Senator Tom Daschle visits Sindicatum in Thailand
By: David Raubenheimer, Managing Director, Direct Projects, Sindicatum Sutainable Resources
A natural catastrophe in Thailand and Bangkok has again made it into the news, a status we all dread for our homes, families and home markets. It is likely that you will be seeing much more of Bangkok in the news over the next few days. At the time of writing, Sindicatum’s project sites in Thailand are thankfully dry and look likely to remain though worryingly one of our colleagues has had their house flooded about 10 days ago and two others have been unable to access their houses or have been unable to come to work. In addition, many of our staff have immediate families affected by the flooding as do tens of thousands of Thais.
Within this context, the staff of Sindicatum in Thailand were delighted to welcome Sindicatum Non-Executive Board member and former United States Senator Tom Daschle during his recent visit to Thailand. The visit was particularly valued because the Senator maintained his plans despite the continuing bad news about floods in Thailand, in order to show his support to our staff, to our project partners and to the country during those difficult times for Thailand.
The Senator visited two of our projects located near Bangkok. Our sites and most of our Staff are to the west and very slightly higher than the worst affected areas. So far water levels around the site have remained at un-seasonally low levels and are falling. Each project site generates 8.0 MW of renewable electricity from methane biogas produced from Bangkok’s municipal waste. This methane would otherwise be released to the environment where it is 22 times more damaging than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. The projects are registered to receive Carbon Credits by the UN. The power stations have been operating for around two years, and combined are one of the largest of their kind in South East Asia. During the visit the Senator inspected the source of the biogas, our extraction system that collects the gas and the power generation system. The Senator also met our 30 direct staff, as well as many of the 25 indirect and contract staff who work with us.
On the journey to and from the Power Stations the Senator was able to witness the impact of flooding around Bangkok. We have been preparing for the potential floods for some time and have been very grateful to have been spared the worst of them – the power stations are comfortably above the level of the floods. We monitor the levels of water around the site, and the main bodies of water that flow past it and the results are reviewed daily to determine if we need to activate our flood protection and additional health and safety measures. Preparations have included a stock of rock and materials to make a bund around essential equipment at the power stations, pumps and generators to keep things dry, and an emergency staff rota to allow those of us whose family or houses were affected to return home while still keeping the power station running. We have also stocked up on essentials including emergency fuel and water in case the site became isolated for an extended period of time.
We are working with the organisers of an evacuation camp that has been set up a university campus located close to our site. This camp is available to residents of the lower lying areas of the province in which we are located, as well as from Bangkok Suburbs. These evacuation camps have been set up in many areas affected by the flooding, and may be needed for several weeks as the flood waters subside. We will identify if there is any shortage of supplies which we can help alleviate at our local camp. As things return to normal those of us who live in areas near to our site that have been flooded will be looking to see how we can help as people and communities rebuild their lives. The Sindicatum Foundation is also considering these needs and we will assist with anything it chooses to do in Thailand.
