Feesbay John

If you already have the mains electric WHY do you want a battery bank, as a back up OK BUT to run items in your home would not be cost effective. Solar with a GRID TIE inverter is all you need. The GRID TIE turns your meter backwards for you to use at night. That is if you have enough panels to power what you use in the day time.

I took these photo's about 6 years ago in Kanchanaburi Thailand, (The Death Railway) The first one is of 5 Australians that did survive.

I too would be very interested in the local regulations and requirements for an on-grid (grid tie) system, the only official documents I can find on-line are for multi-megawatt commercial systems, nothing for micro-solar.

If anyone has links to Thai documentation I would be most appreciative, our local PEA office seems to have no clue

I have seen news articles referring to sell-back metering in Thailand, but it's only mentioned in passing and is of course without links to the actual information

Some sums:-

Without a proper sell-back meter (solar is plugged into your regular supply) your meter will run slower by the amount of power that you are producing, when the sun shines and your solar produces more than you are using the meter will run backwards, it will go forwards again when it's dark and you are not producing any solar. You are effectively using the power grid as an energy storage system. This is known as nett-metering. In this case you 'sell' power to the grid at the same price that you buy it. BUT if you consistently make more than you use the meter will give a nett negative reading which will very likely upset the supply authority and potentially trigger their fraud investigation department.

With a sell-back meter your power usage and power generated are metered separately, this allows the supply authority to pay you more per-unit than you pay them (government subsidy). If you can sell at a higher rate your payback time will be reduced (obviously).

For example:-

A 2.8kW grid-tie system will cost about 150,000 Baht and produce about 14.5kWh per day.

A nett metered arrangement with power costing 4.0 Baht a unit will take about 7 years to recover it's own cost.

With separately metered sell-back, If you can sell at, say, 7.5 Baht that reduces to about 4 years. This is heading towards becoming viable.

Sooooo, how do we get hold of a proper sell-back meter and agreement with MEA / PEA (or is it EGAT)? We need something to trigger the local office into action.

I dont know were yoou are buying you grid tie as I sell a 4.6kw max 5kw for only 56,500 baht and these are from Taiwan, that is with the import tax and vat. As for the meter all one does is to have a new meter installed which is the same as the one you have now and you then use this just for the solar BUT only if you have registered with your local suppler. Most off the people I deal with just look at slowing there meter down to cover there bill BUT it is more profitable if you can get your local electric company to buy it from you. Here is a link in Thai http://www.eppo.go.th/power/powerN/File/%281%29.pdf

@ JBRAIN

You are 100% wrong about no subsidies in Thailand.

Solar power is VERY subsidized. Companies are charged NO TAX on profits from solar power for 10 years. Furthermore companies can sell their power to the govt (EGCO, etc) at 12 bt per kw, which is an 8bt subsidy as normal power is sold to the govt at only 4 bt per kw. That is why you can sell your solar power to the power company at 7.5bt, because the power company in turn sells it to the govt at 12 bt.

Nice to see someone here that has done there home work.

I no people that have 2 meters so they can sell there power to the govt and use the power from the govt at a cheaper rate. its like having 2 or 3 times the solar power doing it that way. Or needing less solar to gain more.

@ JBRAIN

You are 100% wrong about no subsidies in Thailand.

Solar power is VERY subsidized. Companies are charged NO TAX on profits from solar power for 10 years. Furthermore companies can sell their power to the govt (EGCO, etc) at 12 bt per kw, which is an 8bt subsidy as normal power is sold to the govt at only 4 bt per kw. That is why you can sell your solar power to the power company at 7.5bt, because the power company in turn sells it to the govt at 12 bt.

Nice to see someone here that has done there home work.

I have lived here for the last 9 years and yes you can sell back to the power company, just 6 months ago you could get 11 baht per kw but it has gone down to 7.5 baht per kw over the last 2 months and it is getting harder to get the electric company to pass a system, I am at the moment installing 5.88kw x 2 as one is for his home and the other is for his factory. Plus many other projects. AND have installed many a kw in the past.

