B.Grimm Power boosts reliability with diversification into renewable energy

Country Business Reports interviews and articles by Discovery Reports www.discoveryreports.com

Industrial estates are only as good as their power supply as blackouts and voltage fluctuations can lead to lost output or damaged equipment. Clients of B.Grimm Power, however, do not have to experience all these. Covering the whole power supply value chain from development and construction through to distribution and maintenance, one of Thailand’s largest private power producers provides the world’s largest companies with electricity of the highest quality in terms of reliability and efficiency.

“We leveraged the expertise and know-how of our highly skilled team of engineers to build an excellent track record in the power generation industry for the past 30 years,” says Preeyanart Soontornwata, president of B.Grimm Power.

The company’s heritage, however, goes further back as the B.Grimm group began 140 years ago as Thailand’s oldest infrastructure developer. Today, its subsidiary B.Grimm Power supplies electricity to more than 300 industrial users across the country. These include global giants Sumitomo, Toyota, Colgate-Palmolive, Mitsubishi Motors, Daikin, BASF and Bridgestone.

B.Grimm Power operates and maintains a total of 32 power plants across Thailand with an overall power generation capacity of 1.9 gigawatts. Using the distributed generation model, these facilities are located closer to the end-users. As such, B.Grimm Power is able to avoid transmission losses and power interruptions otherwise experienced by bigger suppliers based far from their customers. The company also has multiple power generation facilities in the same area so that its plants can support each other, thus managing to supply power 24/7 even during emergencies.

“We want to be the best in terms of quality, and this is the reason why we have never had any problems with our customers,” Preeyanart says. “Our clients stay with us because we follow only the highest standards in providing electricity and steam.”

B.Grimm Power selects only the best components that can outlast the 25-year normal duration of a power purchase agreement (PPA). To this end, the company uses only the finest gas turbines from suppliers such as Siemens or General Electric. Taking customer satisfaction to the next level, B.Grimm Power is conducting research on smart grids, and is undergoing a programme with Siemens that aims to achieve higher availability, better efficiency and digitalisation of the distribution system.

As a response to the growing electricity demand in Asean, the company plans to harness more renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and hydropower, while exploring waste-to-energy systems such as biomass. B.Grimm Power foresees generation capacity to nearly triple to 5GW by 2022 and expects the share of renewable energy sources to more than double from 12 per cent to 30 per cent of overall capacity.

The company has won a contract from the government to construct and operate a 31-megawatt solar plant in Thailand and a 420MW solar plant in Vietnam. This project will bring B.Grimm Power’s total solar power generation capacity to 595MW. The company has also acquired a PPA for developing a wind farm in Thailand expected to be completed by 2020.

In Laos, B.Grimm Power has a continuing 20MW hydropower plant project with Électricité du Laos involving a 25-year PPA and an additional 113MW of projects in the pipeline. The company is also eyeing the construction of solar and wind farms in Vietnam, while pursuing other renewable energy generation opportunities in Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia and other Asian countries.

“We are in a healthy growth mode,” Preeyanart says. “We welcome proposals as we seek an optimal mix of traditional and renewable energy sources across the region.”

www.bgrimmpower.com