Electricity Generating Public Company Limited or EGCO Group’s President Dr. Jiraporn Sirikum graced the “CEO Forum: Climate Action Leading Towards Net Zero” with a showcase of EGCO Group’s initiatives to drive the development of low carbon society, including investment in Linden Cogen and APEX in the USA, promotion of biodiversity near its power plants, and conservation of Thailand’s major watershed forests which is operated through Thai Conservation of Forest Foundation. EGCO Group also shared the six mechanisms to help Thailand achieve net zero.

The talk was part of the Thailand Research Expo 2024 held by the National Research Council of Thailand in cooperation of the Thailand Business Council for Sustainable Development (TBCSD) held on 27 August 2024 at Centara Grand and Bangkok Convention Center, Central World, Bangkok.

Dr. Jiraporn Sirikum, EGCO Group’s President, said, “EGCO Group has been operating electricity generation and energy business with commitment to “Cleaner, Smarter and Stronger to drive sustainable growth” direction. We are seriously finding ways to help reduce the impact from Climate Change on the environment, which is becoming more and more serious issue. We have earlier announced a clear goal and the three steps to achieve low-carbon society as follows:

• Short-term goal: Increasing renewable energy to 30% and reduce carbon emissions intensity by 10% within 2030. To achieve this, EGCO Group has adopted new technology to reduce carbon emissions, such as hydrogen or ammonia co-firing technology, as well as carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology in making the fuel-fired power plants more environmentally friendly. At the same time, the company has invested in renewable and alternative energy, such as hydrogen.
• Mid-term goal: Becoming carbon neutral by 2040 through continuous investment in green and clean energy, especially hydrogen, and implement CCUS in currently operating power plants.
• Long-term goal: Achieving net zero by 2050 by turning the entire EGCO Group’s portfolio to 100% clean energy, installing CCUS in all power plants and expanding hydrogen-related businesses throughout the value chain.

In driving its commitment to concretely building a low-carbon society, EGCO Group has made major investments in two USA-based projects. The 172-MW Linden Cogen Unit 6 project, located in Linden, New Jersey, has implemented hydrogen co-firing technology, which helps reduce CO2 emissions by 10%. EGCO Group holds 28% stake in this project. The APEX Clean Energy Holdings, LLC (APEX), in which EGCO Group holds 17.46% stake, is a large renewable energy project developer. Having over 200 projects, including solar power, wind power, hydrogen and battery energy storage system (BESS), in its pipeline with a total capacity of over 56,000 MW, APEX is one of a significant project enabling EGCO Group to increase renewable energy power from 21% at present to 30% by 2030.

At the same time, EGCO Group has continuously promoted environmental preservation and biodiversity in the areas it is operating power plants, both in Thailand and overseas. Khanom power plant, for example, has an animal database which indicates rich biodiversity in the area around the plant. The company has also continued the preservation and rehabilitation of biodiversity and major watershed forests in Thailand that are also the source of energy through the operation of the Thai Conservation of Forest Foundation, a non-profit organization established and supported by EGCO Group for more than 22 years. Various projects were introduced to promote harmonious and sustainable co-existence between communities and the nature, such as the natural trail development in watershed forests in Chiang Mai and Nakhon Si Thammarat, and the “Forest Rehabilitation, Subterranean Watercourse Maintenance” project in Chaiyaphum.

“EGCO Group is committed to protecting the environment while growing our business to support the energy transition trend. We aim to achieve our net zero goal by 2050. At the same time, we support Thailand’s plan to achieve net zero by 2065, which includes six areas of concentration – 1) Setting clear net zero policy; 2) Improving compulsory and voluntary laws, rules and regulations; 3) Supporting the government sector’s restructuring to support net zero policy; 4) Developing and increasing sufficient number of capable human resource; 5) Developing information storage and sharing platform; and 6) Introducing promotional measures in all dimensions, such as supporting the private sector’s knowledge to drive change towards low carbon society, creating the central carbon credit and renewable energy certificate (REC) market, promoting related innovation and technology, developing the green supply chain, providing privileges and supporting measures like tax measure, increasing access to required capital, etc. Another key measure is to encourage everyone in the society, including the government, the private sector and the people sector, to work hand in hand to build a sustainable low carbon society,” said Dr. Jiraporn.