Thailand ignites solar power investment in Southeast Asia

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Thailand ignites solar power investment in Southeast Asia
* Solar power investment seen exceeding $2 bln in 2015
* New solar power capacity at least 1,200 MW this year
* Shares in Thai renewable energy companies outperform market
By Khettiya Jittapong

BANGKOK, July 13 (Reuters) - Come December, Thailand will have more solar power capacity than all of Southeast Asia combined as record sums of money is poured into the sector in the hopes of nurturing a new energy source to help drive the region's second-biggest economy.

Thailand has been shifting away from natural gas as once-plentiful reserves are expected to run out within a decade, forcing it to rely on imported fuel more than any other country in the region except Singapore. A plunge in solar-component costs and subsidised tariffs have also helped feed the country's solar boom.

About 1,200-1,500 megawatts of solar capacity will be connected to the grid this year, requiring as much as 90 billion baht ($2.7 billion) of investment, Pichai Tinsuntisook, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries' renewable energy division, told Reuters.

Full story: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/07/12/thailand-solar-idUKL3N0ZM2JB20150712


-- Reuters 2015-07-13

[BSJ]

Sounds good! Maybe I should talk to the wife about dumping rice and corn and get in on the solar farm business!

[sammygood]

in western countries with barely sun , it is sponsored , payed by tax payers

in this country, full of sun ... what are your options, pay out of pocket ?

who will invest many hundred thousands of baht on a roof / house you cannot even own ?

[Pimay1]

in western countries with barely sun , it is sponsored , payed by tax payers

in this country, full of sun ... what are your options, pay out of pocket ?

who will invest many hundred thousands of baht on a roof / house you cannot even own ?

The same people who pay many hundred thousands or millions of Baht to buy/build a house they cannot even own.

[NongKhaiKid]

When it comes to issues of power I wish the word ' ignite ' wasn't used in the same sentence.

[halloween]

Sounds good! Maybe I should talk to the wife about dumping rice and corn and get in on the solar farm business!

Maybe you should do your homework first. I would be very wary of investing in something whose ROI depended on a government decision to pay much more than its true value.

In 2011, rice farming looked like a winner.

[fxe1200]

First there must be a law, how to compensate the feed-in of electricity into the public network, then we can talk about installing privately owned solar power systems.

[cracker1]

in western countries with barely sun , it is sponsored , payed by tax payers

in this country, full of sun ... what are your options, pay out of pocket ?

who will invest many hundred thousands of baht on a roof / house you cannot even own ?

The same people who pay many hundred thousands or millions of Baht to buy/build a house they cannot even own.

Any and all foreigners can own houses in Thailand !

[cracker1]

in western countries with barely sun , it is sponsored , payed by tax payers

in this country, full of sun ... what are your options, pay out of pocket ?

who will invest many hundred thousands of baht on a roof / house you cannot even own ?

Foreigners can own houses in Thailand !

I own several.

[Pimay1]

in western countries with barely sun , it is sponsored , payed by tax payers

in this country, full of sun ... what are your options, pay out of pocket ?

who will invest many hundred thousands of baht on a roof / house you cannot even own ?

The same people who pay many hundred thousands or millions of Baht to buy/build a house they cannot even own.

Any and all foreigners can own houses in Thailand !

I stand corrected. The issue is a foreigner cannot own the land where the house is built. If a house is built before the foreigner and a Thai national marry the foreigner has no recourse to recover any of his investment in the house should the relationship go pear shaped. If the house is built after the marriage the foreigner is entitled to fifty percent of the sale of the house only. There is a land lease option but as we have seen before the land lease option can be problematic.

Edited July 13, 2015 by Pimay1

[Srikcir]

"Thailand will have more solar power capacity than all of Southeast Asia combined"

China appreciates its control of the solar power industry in Thailand, boosted by the Thai government's energy subsidies to make the enterprise profitable.

[aussieinthailand]

in western countries with barely sun , it is sponsored , payed by tax payers

in this country, full of sun ... what are your options, pay out of pocket ?

who will invest many hundred thousands of baht on a roof / house you cannot even own ?

More like 80K for the average small Thai house that a monthly power bill of 1,500 per month, My wife has a good size convenience store, so big 2 fridges air con, lights, so in hot months power is 3,500 per month so after 5 years at 120,000 investment for big solar system I thinks it's a good investment.

