Fire at Biomass Power Facility in Thailand
- April 8, 2015, Bangkok Post
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"452","attributes":{"alt":"krabi thailand biomass power facility","class":"media-image","style":"width: 333px; height: 234px; margin: 3px 10px; float: left;","title":"Photo: cpecc.net"}}]]A biomass power plant with large piles of palm kernel shells used for fuel caught fire in Khao Phanom district of Krabi early Wednesday morning, and damage was estimated at 100 million baht.
The fire at Saraff Energies Co started about 1.30am. The plant was temporarily closed for maintenance.
It first emerged at a grinder and then burnt a conveyor belt and spread to hundreds of tonnes of stored palm kernel shells used as fuel at the biomass power plant on Nua Khlong-Chai Buri Road.
More than 10 fire engines and crews from four sub-districts battled the blaze, which took more than four hours to control. The fire destroyed the steel warehouse where palm kernel shells were stored over an area of about two rai. The fire extinguishing system at the plant was out of service at the time.
Two Myanmar workers were injured. One suffered burns and the other cut his leg escaping from the plant.
The power plant is part of the very small power producer (VSPP) programme and receives government support. It normally generates about 10 megawatts of electricity and sells the power to the Provincial Electricity Authority.
Police said damage was put at 100 million baht.