Recently, International Finance recognised TPI as the “Most Innovative Diverse Energy Business Company – Thailand – 2025.” The company follows a simple business philosophy: T-echnology, P-roduct, and I-nnovation, and this rule has been codified into the company’s efforts.

TPIPP has broadened its operational portfolio, extending beyond waste-to-energy (WTE) fuelled principally by municipal solid waste (MSW) to utilities (oil/NGV petrol stations/EV charging stations), solar farms and roofs, and Alternative Fuel Resources (AFR) based on municipal waste.

Power has become TPIPP’s largest revenue-generating division (c.90%). The energy produced here runs on highly diversified fuel, with most of it in the form of renewables, such as recycled waste heat (WH) captured from the cement plant of the parent company TPI Polene, WTE using municipal solid waste, and solar farms and roofs.

“After multiple years of experimentation and fine-tuning of processes, our WTE-MSW power plants have arrived at a highly profitable cost curve. The current focus of our technical and engineering ingenuity is on the conversion of our 150MW coal-fired power plant into 100% MSW. Once completed, it will be the first conversion of its kind and scale in Southeast Asia. By 2026, TPIPP will be 100% fossil-free and will expand its pool of carbon-related merits from the current level of 2.5 million tCO2eq T-VER certified credits and 3.1 million Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs),” the venture told International Finance.

The conversion of the 220MW coal-fired power plant is ongoing. The project has been divided into six phases, and TPIPP is now at the tail end of phase six, with a 2025-end targeted completion timeline. TPIPP aims to make its power generation completely coal-free by 2026.

“So far, the modification programme is going smoothly. We are confident that we will be successful, and this would classify TPIPP as avant-garde in the conversion of coal-fired power plants to MSW. It would be a feat, the first of its kind. The know-how and learning accumulated from the experience can make TPIPP a resource for other power generators currently operating coal-fired power plants in the region, especially in Southeast Asia,” TPIPP noted further.

TPIPP, which believes that coal-fired power plants need not become stranded assets amidst the global push towards ESG (environmental, social, and governance) and sustainability, continued, “Our solar power farms and roofs are cost-minimising programmes and also assist TPIPL in its strategic move towards Green Cement & Building Material Products. With solar power, TPIPL’s offtake from the national grid will be reduced, enhancing its green credentials.”

The issue of battery storage for the solar farms has been installed. This installation extends the solar power supply into the night, further reducing offtake from the main grid, apart from enhancing the green credentials of the cement and building materials produced. TPIPP, in April 2025, entered into a agreement with Jinko ESS (a globally leading PV module manufacturer and energy storage system integrator) to set up a 25MWh energy storage plant.

“Our Utilities division mainly supports TPIPL’s logistics and distribution capabilities. TPIPL is electrifying its logistics and distribution vehicles, and TPIPP’s petrol/NGV and EV charging stations are strategically located along the regular routes of TPIPL’s vehicles,” the business remarked.

Alternative fuel resources have become a natural extension of TPIPL’s MSW operations. One of the many moves TPIPL is pursuing to produce “Green Cement” and “Building Materials Products” is to substitute coal in its clinker production with MSW.

“These further drive increases in MSW. Currently, TPIPP processes close to 10,000 tons per day of raw waste. When the various programmes are completed, the daily drawdown of waste will rise to 14,000 tons per day. With our power plants and AFRs, TPIPP will be a significant contributor to addressing the ever-growing problem of household waste. This is another pathway where we contribute to the betterment of society,” the company said, continuing, “Because our daily intake of municipal waste is high and our power plants are in a single location, we can support the livelihoods of residents in many communities. Where landfills are becoming an issue, we also assist the local government by supporting the efforts of its indigents to gather garbage from which calorific values can be extracted. We now have documented cases showing the benefits we can bring to communities.”

TPIPP has also started the rollout of its two WTE-MSW capacities (c.10MW). One will be in Songkhla (south), with Mukdahan (northeast) being the other. Each project will use the municipal waste produced in the area, about 500 tons per day, thus eliminating the need to allocate space for a landfill. These projects will be completed in 2025 and 2026, respectively.

The post TPI Polene Power: Leading Thailand’s AFR efforts through municipal waste appeared first on International Finance.

IFM: In last year’s award, we were highlighting TPIPP’s power plant operations relating to the use of municipal solid waste (MSW) as fuel. How have the operations been affected by the disruptions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic?
Pakkapol: TPIPP processes between 8,000-10,000 tons per day of MSW to run our Waste to Energy (WTE) Power Plant. Despite lockdowns and mobility restrictions in the past two years, we handled similar volumes of MSW during the year. In addition to various types of boilers suitable for MSW, we have developed our very own version of the mechanical and biological treatment (MBT) plant that allows us to handle unwanted MSW. And, a matter of pride for us that confirms the significant role that we now play in disposing MSW, TPIPP was granted a license to dispose of COVID-19 waste that due to its very nature requires extra attention in handling and demands high standards of safety which are incorporated in our safety system.

