Why not Thailand ?

[newbee2022]

Amazing that Germany is creating so much energy by solar power.

Why Thailand is not in the top 10 ?

Better to put efforts into developing solar power than arguing about rising energy/ petrol prices.

[gamb00ler]

Have you ever seen the per capita GDP differential between Thailand and Germany?

Germany is 17th in the world @ 56K and Thailand is 94th with < 8K.

[BritManToo]

33 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

Better to put efforts into developing solar power than arguing about rising energy/ petrol prices.

Without taxes, oil would be cheaper than solar!

Anyways, nothing to stop Thai people making their own solar electricity, why is it all down to the governments? I'm making 98% of my own electricity, no 'nanny' help required.

 

I wonder when the governments will be wanting to tax the energy we generate ourselves?

[JBChiangRai]

Unless you take population into account, it’s a meaningless statistic.

 

 

[khunJam]

Oil provides the best most abundant and reliable energy.

[ElwoodP]

Topic is energy, you want to discuss education, start another thread.

Do it again for an official warning.

[Atlantic Cod]

You of course believe all this information lol

[newbee2022]

13 minutes ago, Atlantic Cod said:

You of course believe all this information lol

.....and what is wrong, please?

[Olav Seglem]

On 6/29/2025 at 9:01 AM, JBChiangRai said:

Unless you take population into account, it’s a meaningless statistic.

 

 

As far as i csn see he said "per capita" 😉

 

[888huahin]

A DIY Solar Installation can be cheap as a Ball Park Price:  

 

@25,000Thb per 2.5Kw System which can pay for itself in 15 months or less.

 

4 x 580w Solar Panels   9000Thb

Micro Inverter.              10000Thb

Solar Rails.                        1200Thb

Cable & Brackets.             2000Thb

Labour 2 Men x 1 Day.    3000Thb

 

Like everything else in Thailand there's something for all budgets 

 

You may not be able to make money when the Sun shines but you can definitely save money 4.65Thb/kWh.

[lom]

On 6/29/2025 at 9:03 AM, khunJam said:

Oil provides the best most abundant and reliable energy.

Its main advantage is that it can be easily stored. One of the disadvantages from burning gas and oil in order to produce electricity is that oil and gas prices are globally set and the price Thai consumers pay per KWh is therefore too dependent on that. 

[Gottfrid]

On 6/29/2025 at 9:03 AM, khunJam said:

Oil provides the best most abundant and reliable energy.

So, you prefer the negative effects of fossil fuel instead of renewable energy?

[BritManToo]

25 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

So, you prefer the negative effects of fossil fuel instead of renewable energy?

What negative effects?

[Gottfrid]

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

What negative effects?

That question is soo silly, so not even worth the effort.

[novacova]

13 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

What negative effects?

I haven’t experienced any negative effects, there’s plenty fuel to load up in my vehicles and don’t have to be concerned about where to get it. 
 

 

32 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

So, you prefer the negative effects of fossil fuel instead of renewable energy?

Prefer the convince of it, not just personally, it also provides convenient plentiful cheapest most accessible energy for the most disadvantaged on the planet who couldn’t even begin to afford anything alternative, which is something that the green crowd couldn’t care less about.

[JBChiangRai]

2 hours ago, Olav Seglem said:

As far as i csn see he said "per capita" 😉

 

Unfortunately not, the figures are quoted for the country as a whole.

 

So you’d expect the most populous country (China) to have the most production, and it does.

[KhunLA]

I do find TH makes it easy (yea, could be easier), for the individual home owner to energize themselves, than many countries, I think.  

[wavodavo]

1 hour ago, novacova said:

I haven’t experienced any negative effects, there’s plenty fuel to load up in my vehicles and don’t have to be concerned about where to get it. 
 

 

Prefer the convince of it, not just personally, it also provides convenient plentiful cheapest most accessible energy for the most disadvantaged on the planet who couldn’t even begin to afford anything alternative, which is something that the green crowd couldn’t care less about.

Yes this certainly applies to India one of the poorest countries in the world. Without coal that mostly comes from Australia millions of Indians would not have power.

[newbee2022]

2 hours ago, 888huahin said:

A DIY Solar Installation can be cheap as a Ball Park Price:  

 

@25,000Thb per 2.5Kw System which can pay for itself in 15 months or less.

 

4 x 580w Solar Panels   9000Thb

Micro Inverter.              10000Thb

Solar Rails.                        1200Thb

Cable & Brackets.             2000Thb

Labour 2 Men x 1 Day.    3000Thb

 

Like everything else in Thailand there's something for all budgets 

 

You may not be able to make money when the Sun shines but you can definitely save money 4.65Thb/kWh.

That's just enough to charge my phone, razer and laptop...

[motdaeng]

5 hours ago, 888huahin said:

A DIY Solar Installation can be cheap as a Ball Park Price:  

 

@25,000Thb per 2.5Kw System which can pay for itself in 15 months or less.

 

4 x 580w Solar Panels   9000Thb

Micro Inverter.              10000Thb

Solar Rails.                        1200Thb

Cable & Brackets.             2000Thb

Labour 2 Men x 1 Day.    3000Thb

 

Like everything else in Thailand there's something for all budgets 

 

You may not be able to make money when the Sun shines but you can definitely save money 4.65Thb/kWh.