[h90]

in western countries with barely sun , it is sponsored , payed by tax payers

in this country, full of sun ... what are your options, pay out of pocket ?

who will invest many hundred thousands of baht on a roof / house you cannot even own ?

in Western countries it is both sponsored and a huge import tax on solar cells

I think the future of solar technology will be in China...they make heavy investments and try to push the prices down.

[heybruce]

Thailand will have to put in place the laws and regulations required to feed electricity generated by the sun into the power infrastructure already in place, and do so in a manner that makes solar power profitable without bankrupting the current power generators.

I don't think the junta is able to do this, and without it any solar power investment is a waste.

[Remi080]

Intrested??

Im in it and it start to run wild now we have got the flexible pannels witch are cheaper than the one with glass.

[fgmr]

Once again monopoly of new technology is taking place.

Has anyone succeeded in obtaining suppliers and quotes for independent household systems?

[halloween]

More like 80K for the average small Thai house that a monthly power bill of 1,500 per month, My wife has a good size convenience store, so big 2 fridges air con, lights, so in hot months power is 3,500 per month so after 5 years at 120,000 investment for big solar system I thinks it's a good investment.

I am going to reverse engineer your figures, hope a little disillusionment doesn't hurt. if you expect to save B120,000 over 5 years, that averages at B2000/m. With retail electricity at ~B4/kWh, say a generation of around 500kWh/m. That would require a system of more than 3kW as even solar tracking systems in a desert return less than 20% of daily rated output.

That will be more than your average loading with high intermittent load from refrigerators and AC. Do you have an agreement to sell back to the grid? At what rate, and for how long? Have you considered the investment return on capital, or interest cost to borrow?

[smutcakes]

I know one of the heads of the 1st or 2nd largest industrial developers in the country and i believe as in Europe the main choice for solar panel for operational and tax reasons is to place them on the large warehouse rooftops.

He said to me currently in Thailand, even on 25,000 sq m warehouse roofs, the solar panels do not really make any fiscal benefit for the company.

[h90]

Thailand will have to put in place the laws and regulations required to feed electricity generated by the sun into the power infrastructure already in place, and do so in a manner that makes solar power profitable without bankrupting the current power generators.

I don't think the junta is able to do this, and without it any solar power investment is a waste.

Thailand has a big advantage here.

In Germany the highest usage is when there is no sun, so the current power generators always need to have spare capacity.

In Thailand you have, thanks to the aircons, the highest usage when the sun is strongest. So it reduces the fluctuation in the net instead of make it bigger like in Germany.

Still the prices from the cheapest solar cells from China are too expensive. My last very optimistic calculation showed 8 years for break even without costs for service.

In 8 years are surely already some big repairs necessary considering the use of the cheapest offers on everything

[h90]

I know one of the heads of the 1st or 2nd largest industrial developers in the country and i believe as in Europe the main choice for solar panel for operational and tax reasons is to place them on the large warehouse rooftops.

He said to me currently in Thailand, even on 25,000 sq m warehouse roofs, the solar panels do not really make any fiscal benefit for the company.

yes solar cells are by far too expensive or electric too cheap, up to your viewpoint.

[Remi080]

I have this solar system at home, it did not cost me to much becoz father of my friend is suplier of that stuff, and i thought it would be great to get lost of electric costs at home, but forget it... Fridges and aircons just use to much power, i can leave the lights on all night inside and ouside the house for free. But use a aircon, it will last 3 hours based on a 3500W aircon. Than you run out of power and get switched to the main net. Solution would be to cover the whole roof of the house with pannels, and some 25 more battery's. than i could use it all, so its not imposseble to run on free power, now... There's the problem,, the price tag. We have to wait some more years, power storidge, and pannels should be more cheaper, but i gues this is like that guy who invented the first engine on water. They still dont know where he is now, and his design. The world leaders will not agree people start to use free power and fuel. Thats just it.

[robertson468]

Intrested??

Im in it and it start to run wild now we have got the flexible pannels witch are cheaper than the one with glass.

Very! Where did you get them from please and how much a panel?

[DLock]

Thailand will have to put in place the laws and regulations required to feed electricity generated by the sun into the power infrastructure already in place, and do so in a manner that makes solar power profitable without bankrupting the current power generators.

I don't think the junta is able to do this, and without it any solar power investment is a waste.

Agree with heybruce.

I have a hefty electricity bill, so I met with a few companies and did all the calculations on solar cells and batteries, and it made zero sense...until I can sell any excess power back into the grid.

