COAST COMPANY POWERS THAILAND ENERGY FARM

A GOLD Coast company that specialises in solar has won a contract to build a $300 million renewable energy farm in Thailand – making it one of the largest photovoltaic plants in the world.

A prominent private business group in Thailand has contracted the project, located in Chonburi province near the east coast. It is supported by a power purchase agreement with Thailand's electricity authority.

The initial stage of 8 MW will be followed by other stages, taking it to 99 MW in total.

Eco-Kinetics is a subsidiary of ASX listed CBD Energy and designs and installs renewable energy equipment for domestic and commercial customers. CBD paid $13m for the Gold Coast company in February.

Reflecting growing interest in solar energy, eco-Kinetics installs a solar energy system every 30 minutes.

CEO Edwin Cywinskski is in the United States and could not be contacted for comment today.

However CBD managing director Gerry McGowan, says the contract illustrated the enhanced capabilities within the diversified renewable energy group.

“The acquisition of eco-Kinetics has significantly expanded our commercial reach in Australia and overseas solar markets,” he says.

“Winning this project is an outstanding achievement by Edwin Cywinski and his team at eco-Kinetics as they look beyond Australia to build a renewable energy business.”

In 2009, the Thailand Government announced its intention to source 20 per cent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2020, a similar target to Australia and has a range of tax and investment incentives to attract investment in its renewable energy sector.

CBD recently completed a renewable energy project on the Chatham Islands in New Zealand, has commenced a project on King Island in Bass Strait and is negotiating other wind, solar and energy storage projects in Australia, China and Europe.

The deals follow an undisclosed solar contract won by the company for a property owned by Local Government Super (LGS) in the high-tech commercial zone at Macquarie Park near North Ryde in Sydney.

The solar panel project was partially funded by a grant from the Federal Government’s Green Building Fund (GBF).

Its energy reduction project for the Macquarie Park building included the installation of the eco- Kinetic solar panels, upgrades to base lighting, implementation of the Shaw Method of airconditioning and recalibration of the building management system.

The 100kwp solar panel project includes 555 photovoltaic modules and 99kW grid connected inverters installed on a purpose built frame on the roof of the building.

The solar panels will generate 134MW hours of electricity a year and save 142 tons of CO2 emissions each year.

The Macquarie Park building now sources 100 per cent of its base building energy from fully accredited green power and all new leases require tenants to source their power from green energy suppliers.