Coal news and updates

Thailand bets on coal despite long losing streak for communities

• Despite its declaration of ambitious emissions reductions targets, Thailand is on track to build four new coal-fired power generators by 2034.
• Two of the generators will add to an existing plant in Mae Moh, which is powered by coal from an adjacent mine.
• Residents say the Mae Moh power station and mine have caused illness and pollution, with the country’s Supreme Court ruling in their favor in 2015 and ordering the state-owned utility to pay compensation.
• Two other generators are planned for as-yet-unnamed locations in the country’s east and south.

In November 2021, during the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, the Thai delegation announced ambitious plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2065.

Just five months later, the country is moving toward adding four new coal-fired power generators to its grid.

The cabinet has already approved the first two plants, twin generators that together will have an installed capacity of 660 megawatts. They are scheduled to begin construction this year and operate from 2026 to 2050, and will form part of a series of coal-powered generators in the Mae Moh power plant. The plant currently has 10 generators with a combined capacity of 2,200 MW, and is powered by coal from an adjacent 2,880-hectare (7,116-acre) open-pit lignite mine.

The country’s power development plan for 2018-2037 also calls for another two 1,000-MW coal plants, though their exact locations have not yet been publicly specified. One, in the country’s east, is scheduled to go into operation in 2033. Another, in the south, will commence a year later. Both are slated to operate for 25 years.

As countries around the world, and in the region, increasingly recognize the need to phase out coal, Thailand looks to be moving toward the fossil fuel, retaining more than 6,000 MW of coal capacity within its 56,000-MW annual supply system, even as it pledges to cut emissions.