Speakers
Keynote Speaker 1
Dr. Titiporn Sangpetch
Dr.Titiporn Sangpetch received her BEng in Electrical Engineering at Prince of Songkhla University, Thailand, in 1994; MEng in Engineering Management at the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA, in 1998; and PhD of Power Engineering in Energy Management, majoring in power systems planning at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK, in 2006, respectively. Since graduating in 1994, she has been working with EGAT as a power systems engineer in Transmission System Engineering Division. In 1997, she had an opportunity to further her studies by undertaking a MEng Degree in Engineering Management at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she graduated in December 1998. She returned to Thailand for the next two year and worked as a power system engineer at the Transmission System Engineering Division. During this period, she was appointed to be a working member of the steering committee on Grid Code restructuring scheme of electricity supply industry. In 2001, she started her Doctorial research under the scholarship of Energy Policy and Planning Office (EPPO), Ministry of Energy, the Royal Thai Government at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK. She finished in 2006 and received a PhD of Power Engineering in Energy Management, majoring in power systems planning. After PhD years, she had returned to work at EGAT. In 2019, she was appointed to be Chief of New Power System Development Planning Department, System Planning Division; and in April 2020 she has returned to Transmission System Engineering Division, as a Senior Engineer. Her current work is centered on sustainable development by means of renewable energy and environmental management, distributed generation for long-term grid connection planning, and power system reliability assessment.
Keynote Title : Regional Grid Connectivity for Power Trading in ASEAN and Beyond
Regarding the challenges of power system security and stability has become priority to the power industry, the regional grid connectivity has played more significant role in many countries. Thailand’s Power Development Plan (PDP) expressed the requirement for more grid connection with neighboring countries. The national policy on grid connectivity has been launched to support the regional grid development. In accompanying such policy, we have developed our 500 kV cross-country main grid, enhancing ‘bulk power transfer’ as well as ensuring ‘interconnection with neighboring countries’ reliable and super secure. The mutual benefits of grid connectivity that we foresee here are (i) energy security, (ii) energy access, (iii) energy resource sharing, (iv) investment cost saving, (v) RE grid integration, and (vi) long-term decarbonization.
This is also in parallel with ASEAN policies and planning, where there is ASEAN Power Grid (APG) served as an initiative to construct a regional power interconnection infrastructure to connect the region based on the ASEAN Interconnection Master Plan Study (AIMS). The first study (AIMS I) was completed in 2003 while the second study (AIMS II) was completed in 2010. Currently, we are in the progress to conduct AIMS III due to the fully bilateral and multilateral power trading in the region with high utilization of renewable energy.
When power trade development in ASEAN has started since 1968 bilaterally, the main trading activities include the power purchase between EGAT and IPPs in LAO PDR on the Hydro Projects around 5,935 MW and the energy exchange with TNB (Malaysia) and EDL (LAO PDR). After that, the idea of multilateral power trading was introduced. The Laos-Thailand-Malaysia Power Integration Project (LTM-PIP) is established as a pathfinder to complement existing efforts towards realizing multilateral electricity trade in ASEAN. With the achievement of LTM project, all parties have continued the LTM-PIP Phase 2 with capacity up to 300MW as well as in the process of the initiation on the LTMS-PIP which would expand the multilateral trade to Singapore (LTMS-PIP) which will be COD in 2022. In long run though, the power trading is expected to be more than just multilateral trading within ASEAN. We seek for power trade across the region as well. As a result, we get involved with several inter-regional energy cooperation. They are for example, (1) the Ayeyawady – Chao Phraya – Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), which is aimed to promote seamless connectivity and energy infrastructure interconnection, particularly the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC), (2) the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) which was established with objectives to focus on energy infrastructure improvement including pipelines and transmission lines, knowledge sharing and energy trading between member countries, and so on.
Keynote Speaker 2
Ir. Dr. Zahrul Faizi Bin Hussien
Ir. Dr. Zahrul Faizi Bin Hussein is presently the Chief Executive Officer of the Power Division, Ranhill Utilities Berhad. Prior to his current position, he was the Head of Company, Malakoff Utilities Sdn. Bhd. from 2013 to 2016, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malakoff Corporation Berhad that operates electricity distribution network and district cooling/chilled water supply. He served as General Manager (Transmission & Distribution) at TNB Research Sdn Bhd, Malaysia from 2009, to undertake research, technology development projects and technical services that contribute towards improving operational and technical performance of Tenaga Nasional Bhd. In 2000, he joined Universiti Tenaga Nasional as an academic faculty member. During this time, he also served as a Senior Consultant at the university’s Power Engineering Centre and led the Department of Electrical Power Engineering as its founding Head of Department. He was promoted to an Associate Professor and received a number of accolades including the ‘Anugerah Harapan Tokoh Pekerja Lelaki’ by the Ministry of Human Resource, Malaysia in 2007. He began his career as an Electrical Engineer with Tenaga Nasional Berhad, Malaysia in 1995. Between 1996 and 2000, he undertook a Ph.D. program in Electrical Power Engineering at the University of Southampton, UK. During this time, he worked on a collaboration project with Southern Electric plc and International Energy System (a subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd), to develop a novel Energy Storage System based on high-speed centrifuge technology. He also gained his early teaching experience by tutoring undergraduate students at the university. Ir. Dr. Zahrul Faizi is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, USA (IEEE, USA). He served as the Chair (2008-2010) and Vice-Chair (2006-07) of Power Engineering Society (PES), IEEE Malaysia Chapter. He was appointed as Chapter Representative (Region 10 East), PES, IEEE, from 2011-2014. He is a registered Professional Engineer with the Board of Engineers, Malaysia and a Corporate Member of the Institute of Engineers, Malaysia.
Keynote Title : Renewable energy development in Malaysia and its challenges
Renewable energy (RE) source is one of the feasible options to address the energy resource shortage and energy need of the country in a sustainable manner. Malaysia is endowed with RE sources such as solar, biomass and biogas. The RE source utilisation is yet to reach its potential. The government recognises the potential of RE. Green technology policy was launched to promote the utilisation of RE and low carbon energy technology. This talk will share some experience and discuss key issues and challenges of RE development in Malaysia from the point of view of a developer.