A study by the Forestry Department showed that approximately 180 ton of woody
biomass per hectare is obtained. This leads to the annual availability of rubber wood
residues of 6900!103 ton in the plantation and 4100!103 ton at the sawmills. If
transportation cost is affordable, the residue in plantation is sufficient for a small power
plant of 6 MW capacity located in a 6 km radius plantation to operate sustainably [10].
Krukanont and Prasertsan [11] used GIS data to estimate the biomass availability in rubber
growing area of the south of Thailand. Along 700 km of the highway network in the
region, it was found that eight power plants are financially feasible. The total capacity is
186.5 MWe. The fuel procurement area is in the range of less than 35 km. The suitable
locations are tabulated in Table 2.