Ring your local electric company and just ask them if it is OK for you to install solar. Around here they love it. A grid tie inverter will only put electric back into the grid if there is electric. So if you have a power cut it will stop working,

Sorry to be sceptic, but my last bill was 3,9 Baht per KWh , so the electric company buy's back electric from you at twice or tripple the rate they are selling it ?

Something doesn't add up in my opinion.

Again comments without doing your home work, The Government here is paying the difference to the electric company.

I have lived here for the last 9 years and yes you can sell back to the power company, just 6 months ago you could get 11 baht per kw but it has gone down to 7.5 baht per kw over the last 2 months and it is getting harder to get the electric company to pass a system, I am at the moment installing 5.88kw x 2 as one is for his home and the other is for his factory. Plus many other projects. AND have installed many a kw in the past.

Ring your local electric company and just ask them if it is OK for you to install solar. Around here they love it. A grid tie inverter will only put electric back into the grid if there is electric. So if you have a power cut it will stop working,

Sorry to be sceptic, but my last bill was 3,9 Baht per KWh , so the electric company buy's back electric from you at twice or tripple the rate they are selling it ?

Something doesn't add up in my opinion.

See comments again without doing your home work. The government here is paying the difference to the electric company.

I have lived here for the last 9 years and yes you can sell back to the power company, just 6 months ago you could get 11 baht per kw but it has gone down to 7.5 baht per kw over the last 2 months and it is getting harder to get the electric company to pass a system, I am at the moment installing 5.88kw x 2 as one is for his home and the other is for his factory. Plus many other projects. AND have installed many a kw in the past.

Ring your local electric company and just ask them if it is OK for you to install solar. Around here they love it. A grid tie inverter will only put electric back into the grid if there is electric. So if you have a power cut it will stop working,

Thanks for sharing that, Feesbay John, I didn't know that was possible in Thailand.

I recently saw a product on Clickbank called Earth4Energy which shows how to assemble solar panels but assumed it was a scam; so you are actually making your own panels, are you? That's impressive.

In answer to the OP, solar will become more widespread when the efficiency of panels increases. The latest I read is that graphene-base cells might be the answer but scientists are still working out how to cheaply mass-produce graphene.

The main reason we have them is not to sell back the power BUT to be able to use electric and have no or a some bill each month. back in the UK it is a 10 year investment BUT here and with the cost going down for solar it takes about 5 years to get your money back. Making your own solar panels is not as hard as some people think. But it is now getting just as cheap to buy factory panels when looking at the time it takes.

So many people on here are talking about what you can not run and what they think one can run instead of looking at the facts. With a grid tie inverter you do not need a battery bank or a dc to ac inverter. Just use your electric as you would before, if on the grid that is, if not then you would need a battery bank and a grid tie is no good for you. People are also saying how expensive battery's are here, a 3K Deep Cycle 125ah battery cost about 5,300 baht. You can also get a 190ah for around 7,000 baht

I did a test on a FLUORESCENT bulb and my water well pump. If I was to leave a light on all night it would cost about 165 baht per month as my well pump is only on when the water tank gets down and switches off when full. It cost me about 150 baht per month less than a light left on. I have since changed the bulbs to LED which is much cheaper.

Did you no a fluorescent light can take up to 100 times more electric when it is switched on were most appliances only take 5 to 10 times ( Surge ) They say if you have a fluorescent light that is turned on and off more than 6 times in a night leave it on as it is cheaper.

Our electric bill has gone down from 3500 baht per month to 1000 baht and I am now working on getting it down to 0000 baht.

We sell and make our own solar panels making it cheaper to have solar. We can now sell factory made ( Suntech ) 280w solar panels for 9,950 baht. Solar is getting cheaper per watt and for me I think it is well worth doing here in Thailand.

I would recommend to start with a few panels and build it up slowly. One step at a time can help you save and help save the environment. Electric here is not cheap and its going up in price each year.

I have 350m² house with aircons, swimming pool, Tv in every room, own waterwell and so much more and I haven't paid once over 3000 Baht electric in the past 12 months. So I guess if you paid 3500 Baht previously that you must have quite a big house also with many aircons, large fridges and freezers and swimming pool.

