EGAT encourages people to buy energy saving products

[webfact]

EGAT encourages people to buy energy saving products

BANGKOK, 7 April 2016 (NNT) - The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and HomePro are giving discount coupons for people buying energy-saving electrical appliances, in a move to curb energy consumption.

EGAT Deputy Governor of Corporate Social Responsibility Saharath Boonpotipukdee said that energy consumption will likely peak at 28,500 megawatts this year, as temperatures are expected to climb to 38.5 degrees Celsius.

To conserve energy, EGAT and HomePro launched a campaign which will last from April 15 – 18. Those buying electrical appliances from HomePro will receive coupons to buy any of four types of appliances that are rated No. 5 for energy efficiency.

These products include air-conditioners, laundry machines, refrigerators, and LED light bulbs. Only those buying items at a minimum price of 25,000 baht will receive the discount coupon of 1,500 baht. However, a 1,000 baht discount coupon will be awarded for every 10,000 – 24,999 baht purchase.

Mr. Saharath hoped the campaign would lower energy consumption by 15.7 million units and help consumers save as much as 62 million baht per year in electricity bills.


-- NNT 2016-04-07

[chainarong]

The Government and EGAT should be encouraging household solar power , this would be more beneficial than handing out coupons for energy saving products , all EGAY is doing is trying to do something without doing anything , although one hopes this is a start to something bigger............................................... .

[trogers]

Great, please save energy by using more electricity consuming appliances...

Why would use of dishwashers, washers and dryers be encouraged when people are now doing such tasks manually? Human and solar power is the key to energy saving, not that number 5...

[AlphaSoiDog]

Yep, let's make solar near impossible to connect to the grid, then make it appear that we are doing something by getting people to spend money they don't have.

Could this be more about trying to make the economy look better than it is by promoting spending?

And my growing Thai cynicism is twitching at the "homepro" connection.

[Thian]

The Government and EGAT should be encouraging household solar power , this would be more beneficial than handing out coupons for energy saving products , all EGAY is doing is trying to do something without doing anything , although one hopes this is a start to something bigger............................................... .

Then they first should encourage electrical engineers to be trained at schools. Or would you let a Thai electrical engineer install solar power at your house today?

[trogers]

The Government and EGAT should be encouraging household solar power , this would be more beneficial than handing out coupons for energy saving products , all EGAY is doing is trying to do something without doing anything , although one hopes this is a start to something bigger............................................... .

Then they first should encourage electrical engineers to be trained at schools. Or would you let a Thai electrical engineer install solar power at your house today?

I would not trust an engineer who had not even actual passed Grade 6 maths.

[AlphaSoiDog]

Solar installations do not need engineers. I'm an ex sparky that has done a couple of installs. All the "tricky math" can be done with a simple lookup table. The rest is very basic electrician stuff. Even easier and safer with hybrid panels that output AC instead of DC. All the smarts are in the panel and they can literally be connected to the switchboard with a circuit breaker (or isolator and fuses etc) as you would for any other power source.

BUT, in Thailand you have to get accepted in a quota to be allowed to connect to the grid, then you need an electrical engineer to approve your particular installation (even though I know of no other country that requires this). Then you have to bribe various people to get it passed. So the installation could end up costing more than you could make back in several lifetimes.

Meanwhile Thailand is buying power from Laos who are about to risk killing all the fish with a dam using experimental tech which will also destroy a major tourist attraction. The Mekong feeds more people than any other river in the world, that may be about to change...

Quota's are a method to deliberately limit solar, not promote it. And if you actually want enough power for your whole home including a couple of AirCons then you would be classed as "industrial". I'm guessing there is an extra level of difficulty and bribes for "industrial".

[wabothai]

What would save a lot of energy is not more appliances (shame Homepro) but turning down of airconditioners. Thermostats can be set at 25 degrees iso

19/20 as in banks fi.

[Thian]

Solar installations do not need engineers. I'm an ex sparky that has done a couple of installs. All the "tricky math" can be done with a simple lookup table. The rest is very basic electrician stuff. Even easier and safer with hybrid panels that output AC instead of DC. All the smarts are in the panel and they can literally be connected to the switchboard with a circuit breaker (or isolator and fuses etc) as you would for any other power source.

BUT, in Thailand you have to get accepted in a quota to be allowed to connect to the grid, then you need an electrical engineer to approve your particular installation (even though I know of no other country that requires this). Then you have to bribe various people to get it passed. So the installation could end up costing more than you could make back in several lifetimes.

Meanwhile Thailand is buying power from Laos who are about to risk killing all the fish with a dam using experimental tech which will also destroy a major tourist attraction. The Mekong feeds more people than any other river in the world, that may be about to change...

Quota's are a method to deliberately limit solar, not promote it. And if you actually want enough power for your whole home including a couple of AirCons then you would be classed as "industrial". I'm guessing there is an extra level of difficulty and bribes for "industrial".

Extension cables on markets also don't need engineers to install them but i see damaged cables laying in puddles on every market.

Streetlanterns don't need engineers to close the lid of the wires, but why are they ALWAYS left open so children/rainwater can easy touch them?

You guys can order solarpanels first, after 10 years i might buy them as well and get them installed. Don't want my house on fire.

[chainarong]

The Government and EGAT should be encouraging household solar power , this would be more beneficial than handing out coupons for energy saving products , all EGAY is doing is trying to do something without doing anything , although one hopes this is a start to something bigger............................................... .

Then they first should encourage electrical engineers to be trained at schools. Or would you let a Thai electrical engineer install solar power at your house today?

The Government and EGAT should be encouraging household solar power , this would be more beneficial than handing out coupons for energy saving products , all EGAY is doing is trying to do something without doing anything , although one hopes this is a start to something bigger............................................... .

Then they first should encourage electrical engineers to be trained at schools. Or would you let a Thai electrical engineer install solar power at your house today?

So what is your problem, I make it clear , EGAT and the government should be encouraging solar power , that surely would include electrical training and how do you know this isn't already being done.in University's.

[AlphaSoiDog]

Extension cables on markets also don't need engineers to install them but i see damaged cables laying in puddles on every market.

Streetlanterns don't need engineers to close the lid of the wires, but why are they ALWAYS left open so children/rainwater can easy touch them?

You guys can order solarpanels first, after 10 years i might buy them as well and get them installed. Don't want my house on fire.

So what you are saying is that solar panels cannot be installed in Thailand because your house might burn down after you hired the local market merchant to install it in a high traffic area using scraps of old wire? But that if someone else hires the same merchant and it doesn't burn down for ten years then it is safe? Interesting logic.

As for house fires, that is a much higher risk in Australia using very well trained electricians. Germany thought that putting a DC isolator on the roof, in the weather, would be a good idea. It wasn't, and caused a lot of fires. After the Germans banned that idea the Aust. govt. made it law to do the same thing. Now Aust. houses with solar installations are going up in flames, and if you make it orders of magnitude safer by not having the rooftop DC isolator your insurance is void.

My apologies for saying "hybrid" in a previous post, I should have mentioned "micro inverters". If using a micro inverter system you really don't need any training to install. The sparky in my local village does very good work and is more than competent to install these. His level of training is also quite sufficient to install DC systems.

There is no real need for University training either, it can all be easily covered in a two week course. This stuff is not rocket science. The only thing the Thai govt. would need to think about is doing inspections before people can connect to the grid and having some consequence for shoddy work, just like any other country. That last one might be a sticking point for Thai's but no reason not to use solar.