The Company has established business plan and investment strategy by following diversification strategy guidelines; nonetheless such development or investment shall be under prudent and careful consideration with appropriate diversification of risks, in order for the Company to develop with quality, stability and sustainability in long term. In addition, the Company places importance on business operations with good corporate governance with social and environment responsibility. Currently, the Company’s core business is in the coal business, having two existing coal mining concessions in Indonesia and has recently invested in the third coal mining concession in 2021, in which the concession period of these three coal mines shall last for than 10 years with large amount of good quality coal reserves that can earn revenues and income continuously for a long time into the future. Nonetheless, current global trend has negative view on fossil fuels, namely oil, natural gas and coal, which are regarded as important factor for creating greenhouse gases, which cause global warming condition, seriously impacting climate conditions, by which there have been attempts to reduce and replace fossil fuels with renewable energy. However, in reality, fossil fuels are currently still the main energy sources and there are still a lot of limitations for switching to alternative energy or renewable energy for the main energy sources. Thus, fossil fuels remain necessary during this transitional period, including coal, which is still required for electricity generation and industrial process, especially with higher demand from countries in the Asia Region, albeit with declining rate of demand in the future. In any case, the Company, with knowledge and expertise in the coal business, is still looking for more investment opportunities in coal concessions in Indonesia in order to compensate for the reduction in coal reserves resulted from continuous production and distribution of coal every year.
The Company realizes about the climate change issues and places importance on the effective utilization of resources by giving priority to environmental care and endeavor, to develop and achieve Company’s goal toward carbon neutrality in the near future. The Company has established plan to create balances in its investments by focusing on future investments in the clean or renewable energy businesses, which are environmental friendly and have continued to expand; for instance, projects involving solar energy, wind energy, hydro energy and biomass energy, etc. Especially at present, the government sector has encouraged and increased its support for renewable and clean energy projects. Accordingly, the Company is looking for business opportunities or investment channels in order to achieve another round of business growth or a new s-curve by trying to think outside the box from previous energy business development concept, being more creative in order to develop a new business, which is non-coal, albeit without knowledge or expertise in such business. Such investment can be undertaken through business takeover, merger and acquisition or joint venture partnership deal, etc. The objective is to find opportunity or channel for investment in the other business to supplement revenues and income from the Company’s existing coal business and ethanol business, which should contribute to Company’s growth with stability, quality and sustainability in long term according to established guidelines and objectives.
RENEWABLE ENERGY BUSINESS ACTIVITIES
Lanna Power Generation Company Limited (“LPG”), a subsidiary registered in Thailand in 2016, in which Lanna Resources Public Company Limited holds a direct shareholding of 99.99985 percent of the paid-up capital, was established with the objective of exploring and preparing investments in renewable energy projects both in Thailand and overseas. These include businesses related to biomass energy, as well as the generation and distribution of electricity from biomass fuels. In addition, LPG seeks opportunities to invest in and develop other energy businesses, such as solar energy, wind energy, and electric vehicle charging station projects (EV Charging), or other related projects, which are expected to generate additional revenue and profits for the Company in the future. In 2024, LPG invested in a ground-mounted solar power plant (Solar Farm) with a capacity of 1.20 megawatts to generate and supply electricity to the plant of Thai Agro Energy Public Company Limited (“TAE”), a subsidiary of the Company. The project operates under a Private Power Purchase Agreement (Private PPA) for a period of 15 years, with commercial operation expected to commence by May 2026.
SRT Power Pellet Company Limited (“SRT”), a subsidiary registered in Thailand, in which Lanna Power Generation Company Limited (“LPG”), a subsidiary of the Company, held 99.9998 percent of the paid-up capital through investments in both ordinary and preferred shares. SRT engaged in the production and distribution of wood pellet. Its production plant was located in Kian Sa District, Surat Thani Province, with a production capacity of 60,000 metric tons per year. The main raw materials used in the production process consisted of agricultural and wood residues, such as wood chips, wood scraps from the furniture industry, and rubber tree roots. These materials were processed and compressed into wood pellets suitable for use as fuel in boilers or furnaces for electricity generation, heat production, and various industrial applications. During 2020–2021, SRT was adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in a decline in furniture exports and consequently a shortage of wood raw materials used in wood pellet production, together with a significant increase in raw material prices. These factors negatively impacted SRT’s operations and resulted in operating losses. As a result, the Company restructured its investment by having SRT transfer its business operations to LPG and proceeded with the registration of its dissolution and liquidation. Following the completion of the business transfer, LPG will further study the feasibility of producing biomass fuel from alternative raw materials for future distribution to customers. On July 20, 2023, the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of SRT approved the dissolution of the company, and the dissolution was registered on the same day. SRT is currently in the process of liquidation.
