GE in Thailand

About

GE‘s presence in Thailand dates to 1900, when it first began with sales of the humble light bulb. Today, GE is one of Thailand's largest foreign investors, especially in national infrastructure, which includes energy and aviation. We remain ever committed to driving innovations that support and improve the lives of Thai citizens and drive continuous growth for the nation as we navigate a new world.

Future of Flight

Thailand’s national carrier, Thai Airways International, has logged more than 5,166 million miles flown on over 350 GE engines in the past 40 years. GE engines are used on multiple aircrafts, and our engines set the industry standard for reliability and durability — both of which are incredibly valuable to the airline and its customers. We are also proud to be partnering Thai Airways on a strategic, 12-year OnPoint solution agreement for the maintenance, repair, and overhaul of GE90 engines powering its fleet of Boeing 777-300ER planes.

Many of GE’s CFM engines also power other Thailand-based local carriers, including Thai AirAsia, Nok Air, and Thai Lion Air.

Energy Transition

Since establishing our presence in Thailand more than 120 years ago, GE has played a pivotal role in Thailand’s energy landscape — generating over 35% of national electricity, and delivering equipment, turnkey solutions and services, and supplying approximately 60% of steam turbine generators for small power plant projects (SPP) in Thailand.

GE works closely with key public and private sector players to meet Thailand’s evolving energy needs and supplies our technology and expertise in accordance with national energy priorities, especially where efficiency, emissions, reliability, and tariffs are concerned. We have a long-standing partnership with Thailand’s leading state-owned power utility, and largest power producer, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), to tap on GE’s combine cycle power advanced technology at EGAT’s various plant sites. GE has also provided two 9HA gas turbines to power the Bang Pakong Combined Cycle Power Plant, contributing over 1,400MW to the national grid and powering two million Thai households.

To meet Thailand’s climate goals of carbon neutrality by 2050 and net-zero emissions by 2065, EGAT is exploring the use of various renewable energy sources, which include solar, wind, tidal and hydropower — the latter being Thailand’s biggest source of renewable energy. GE’s solutions, particularly its Pumped Storage Hydro (PSH) technology, have been crucial to enabling this shift — allowing Thailand to ensure an efficient, secure, sustainable transition to renewables integration, and stabilize its national grid. Since 2019, GE’s PSH solutions have seen increasing adoption as part of Thailand’s Smart-Grid Plan (2022 – 2031), announced by the Energy Policy and Planning Office (EPPO), Ministry of Energy, Thailand.

GE’s extensive energy footprint in Thailand extends to its work with Wind Energy Holding, to supply 270 MW of wind energy capacity, wind turbines, hybrid towers and interconnected substation packages to the Theparak Wind Farm in central Thailand. From as early as 2013, GE has powered over 60% of steam turbine generators for small power plant projects across Thailand, working closely with key customers such as Gulf Energy and Thai Oil to drive cost savings and energy efficiency. Most recently, we also announced the extension of a 10-year service agreement with PTT Global Chemical Public Co. Ltd., which are worth US$19 million in total. This agreement will service nine gas turbines at the petrochemical company’s power plant in Rayong’s Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate.

Partnerships and People Development

Continuous Learning and Development

GE firmly believes in nurturing next-gen talent and works closely with local partner and customers to drive learning and leadership initiatives in Thailand. In 2014, we began a strategic, long-standing partnership with the PTT Group to nurture over 100 of the company’s employees — who attended leadership and skills development programs at our Crotonville and GE Oil & Gas campuses in the US.

We later signed an MoU with PTT to develop the Eastern Economic Corridor of Innovation (EECi), located in the Wang Chan District of Rayong, Thailand. The center serves as a local Crotonville within Thailand — the PTT-Crotonville Learning Center facilitates leadership development for PTT, while the PTT-GE Global Research Center facilitates future research projects for the company. To date, over 300 Thai customers and government officials have benefitted from these training programs.

GE also organizes an annual ASEAN-ANP Government Leadership Program (AGLP) — a unique experience for government leaders, focused on US government relations, innovation and disruption, 21st century leadership and governance. Now in its 5th year, the AGLP provides an opportunity for senior government leaders from across geographies to gather at GE’s Crotonville campus in New York, to network and discuss topics of shared interest. To date, over 20 high-level government leaders and decision-makers from Thailand have taken part.

Investing in Communities

Since 1998, GE Foundation has invested more than $488,000 in scholarship grants for more than 160 Thai students, spanning the fields of Accounting, Computer Science, Chemistry, Economics, and Engineering (including mechanical, chemical, environmental, computer, and electrical engineering), Environment, Mathematics and Physics. We also invested over $5,000 in support for the “JA Be Entrepreneurial” program by Junior Achievement Thailand, which encourages Thai Grade 10 and 11 students to start entrepreneurial projects of their own.

Beyond that, GE Foundation has channeled $147,000 to help vulnerable young women in northern Thailand. In partnership with Plan International Thailand and the Hill Area and Community Development Foundation, we provided training courses to empower over 90 vulnerable young women with basic life skills, health education, vocational and entrepreneurial skills, with the aim of tackling early marriages, unwanted pregnancies, and human trafficking. Our local GE Volunteers Network has also been active in serving the Thai community, with over 2,000 hours annually devoted to educational development, sustainability and community support.

Recently, on June 21, 2022, a fire broke out in the Bon Kai community, in Bangkok’s Pathum Wan district, destroying over 30 houses — many of which were homes of our own employees. With the help of GE Volunteers Thailand and GE Women’s Network Thailand, as well as the global GE family, we rallied volunteers and donations to support those affected within a short span of time. These included gathering donations of daily essentials, such as food and sanitary products, and distributing them at the nearest community center. We continue to extend our support for any additional needs of the Bon Kai community, and hope to see them get back on their feet soon.

Contact us

To send inquiries: [email protected]
GE Thailand
9th Fl., Capital Tower, All Seasons Place 87/1 Wireless Road, Pathumwan Bangkok 10330
Tel: 02 648 0199