 

based on your data, a 2.32 kw peak system generates an average of 11.94 kw per day, which seems too high and not very realistic to me ... (i would say is more about 8-9 kw/day)

 

your calculation assumes that every watt produced is fully used, which is quite unlikely – unless you're running a few air conditioners 24/7 ... (but in that case, the system would probably be undersized anyway).

 

maybe some other forum members with DIY setups can share their real-world ROI numbers ... i think if someone can do it an ROI in about  5 yeas, that would be nice ... (but not 15 months or less) ...

[007 RED]

17 hours ago, motdaeng said:

 

based on your data, a 2.32 kw peak system generates an average of 11.94 kw per day, which seems too high and not very realistic to me ... (i would say is more about 8-9 kw/day)

 

your calculation assumes that every watt produced is fully used, which is quite unlikely – unless you're running a few air conditioners 24/7 ... (but in that case, the system would probably be undersized anyway).

 

maybe some other forum members with DIY setups can share their real-world ROI numbers ... i think if someone can do it an ROI in about  5 yeas, that would be nice ... (but not 15 months or less) ...

Yep, its possible but dependent upon how much solar you install, and if using an ESS, or not.

 

I installed a small scale grid tied system during the Covid era, and it paid for itself in 2.25 years.  I subsequently added a couple more panels so that I could run the system without feeding back to the grid and on average the system provides us with 75% of our electrical needs.  Our PEA bills are about 200 THB/month. which accounts for our night time use.

 

 

[motdaeng]

7 hours ago, 007 RED said:

Yep, its possible but dependent upon how much solar you install, and if using an ESS, or not.

 

I installed a small scale grid tied system during the Covid era, and it paid for itself in 2.25 years.  I subsequently added a couple more panels so that I could run the system without feeding back to the grid and on average the system provides us with 75% of our electrical needs.  Our PEA bills are about 200 THB/month. which accounts for our night time use.

 

 

 

thanks for sharing, great and tidy setup, congratulations ... 

 

still, i have a few comments:

- if you're paying around 200 baht per months for electricity during the night and on days without sunshine, that equals about 1.5 units per day.

  that's a very modest consumption ... also compairing to the average 24h day use of 9-10 kwh ...

-  your 1.66 kw peak solar system produces on average 8 kwh per day ... that sounds brilliant! (5'910 kwh : 730 days = 8.09 kwh/day)

-  in your ROI calculation, you use the full 8 kwh produced per day, which gives you a ROI in about 2.25 years.

-  how is it that every day you use exactly the same amount of electricity (for your ROI) as your solar system produces (on average 8 kwh/day)?

   how is it possible that there's never any surplus? do you have a disc meter that runs backwards, or are you using batteries (ESS) to store the excess?

   or something else?

 

it's totally possible that i'm missing something, my apologies in advance. thanks for clearing it up. 

[Muhendis]

On 6/29/2025 at 9:00 AM, gamb00ler said:

Have you ever seen the per capita GDP differential between Thailand and Germany?

Germany is 17th in the world @ 56K and Thailand is 94th with < 8K.

And there you have it.

That is the only reason Thai people don't go solar.

Solar installation costs are well beyond the budget of the poor folks who would benefit the most and these poor souls are least likely to have the skills to DIY.

Add to that a certain lack of enthusiasm on the part of the government majority owned PEA and nothing happens.

[newbee2022]

4 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

And there you have it.

That is the only reason Thai people don't go solar.

Solar installation costs are well beyond the budget of the poor folks who would benefit the most and these poor souls are least likely to have the skills to DIY.

Add to that a certain lack of enthusiasm on the part of the government majority owned PEA and nothing happens.

It's subsided in many countries. Why not here. The energy (electricity, petrol) is subsided already.

And.....Thailand is not poor

[Cameroni]

I do hope the Thais won't put up those hideous giant propellers the Germans have uglified their countryside with.

[newbee2022]

3 minutes ago, Cameroni said:

I do hope the Thais won't put up those hideous giant propellers the Germans have uglified their countryside with.

I hope they follow the best in this case and build the most effective windmills 

[Hummin]

On 6/29/2025 at 4:03 AM, khunJam said:

Oil provides the best most abundant and reliable energy.

True with modern technology and not how we used to waste oil and gas just because we could because it was cheap. 

 

The land area needed to cover Thailands needs of electricity with todays solar power technology is to great, but at once they start using its full potential for combining farming and solar power, buildings roads etc it can become sustainable in the future

 

 

[Muhendis]

1 hour ago, newbee2022 said:

It's subsided in many countries. Why not here. The energy (electricity, petrol) is subsided already.

And.....Thailand is not poor

Thailand is certainly not poor, but the money is not in the hands of the millions of people who would need it to break free of PEA/MEA.

[newbee2022]

18 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

Thailand is certainly not poor, but the money is not in the hands of the millions of people who would need it to break free of PEA/MEA.

We'll see. Many changes ahead

[Magictoad]

On 6/30/2025 at 10:50 AM, Gottfrid said:

That question is soo silly, so not even worth the effort.

I am happy to see an answer and will take a refusal to give one as an admittance that there are no negative effects from fossil fuels. I can't take anymore of this NET ZERO NONESENSE being driven by Milliband and his zealots. In London I have the highest fuel bills I have ever payed in my life anywhere in the world; one reason I came to live here.