New Egat head eager to slash bureaucratic rules

Boonyanit Wongrukmit, the newly appointed governor of state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat), vows to reduce bureaucratic hassles and build a more informal atmosphere at work to make Egat more agile in dealing with the fast-changing energy industry.

Renewable energy and energy storage technologies are expected to be game changers, meaning Egat cannot maintain its traditions and burdensome regulations, he said.

Within a decade, these two technologies may “take over” electricity generation from fossil fuel-fired power plants, Mr Boonyanit said yesterday.

The cost of renewable energy development is almost competitive with fossil fuel-based power generation.

Other developments such as peer-to-peer power trade, distributed power generation and more use of…