June 25 (Bloomberg) -- Thailand, Southeast Asia's second- biggest economy, plans to buy electricity from China for the first time starting in 2017 because the country isn't building its own plants fast enough to meet an expected surge in demand.

The Thai government has signed an initial agreement to buy about 3,000 megawatts of electricity from hydropower plants in southern China starting in 2017, Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand, 53, said in an interview. Thailand needs to add more than 30,000 megawatts of generating capacity by 2021 to avoid shortages, according to the ministry's forecasts.

The accord will bolster Thailand's own efforts to more than double its power-generating capacity by building coal, nuclear and hydropower plants. The government wants to pare the country's reliance on natural gas, which provides about 70 percent of Thailand's electricity.

``We continue to look for other sources of energy and the biggest source around here is probably hydropower,'' Piyasvasti said. ``Hydropower potential is enormous around here in Laos, Myanmar and southern China.''

China may spend 600 billion yuan ($79 billion) to triple its hydropower capacity over the next 15 years to meet rising demand and cut pollution, Bing Fengshan, secretary general of the China Society for Hydropower Engineering, said on June 8.

Thailand has about 26,000 megawatts of power-generating capacity and needs an additional 31,791 megawatts by 2021, the energy ministry said in a statement on June 4.

China Shortage

China Huaneng Group, the country's biggest generator, plans to build hydropower plants in provinces including Yunnan, the nearest to Thailand, Liu Xiangdong, a division director at the group's planning department, said on April 16.

Hydroelectric power produced in China would have to be sent to Thailand via Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. The plan may also be stymied by China's own power shortage. The world's fastest-growing major economy had a fourth straight year of power shortfalls in 2006 when consumption peaked in the summer.

``If there is an export of electricity to Thailand, it should be from a combination of hydro and coal-fired plants,'' said Bai Jianhua, a research director at the State Power Economic Research Center, who helped study the feasibility of the plan to transmit electricity from Yunnan to Thailand. ``It is not only a matter of prices. China, in general, is a country of energy shortages, and we need to ensure stable supplies to the southern provinces, particularly Guangdong.''

Nuclear Plants

Thailand is also tapping neighboring Laos for power, and plans to buy about 5,000 megawatts of hydropower from the country by the end of 2015, Piyasvasti said.

Electricite de France, Europe's biggest power producer, Kansai Electric Power Co., Japan's second-biggest utility, and Thai companies are building a hydropower plant on the Nam Theun river in Laos.

Piyasvasti reiterated the Thai government's plan to build the nation's first nuclear power plants, and said his ministry has sought advice on the project from countries including the U.S. and France.

Thailand imports about a third of its natural gas from neighboring Myanmar, he said.

``We aim to diversify the mix of nuclear, natural gas, coal and hydropower,'' Piyasvasti said. Thailand lags behind countries in the region including Indonesia and Vietnam that have decided to build nuclear power capacity, he said.

The U.K. and other European countries are considering expanding nuclear power in order to meet goals to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to global warming. Coal produces more global warming gases than other energy forms because of its high carbon content.

Fresh Elections

The Thai government's plan to push ahead with construction of nuclear power plants may be reviewed after the general election, scheduled for as early as November.

``There is no guarantee that the elected government will agree with the nuclear plan, but we have now put nuclear power in the long-term power development plan,'' Piyasvasti said.

Thailand's military-backed government faced protests earlier this year over plans to build coal-fired plants that would have accounted for as much as 40 percent of the country's new capacity. Public outcry over environmental and health problems associated with older coal-fired plants forced the government to scrap plans for three plants and seek alternatives.

Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, the state- owned power utility, plans to spend about $6 billion to build its first nuclear power plants, Kraisi Karnasuta, the authority's governor, said on June 11. Each plant will generate 2,000 megawatts of electricity.

Nuclear Safety

The government in May said it will complete the plants by 2021, and appointed six groups to draft construction plans.

The groups will study international nuclear power regulations and formulate a strategy for winning public support for the project. Power companies in countries including Japan have struggled to win acceptance for new nuclear facilities because of growing public concerns about safety.

``If you do it properly, nuclear is very safe,'' Piyasvasti said. ``If the world wants to see an eventual reduction in the global emission of greenhouse gases, the world will really have to go back more seriously to nuclear power.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Anuchit Nguyen in Bangkok at anguyen@bloomberg.net; Haslinda Amin in Bangkok at hamin1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 24, 2007 23:31 EDT