Thai utility Global Power Synergy Public Co. will spend 1.1 billion baht ($34 million) to build the first semi-solid lithium-ion battery plant in Thailand, consigning construction and other work to Japan's Takasago Thermal Engineering Co.

Takasago's local arm, Thai Takasago Co., will receive 295 million baht for its engineering, procurement and construction work under a contract sealed Wednesday with the Thai firm known as GPSC, a subsidiary of state-backed oil company PTT Public Co.

The battery plant will be built southeast of Bangkok in the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, Rayong Province, according to a GPSC statement.

Slated to begin operation in December, the plant will initially manufacture lithium-ion batteries that produce equivalent to 30,000 kilowatt-hours per annum.

GPSC plans to expand the annual output to the equivalent of 100,000 kilowatt-hours within a year if demand grows, Chawalit Tippawanich, president and CEO of GPSC, told NNA on Wednesday.

The plant, to be built on a 1.92-hectare site, will adopt cost-efficient technology from its U.S. affiliate, 24M Technologies Inc., according to the statement.

GPSC will initially provide products to the PTT group, later expanding sales to Thailand and eventually exporting to other Southeast Asian countries, especially Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. (NNA/Kyodo)

==Kyodo

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