By Nopporn Wong-Anan SAMUT SONGKRAM, Thailand, Sep 5 (Reuters) - At least 5,000 fishermen and farmers protested against a proposed Thai-Australian coal-fired power plant in a Thai coastal town on Wednesday, threatening to burn it down if the project went ahead. It was a second rally against coal-fuelled power projects this week in a country trying to lessen its dependence on natural gas to generate electricity by shifting to coal. "If you build it, we'll burn it down," Rangsima Rodrasmee, a former member of parliament, told a cheering crowd at a public hearing on the proposed 800-megawatt power plant in Samut Songkram province, 100 km (60 miles) west of Bangkok. The event, intended to allow plant officials to educate the public about a project still at the "study stage," drew high school students, fruit farmers and fishermen. If approved, the 55-billion-baht ($1.7 billion) plant, a venture between listed diversified Thai firm Loxley <LOXL.BK> and Australian investment firm Babcock & Brown <BNB.AX>, would be built on the Gulf of Thailand coast, Loxley said in a statement. "Mae Glong will become a graveyard if the plant is approved," said one placard, referring to the Samut Songkram coastal town where the plant would be built. The joint venture, due to begin construction in 2009 and commercial operation in 2014, is a bidder for some of the 3,200 megawatts of electricity the government has tendered for supply between 2010 and 2014, Loxley said. Despite the strong opposition, a project manager said the joint venture would not back down. "We won't give up since there are still a lot of people in the province who support or are indifferent to the project, but they didn't bother to show up to speak at the hearing," Yotsawin Inthranon told Reuters. "Since elections are coming, we saw politicians turning the hearing into their campaign trail," Yotsawin said, referring to the Dec. 23 election set by the government installed by the military after a bloodless coup last September. "NOT IN MY BACKYARD" Thailand expects average annual power demand growth of 5.78 percent over the next 15 years, or 1,860 megawatts per year. But with the cost of natural gas rising and supplies of the fuel in the Gulf of Thailand falling, the government aims to raise the proportion of power generation from coal to 13 percent in 2016 from 8 percent now. But it has been an uphill battle to convince villagers to accept coal-fuelled power plants in their backyard. "Coal is abundant in the world, but in Thailand it is rather difficult to get people to accept it because of strong opposition from the NGOs," Kraisi Karnasuta, head of the state Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, told a seminar this week. In 2002, the government had to cancel plans for two coal-powered plants in the coastal province of Prachuab Khirikhan, 300 km (190 miles) south of Bangkok, after months of strong opposition from environmentalists and villagers. On Wednesday, at least 1,000 people continued a protest for a third day at the IRPC <IRPC.BK> oil refinery and petrochemical complex in the eastern province of Rayong against the firm's planned 1,500 megawatt coal-fuelled power plant. Protesters said another coal power plant would worsen the already polluted air on the eastern seaboard, the most heavily industrialised area of Thailand. IRPC, 31.5 percent owned by PTT PCL <PTT.BK>, the country's largest oil and gas firm, is another bidder in the government power auction. "We will just have to work harder to educate the public on the benefit of coal," Kraisi told reporters. ($1 = 32.45 baht)
