small Power Producer (SPP) programme. BMP has imports" obtained a promotional certificate from the Board of lnvestment (BOi), the government's investment arm that gives meaningful benefits in taxation, depreciation and deductibles to the company. EGAT will buy from a SPP under the established standard term either in the form of 'firm' and 'non-firm' basic. A 'firm' contract has contract terms between five and 25 years with a specified capacity and is eligible for both energy payment and capacity payment. A 'non-firm' contract has contract terms not exceeding five years with unspecified capacity and is only eligible for energy payment. in the regulation of the purchase of power from SPPs, the National Energy Policy Council emphasises that using renewable energy fuels reduces the financial burden of the public sector with respect to investment in electricity generation and distribution. it is interesting to note that at the moment, new SPPs can only be proposed if they are based on renewable energy sources. Recently, the National Energy Policy Office (NEPO) gave advanced notification of its intention to recruit bids for 300 MW of power from SPPs using renewable energy. NEPO will select technically and commercially sound projects for support in the 481 ECOGENERATION WORLD residues from agricultural activities or waste from production of agricultural products; products derived from waste or residues from agricultural products and industrial production processes; garbage (i.e. municipal waste); and dendrothermal fuels (i.e. tree plantations). Renewable technologies that operate in a cogeneration mode are also eligible for support. Thailand is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol. Of total carbon emissions in Thailand (43 million tonnes in 1998) the industrial sector was responsible for emitting 19 million tonnes of carbon. The transportation sector released an equal amount, 18 million tonnes of carbon. Thailand's share of total carbon emissions in the world is O.7 per cent. Unexploited resource Given the generous harvests in the region where the BMP power plant is being built, large amounts of rice husk residue is left unexploited every year. Currently, part of the rice husk waste is disposed of by burning and part is dumped and left to decompose in the open air. Burning rice husks in the power boiler will add to Thailand's potential to preserve indigenous fossil fuels, namely natural gas, lignite and oil reserves, and reduce reliance on imports. in addition, the use of the rice husks will help Thailand to keep carbon dioxide emissions low, and reducing the amount that is left to decompose will also reduce emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. From a distance, the lone power plant in the middle of the vast rice fields, surrounded by the silhouettes of mountain ridges, has an almost august appearance. The stack reaches a modest 30 m high, only 6 m higher than the rain roof of the boiler. The turbine plant and control room is a closed structure of cast in-situ concrete. Next to the power plant yard, a 60 000 m3 raw water pond has been excavated to store water for cooling during the dry seasons. The cooling of the condensing power plant is arranged with three 50 per cent motorized cooling towers.
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