Thai authorities increase distributed renewables target

• 10 years ago (2013-07-29)
• Junior Isles

Europe 1061 North America 998 Renewables 752

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Thailand has hugely expanded its planned solar energy investments, pledging to secure 25 per cent of the country’s total energy demand from renewable sources.

Thai officials had announced plans for a new feed in tariff (FiT) earlier this month with the aim of installing 3 GW of solar by 2021. That figure is part of an even greater goal to hit almost 14 GW of renewable energy, up from the previous goal of 9.2 GW. This would include investments in wind, biomass and hydropower, according to Thailand’s Ministry of Energy.

Thailand currently relies on fossil fuels for more than 80 per cent of its current energy production, so diversification that comes with renewables expansion is a natural step.

The country’s aggressive FiT scheme has already been encouraging solar development since 2006, supporting installation of more than 1 GW by 2010 and another 2 GW currently in development.

Thailand’s new target emphasises the authorities’ strategic focus on distributed renewables, particularly solar, over large centralised power projects.

Thailand’s aggressive pursuit of solar looks to be good news for Chinese solar panel manufacturers who have found US and European markets increasingly closed to them.