Even then, buying quality solar cells from Germany was expensive, but the real killer was batteries, and the limited lifespan.

The best advice I got was to consider putting things like pool filter onto a separate solar grid (no batteries) and change the pool pump and perhaps do a small solar grid for emergency when the power goes down, so a fan and some lights would still work. Also, solar panels for water pumps (to main storage tank) was worthwhile.

But I do not have a lot of faith in this initiative if they are using Chinese technology and do not access to sell back into the grid.

...but I would love to be proved wrong.

[Halion]

Please ,Please everyone archive this article for posterity and in two or three years it will become obvious just how stupid these people are. Just another Thai marketing opportunity for fast money.

[alboxblue]

I think the solar energy they are talking about here is more in a commercial sense for the national grid, rather than individual users. I live in Nakhon Nowhere and two months ago we had a representative from a company that already has a large solar farm in the area, arrange a meeting with a group of farmers with adjoining land. He wants to rent 300rai at a very good rate of payment, for the next twenty five years, with an option for another twenty five. The rent he has offered per year, is at least five times as much as we can earn, growing our normal crops of sugar and sweetcorn. These solar farms are government backed and the details for this one, should be finalised by the end of the year.

[ksamuiguy]

The technology is not there yet (commercially) watt density is still way to low. maybe in another 2 years.

Battery technology is not there yet either. (consumer wise).

Inverter technology is dogie at best (consumer units)

ROI would be a long, long, long time.

[BHW]

I reply to some of the coments about this topic. It can be cost effective in 7 to 10 years depending on how much power is used.

There is an Australian product with world first technology that will be site tested in a large house in Chon Buri soon if successful as expected it wil be introduced into Thailand. The developer has over 30 years experience in the industry.

The system stores excess electricity for later use, like night time, intermittent showers, cloudy days etc, not back into the grid it can be if a customer wants to.

On early calculation useage would need to be over 3000 THB a month.

It will be suitable for large houses, 24/7 commercial / industrial operations, after hours irrigation, carpark & security lighting, where back up power neccessay during outages on the grid, remote communities etc.

Units range from 5KVA right through to modules of 500KVA for large consumers.

The system includes all the latest technology in monitoring all functions & the latest communications systems including remote monitoring.

it is a quality product with long warranty.

Any enquiries PM me.

[Remi080]

Intrested??

Im in it and it start to run wild now we have got the flexible pannels witch are cheaper than the one with glass.

Very! Where did you get them from please and how much a panel?

Seems like sales agents pop up like mushrooms here. Well let me say that me and my mate are not from yesterday haha. Whatever people say, if you choose not to sell your power generated by solar but use it for yourself, for your household, you will save a lot of money and yes!! Finally good news,,, with my new inverter system you can use aircon and fridge on the system.

[Remi080]

I reply to some of the coments about this topic. It can be cost effective in 7 to 10 years depending on how much power is used.

There is an Australian product with world first technology that will be site tested in a large house in Chon Buri soon if successful as expected it wil be introduced into Thailand. The developer has over 30 years experience in the industry.

The system stores excess electricity for later use, like night time, intermittent showers, cloudy days etc, not back into the grid it can be if a customer wants to.

On early calculation useage would need to be over 3000 THB a month.

It will be suitable for large houses, 24/7 commercial / industrial operations, after hours irrigation, carpark & security lighting, where back up power neccessay during outages on the grid, remote communities etc.

Units range from 5KVA right through to modules of 500KVA for large consumers.

The system includes all the latest technology in monitoring all functions & the latest communications systems including remote monitoring.

it is a quality product with long warranty.

Any enquiries PM me.

Uhm.. This product is designed and build in thai now to save costs.

[h90]

The technology is not there yet (commercially) watt density is still way to low. maybe in another 2 years.

Battery technology is not there yet either. (consumer wise).

Inverter technology is dogie at best (consumer units)

ROI would be a long, long, long time.

Technology is here, just it is too expensive. The solar panels work perfect, just they are too expensive.

Battery technology: Normal lead or nickel iron are super cheap and technology is here since the days of WW2, just there isn't profit in pushing such old technology.

For large savings: hydrolysis of water.....under control since WWI

Inverters are also WW2 technology

yes all too expensive and lots of import tax on it in USA and Europe, but no technical problems at all. Beside the solar cells everything is super low tech.