Commerce Ministry emphasizes benefit of palm oil for power generation

[rooster59]

Commerce Ministry emphasizes benefit of palm oil for power generation

supawadee wangsri

 

 

BANGKOK, 20 April 2019 (NNT) - While the government has promoted the use of palm oil to produce power, the latest price of the oil is still lower than the cost of producing it because the volume of output was 30 percent more than the expected quantity. The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives will survey the real quantity of palm oil to be released onto the market to determine a solution to the problem.

 

Deputy Commerce Minister Chutima Bunyapraphasara said today apart from being used for electricity production, the Ministry of Energy has also produced high speed diesel oil B20 from palm oil.

 

It was found that the amount of B20 usage had increased from 10 million liters per month to 20 million liters but still did not reach the intended target.

 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives will explore palm growing areas to survey the quantity of production that will be released onto the market at this time. If the number seems likely to fall in May, the situation may improve.

 

The oversupply of palm oil early this year despite the production area not increasing was caused by farmers growing additional palms on existing farms instead of rubber, meaning their output grew this year though it was not included in the initial forecast.

 

The palm kernel product is turned into crude palm oil. It is mainly used for consumption. Some of ii is processed in industrial factories and is used in the energy field. However, the use of palm oil for consumption and in the industrial sector cannot be increased anymore.

 

Therefore the only option is to use it to produce energy which is considered a long-term solution to the problem.

 

However, using palm oil as a fuel to produce power may not be such a good choice because the high cost might affect consumers and exports, as Thai exporters cannot compete with rival countries in terms of price.

 

-- © Copyright nnt 2019-04-21

[nobodysfriend]

Every day in Thailand , forests are  cut to make place for more Palm oil plantations . The price for palm oil is already so low due to oversupply , but they still do it .

People's greed and their will to destroy natural functioning ecosystems just for some personal profit leaves me without hope for the future of mankind .

Here in our property , we plant a wide diversity of trees , all our electricity is produced by solar panels , we do not kill anything , plants or even insects as there is always a natural remedy , for example the red ants eat the white flies that damage some plants and so on ... of course we need to cut away a few bad plants that climb up some trees occasionally , but that is just to guarantee the survival of our trees . No big damage is done by us to the ecosystem . Everybody could do that , the costs are not much , but what happens in reality is people destroying what they can out of greed and stupidity . No way to talk to them , they do not want to understand .

Anyway , we do it our way , that won"t save the planet , but at least we show that it can be done differently .

But it is depressing to see the natural forest cut and burned just for another palm oil or rubber plantation ... that does not bring a lot of profit to them anyway ... SAD .

Anyway , if stupidity would hurt , nobody could sleep any more because of the sound of people crying out of pain ...

[Youlike]

Why the Thai can't compete with rival countries in terms of price? Is Thailand too expensive compared to Malaysia and Indonesia?

[Vacuum]

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

high speed diesel oil B20 from palm oil.

Sounds interesting. What is it?

[ozmeldo]

Yeah, this is utter stupidity.

 

Couldn't all the grass and farm waste that's been burning for months be converted to biodiesel?

 

Is there a farm commodity that's price isn't in the toilet? Serious question.

[Justgrazing]

4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Bunyapraphasara said today apart from being used for electricity production, the Ministry of Energy has also produced high speed diesel oil B20 from palm oil.

Nothing out of the ordinary there .. B20 is 20% bio diesel combined with petrodiesel , it just appears that the 20% is coming from palm oil .. It is also over emphasised to call it " high speed " .. High speed diesel is just another name for the diesel used in road going vehicles as opposed to Light diesel oil or LDO more often  used in static machinery , furnaces and heating applications .. 

[madmitch]

1 hour ago, Youlike said:

Why the Thai can't compete with rival countries in terms of price? Is Thailand too expensive compared to Malaysia and Indonesia?

With the baht uncompetitive the other two countries will have the edge when it comes to exports.

 

However, I'm sad to see Thailand promoting the destructive use of palm oil at a time when more forward-thinking societies are tryig to cut back on its use for the reasons eloquently put by nobodysfriend above.

[Srikcir]

1 hour ago, madmitch said:

Thailand promoting the destructive use of palm oil at a time when more forward-thinking societies are tryig to cut back on its use for the reasons eloquently put by nobodysfriend above.

From Great Risks Involved in Palm Oil Power Generation: Sustainability Standards Are Urgently Needed by Takanobu Aikawa, Senior Researcher, Renewable Energy Institute, 12 September 2017 https://www.renewable-ei.org/en/column/column_20170912.php

• palm oil production itself has several problems repeatedly pointed out, such as infringement of indigenous people's rights, forced labor, deforestation, and the loss of biodiversity.
• it emits significant amount of carbon dioxide (CO2), larger than that from fossil fuel

There is a fatal flaw from the standpoint of Thailand's energy policy in the use of palm oil for electrical production. EGAT's Updated 2018 national Power Development Plan (as well as all previous plans both under Prayut and Yingluck) does NOT include palm oil as a fuel for electrical production. 

 

Seems minor? It's not.

My understanding is that the updated PDP was memorialized under the auspices of the 20-year National Strategy Plan that is incorporated into the 2018 Constitution. As such any amendment to the NSP requires a constitutional amendment.

The Commerce Ministry cannot unilaterally and legally change the PDP any more than any successive governments, the latter being the major purpose for institutionalizing the National Strategy Plan. So much for Prayut's insistence to comply with the rule of law.

However, since the government currently operates under the NCPO and there is yet no Senate nor newly elected government, Prayut can simply issue an Order to amend the NSP - which gets a bit ridiculous.

 

[Guest Jerry787]

non sense, intensive palm farming create slash and burning heavier pollution with strong fertilizers and pesticides 

[Dek Somboon]

More oil palms and less forest = more heat = less economic productivity. Not too <deleted> brilliant. What they should be doing instead is planting massive mangrove forests all along the coastlines a) for natural shrimp farming without all the chemicals in the stagnant cesspools b) and for storing carbon and cooling down the atmosphere...

[Dumbastheycome]

10 hours ago, Youlike said:

Why the Thai can't compete with rival countries in terms of price? Is Thailand too expensive compared to Malaysia and Indonesia?

Compared  to Indonesia I think  yes. Malaysia I am not  sure. But in both of these  countries palm oil production is decimating  forest/jungle areas. In Thailand the production is  mostly due to  conversion from other crops. Add to that the fact that the minimum stipulated minimum wage in Indonesia is  half that of Thailand it is  no surprise  that competition  for a market is  tight globally at this time.

Burning it  as  deisal  is at least  an option  to  ramming the awful  <deleted> into more and more  foodstuffs!

[ozmeldo]

I'm just anti palm oil, period.