GULF Feels Vietnam as Its “Second Home” for Many More Power Plants to Rise
In the seminar held by Kaohoon, GULF gave a positive view on Vietnam as “Second Home”, while indicating that a power plant business has a potential to grow domestically and internationally.
Mr. Ratthaphol Cheunsomchit, Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Development Officer of Gulf Energy Development Public Company Limited (GULF), stated in the seminar held by Kaohoon that GULF has potential for constant growth in the second half of 2018.
The revenue in 2018 is expected to be more than 10 billion baht after the upcoming two power plants start their COD. GULF will have a total of 17 fully commercialized power plants out of 28 projects. 98-99% of GULF’s power plants are natural gas power plants. In 7 years, GULF will receive 130 billion baht in revenue when all power plant are fully commercialized.
GULF aims to expand its business by investing in renewable energy, especially in Vietnam where GULF is targeting to equalize the production capacity to the same level as Thailand’s power plants. The most recent investments in Vietnam includes a 150 MW solar power plant and a 310 MW wind power plant. A joint venture that GULF holds 49% stake and local partners holds 51% stake. Both plants have COD set in April 2019.
Mr. Ratthaphol also stated that GULF sees Vietnam as its second home. A higher demand of electricity comes from the 90 million population in Vietnam. GULF has discussed about future investments in renewable energy and other kinds of energy, and will focus to expand business there which yield a high internal rate of return.
As for Laos, GULF will invest in hydroelectric dam power plants and coal power plants, then supply the electricity to Thailand. GULF currently has a 4,000 MW power plant in Myanmar for their 60 million population, a 10 times business expansion potential comparing to Thailand’s 42,000 MW. Meanwhile, a 300 MW power plant project in Oman will come to an agreement by the end of August and the beginning of September.
Nevertheless, the major investments from GULF currently are in Thailand where the company has a power purchase agreement of 11,000 MW with The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), while 6,000 MW has been commercialized. In 2021-2024, two major power plants from intangible personal property will start their COD with a total of 5,000 MW. It is undeniable that GULF will have a rapid growth from 2021 forward.