Reuters reported that Thailand's Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Pcl is planning to spend THB 12 billion in 2012 on continuing investments and new ventures, including power plants in Myanmar's Dawei project.
Mr Noppol Milinthanggoon president of Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding said that the country's largest private power producer signed an agreement with Italian Thai Development Pcl to build coal fired power plants with a combined capacity of 4,000 MW at Dawei in Myanmar. He added that Ratchaburi would have a 30% stake in the project, while Italian Thai will hold the other 70%.

In late 2010, Italian Thai signed a USD 8 billion contract with Myanmar for a port and infrastructure project in Dawei in the Tanintharyi region in Myanmar's south.

Mr Noppol said that they would build three small power plants with combined capacity of 400 MWs in the first phase. Construction is expected to begin in 2012 and be completed in 2014, with investment of USD 2 million per MW. The remaining 3,600 MW would be gradually built in two phases with three 600 MW power plants each and it needed investment of USD 1.5 million per MW.

Ratchaburi, like other major Thai utilities, is looking for growth opportunities abroad to boost capacity and has said power plants in Laos, Australia and the Philippines were targets.

In August 2011, it said it planned to raise its holding in Australia's Transfield Services Infrastructure Fund to 68.1% by the end of 2011. The utility expected its installed capacity to rise to 5,180 MW by the end of 2011 due to new, 830 MW capacity and the number would rise to 6,660 MW.

Ratchaburi is 45% owned by state run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.

(Sourced from www.reuters.com)