Hunton Andrews Kurth Bangkok Lawyers Conduct “Operation and Maintenance” Contract Seminars for the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand

Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Bangkok-based EIT team conducted seminars and workshops on “Operation and Maintenance Contracts” for the operation and maintenance (O&M) business unit of the state enterprise Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) on July 24-25, 2019, at EGAT’s headquarters.

Among the more than 60 attendees were senior executives, legal counsel and operations officers from EGAT’s O&M business management division and operations and maintenance division. The knowledge sharing session was the first-of-its-kind for the particular business unit whereby EGAT aimed to enhance the legal and commercial acumen of attendees.

This seminar was organized following the participation of certain executives of EGAT at the seminars and workshops HAK’s EIT lawyers previously conducted for business development teams of Electricity Generating Public Company Limited (EGCO) on “Commercial Contract Terms” in December 2018.

EGAT is a state enterprise, managed by the Ministry of Energy, responsible for electric power generation and transmission as well as bulk electric energy sales in Thailand. EGAT, established on May 1, 1969, is also the largest power producer in Thailand, owning and operating power plants at 45 sites across the country with a total installed capacity of 15,548 MW.

EGCO is the first independent power producer in Thailand to be established in May 1992, through the partial privatization of EGAT. EGCO has 27 operating power plants in six countries, including the Philippines and South Korea in addition to Thailand, and has become one of the high-growth companies in Asia.

EIT US-qualified partner Chumbhot (Arm) Plangtrakul along with Thai-qualified associates Peerasanti Somritutai and Jitranut Narkmai delivered the seminar modules on power plant operation, the common risks arising from the application and implementation of the O&M contacts, and the common risk allocation and mitigation techniques. The team also conducted workshops where attendees examined key provisions drawn from different O&M contracts for various power plants involving traditional and renewable energy sources located both within and outside of Thailand. Bangkok legal assistants, Thaphanut Vimolkej, Chavisa Jinanarong and Chayakorn Boonsri assisted with legal research and preparing the seminar presentations.