Greenpeace earlier installed the solar panels at the Thong Chai
Thammachak temple in Ban Krut and at the Ban Nong Pu Lok school in
Bo Nok to show the Thai government that the local community is
serious in its desire for renewable energy alternatives instead of
the proposed coal fired power stations.
For the past 8 years, people of Ban Krut and Bo Nok in the
province of Prachuap Khiri Khan have opposed plans by US energy
company Edison and Thai company, Gulf Power to build two coal fired
power stations in the region. A consortium of US, Japanese, Hong
Kong and Thai companies funds the proposed plants.
“Thailand does need energy – energy from the sun, wind and the
ocean. But not from dirty, old fashioned technology dumped on them
by big international companies like Edison,” said Greenpeace
International’s executive director Gerd Leipold. “If we are to
prevent dangerous climate change we need a massive global boost in
these renewable technologies.”
“Later this year, governments from around the world will meet at
the Johannesburg Earth Summit. Two billion people globally live
without access to electricity. Greenpeace is asking governments at
the Earth Summit to kick start the renewables age by committing to
massive investments in safe, clean power to these people without
harming the climate.”
In January when the Prime Minister of Thailand visited the site
of the proposed coal-fired power plant in the province of Prachuap
Khiri Khan, 20,000 protestors met him. He is expected to announce a
decision on whether or not to cancel the plants in the very near
future.
“The Thai government is being pressured by rich multinational
banks and companies that are backing the power station proposal,”
said John Passacantando, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA.
“It’s time that the wishes of the Thai people were heard. They
don’t want dirty energy exports from companies like Edison from the
US which dump unwanted technology on poorer communities in the
South.”
Details of the many environmental, social and climate impacts of
the project can be found in the Greenpeace report “Edison Out: The
Struggle to Stop Coal Fired Power Plants in Bo Nok and Ban Krut,
Thailand.”