At this point, TPIPP remains the largest MSW power plant and processor in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the largest in the world in a single location with a zero-waste policy. We have also begun the roll-out of our medium-term projects. Firstly, to switch our 220MW coal-fired power plants to run on MSW and secondly to support the move of our parent company, TPI Polene Plc (TPIPL) to run its cement kilns with alternative fuels (AF) replacing coal. Upon completion of these projects, TPIPP’s operations will eliminate more than 19.5m tons of CO2 equivalent and will be 12.6m tons below carbon neutral by 2026. Overall, this will advance the TPI Group’s goal to achieve net zero GHG far ahead in timeline compared to our local peers.

IFM: Energy inputs have become a significant cost swing factor especially starting second half of 2021 and at this point, it does not look like the price trend is going to revert to historic norms. How has TPIPP coped amidst the rising cost of energy production?
Pakkapol: Our 180MW capacity that operates on MSW and the 40MW that runs on waste heat have been insulated from the rising production costs. As for our coal-fired power plants, some are under plant improvements in preparation for the switch to the MSW fuel, so our coal input has been lower. Overall, especially this year we exercise cost optimization in order to remain profitable while at the same time meeting our power purchase agreements. Externally, we also benefited from the government’s mandated Ft adjustments during the year that added about THB1.1 per unit compared to the tariff in 2021. This has helped offset the rising cost, and we expect the supportive power pricing structure to remain throughout this year and next year. Our investment shift to focus on increasing MSW input has been well-timed and will allow room to mitigate increases in the fuel inputs.

IFM: Apart from the ongoing projects in your existing facilities are there other new MSW projects in the pipeline?
Pakkapol: Under an ad hoc purchase power program of the government, TPIPP has clinched sales of an additional 40MW capacity valid for the next two years, at least. This new sales contract will allow us to maximize the utilization of our existing assets. In September, we received permission to hook up our facility to the national grid and we can begin delivery in December 2022. This way we can assist the government in increasing its power capacity that is derived from renewable power – MSW.

TPIPP has also been awarded two MSW power projects. One is the 9.9MW power capacity in the southern province of Songkhla with a Commercial Operation Date (COD) in early 2024. The second one is a 7.92MW power capacity in the northeastern province of Nakorn Ratchasima with COD in early 2024 also. For both projects, TPIPP will sign long-term power purchase agreements with the state-owned power agency, Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA).

Songkhla and Nakorn Ratchasima are the larger and faster growing provinces in their respective regions. For example, the population of these provinces account for 17.2% and 13.6% of the Southern and Northeastern regions, respectively. In terms of economic contribution, Songkhla accounted for 19.8% of the GDP of the southern region while Nakorn Ratchasima accounted for 18.4% of the GDP of the northeastern region based on the 2019 national statistics. Thus, installing MSW-driven power plants in these areas will help address the ever growing waste accumulation and recycling it into higher value power production. The multiplier effect of having an MSW power plant is many folds spanning across health, economy and environment – areas that answer to the call for corporate social responsibility and the main tenets of ESG agenda.

IFM: From our observation, it has been quite some time that the Thai government has opened bidding for a sizable power capacity. Are there more potential projects coming up?
Pakkapol: According to the Power Development Plan 2018 revision 1, the government aims for 9,996 MW of new capacity coming from renewable energy, including hydropower. The government has plans to tender more renewable power capacity in the near future and TPIPP intends to participate especially in those that will allow TPIPP to expand the company further.

IFM: Over a period of less than a decade, TPIPP has harnessed the technology and the processes to convert MSW into fuel and achieve high profitability at the same time. At this stage what further defines your long term goal?
Pakkapol: All of our ongoing projects and activities including our parent TPIPL are about moves towards de-carbonization and green energy. Some 30-40 years ago, stakeholders in many companies typically worried mainly about returns and profit-generation. However, with the paradigm shift across the globe to the more pressing concerns on climate change and ESG-driven (Environmental Social and Governance) business-as-usual (BAU) operations our group’s goals have shifted as well. For example, at the parent company, TPIPL is switching from diesel trucks to EV (electric vehicle) trucks for mining activities and from using coal to MSW for the clinker process. For TPIPP we are switching from coal to MSW for electricity production and the medium term goal is to become a carbon-free power plant.

These moves re-enforce the group’s re-branding into a new era. TPI today stands for “Technology, Products and Innovation”, instead of “Thai Petrochemical Industry.” The group strives to use the latest, best disruptive technology and innovation to produce only world class products at competitive prices to answer our customer’s daily life needs. Moreover, the group will never stop innovating new processes and products to expand our businesses. Our motto since inception has been constant “We Build the Future”. We want the world to be a better place for our people to live happily and peacefully together. Our projects and investments have yielded benefits to all of our stakeholders on a consistent basis through the years.

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