The Ministry of Interior has issued a circular to 30 provinces to inspect the status of 40 Municipal Solid Waste power plants worth over 10 billion baht, during the previous administration of Minister of Interior. The inspection, which will be conducted in detail to ensure compliance with the Power Development Plan (PDP), was ordered by the Lower House of Committee on Administration, which had requested information for over six months, the same length as the government's term. The inspection will cover the location of the power plants, the amount of waste incinerated, and their readiness to generate electricity. Of the 40 power plants, most are under the supervision of provincial administrative organizations and municipalities.
On April 11, 2024, the Ministry of Interior has reported that the Central Committee for Solid Waste Management has sent circulars to 40 local administrative organizations (LAOs) in 30 provinces to survey waste processing and disposal projects of LAOs that have been assigned to the private sector to operate or co-operate.
The purpose of the survey is to identify problems and obstacles in the implementation of Municipal Solid Waste to Energy power plants of LAOs that have been approved by the Minister of Interior in the previous government for cases where there is no announcement of power purchase from the Ministry of Energy.
In addition, the feasibility study of Municipal Solid Waste to Energy power plant projects proposed by LAOs to the Department of Local Administration (DLA) at present will be reviewed to determine whether the projects can still be implemented. The results will be presented to the Central Committee for Solid Waste Management at the next meeting.
"The executives of the LAOs responsible for the project are required to sign a report confirming the results of the survey, such as production capacity, amount of electricity offered for sale, current amount of waste, as well as problems, obstacles, and solutions."
The provinces are also required to confirm the grouping of areas for waste management (Clusters) and the amount of waste according to the project.
Last year, in November 2023, the Committee on Administration of the House of Representatives held discussions with the Ministry of Interior, specifically with the DLA. The committee requested information on "waste disposal sites with the potential to generate electricity" under the waste to energy project, which was approved by the previous Minister of Interior. The information requested included: (1) Number of waste disposal sites with the potential to generate electricity (2) Location of waste disposal sites with the potential to generate electricity (3) Incineration capacity of each site (4) Status of waste disposal site development with electricity generation potential, e.g., approved and under construction.
Previously, the Ministry of Interior has received support for the waste to energy project from the Ministry of Energy, which aims to increase the target for purchasing electricity from MSW in line with the Power Development Plan for Thailand 2015-2036 (PDP2015). The Ministry of Interior has also collaborated with the Ministry of Energy to verify the connection points of the electricity system to waste disposal sites in all 324 clusters to ensure accurate data for inclusion in the PDP.
In addition, the Ministry of Interior has also agreed to the Energy Regulatory Commission's (ERC) approval of the establishment of "Municipal Solis Waste Power Plants" waste disposal projects for electricity generation by LAOs in at least 20 provinces, with an investment value of more than 13,101 million baht. However, it was also found that most projects have faced opposition from the public.