So can you please tell us how many of those 280W panels and how many deep cycle batteries you gonna need to take your house off grid?

I assume you haven't sold your aircons yet to get to the 1000 Baht monthly bill .

see you are miss the point of so much with solar, why would i need a battery bank when all I or you need is a grid tie inverter, which puts the electric back into the grid, turning the meter back wards when one is not using it. or slowing it down when you are using electric. I do have a 4 bed room home with 3 air cons and a 360 sq meter unit ( work shop ) But just buy changing thinks like lights to led and turning off items that are not been used has also helped. So many people do not understand how solar can help.

And do you live in Thailand also, because as far as I'm aware the power buyback doesn't exist yet in Thailand.

But since you claim to currently use it, then it would be very helpful if you could post a link to the appropriate page on the EGAT or PEA website.

How many Kw of panels have you installed ?

I have lived here for the last 9 years and yes you can sell back to the power company, just 6 months ago you could get 11 baht per kw but it has gone down to 7.5 baht per kw over the last 2 months and it is getting harder to get the electric company to pass a system, I am at the moment installing 5.88kw x 2 as one is for his home and the other is for his factory. Plus many other projects. AND have installed many a kw in the past.

Ring your local electric company and just ask them if it is OK for you to install solar. Around here they love it. A grid tie inverter will only put electric back into the grid if there is electric. So if you have a power cut it will stop working,

Our electric bill has gone down from 3500 baht per month to 1000 baht and I am now working on getting it down to 0000 baht.

We sell and make our own solar panels making it cheaper to have solar. We can now sell factory made ( Suntech ) 280w solar panels for 9,950 baht. Solar is getting cheaper per watt and for me I think it is well worth doing here in Thailand.

I would recommend to start with a few panels and build it up slowly. One step at a time can help you save and help save the environment. Electric here is not cheap and its going up in price each year.

I have 350m² house with aircons, swimming pool, Tv in every room, own waterwell and so much more and I haven't paid once over 3000 Baht electric in the past 12 months. So I guess if you paid 3500 Baht previously that you must have quite a big house also with many aircons, large fridges and freezers and swimming pool.

So can you please tell us how many of those 280W panels and how many deep cycle batteries you gonna need to take your house off grid?

I assume you haven't sold your aircons yet to get to the 1000 Baht monthly bill .

see you are miss the point of so much with solar, why would i need a battery bank when all I or you need is a grid tie inverter, which puts the electric back into the grid, turning the meter back wards when one is not using it. or slowing it down when you are using electric. I do have a 4 bed room home with 3 air cons and a 360 sq meter unit ( work shop ) But just buy changing thinks like lights to led and turning off items that are not been used has also helped. So many people do not understand how solar can help.

Our electric bill has gone down from 3500 baht per month to 1000 baht and I am now working on getting it down to 0000 baht.

We sell and make our own solar panels making it cheaper to have solar. We can now sell factory made ( Suntech ) 280w solar panels for 9,950 baht. Solar is getting cheaper per watt and for me I think it is well worth doing here in Thailand.

I would recommend to start with a few panels and build it up slowly. One step at a time can help you save and help save the environment. Electric here is not cheap and its going up in price each year.

April Fool?

It could well be and one off the best once so far.

99% of car sales have just gone down DUE TO

the change is being proposed to better prepare for ASEAN community and meant to strengthen the economy.

What a joke,,

It's a joke and a scam. About 8 years ago I had an insurance with insure and go. I planed on staying for 6 months and I had insurance cover. After 2 months of been here I found out I had a tumor, the insurance company, insure and go, told me I had to fly back to the UK to get treat meant even with a doctor's note advising me not to fly they would not cover me. The tumor was the size off an orange, helped by the fact a local Doctor put me on antibiotic for 3 weeks, when the must you should take them for is one week. Anyway in the end the insurance company stopped answering my email's so I paid for it out off my own pocket as no hospital here that I know off would treat anyone that can not pay. So how is having an insurance going to make a difference.