Thai prime minister pledges state support for household solar power systems
Bangkok Post, Thailand --Jul. 23
Jul. 23--Electricity production from solar cells will be stepped up to offload some of the huge cost of building new power plants, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday at the opening of Pha Bong, a new solar-powered generating station in the northern province of Mae Hong Son.
"Using solar cells to generate electricity would be a good start for
developing renewable energy. Even though it is costly, the government is willing
to absorb the losses to help people in remote areas have access to cheap
electricity," said Mr Thaksin.
If electricity production from solar cells becomes widespread, any output in
excess of each individual household's consumption could be fed back into the
main power grid and sold to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat).
If tax incentives are needed for solar cell production, the government will
not hesitate to step in in order to make the units commercially viable, he said.
Mr Thaksin said the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, along with
the Provincial Electricity Authority, are to jointly look at ways to bring
electricity to Mae Hong Son from Chiang Mai.
"It's not a question of the state power utility's willingness to invest
in new transmission lines, but there are grave concerns about the environmental
repercussions because the new power line would have to run through a forest
preserve. Therefore, both agencies will be required to jointly tackle the issues
involved," he said.
The Pha Bong power plant, which uses solar cells to generate power, will
serve as a prototype for electricity production in other remote areas, said
Egat's deputy governor Khampui Jirararuensak.
The power plant has a capacity of 55 KW or 700,000 units. It could reduce
local use of diesel oil for power generation by some 215,385 litres per year,
resulting in fuel savings of about 2.9 million baht.
The energy conservation promotion fund will contribute about 163.36 million
baht to finance the power plant's construction cost of 187.11 million baht,
while the rest will be absorbed by Egat.
Mr Prommin said the power plant has been fully operational since April 9.
While actual production cost is 13.35 baht per unit, users are offered a
subsidised price of 1.70 baht per unit. Egat will absorb the annual losses, to
the tune of about 30 million baht.
Egat also plans to build a 1,700 KW solar power plant in Mae Hong Son at a
cost of 600 million baht.
Total electricity demand in Mae Hong Son stands at 14.62 MW or 73.4 million
units this year, up 6 percent from the previous year mainly due to tourism
growth.
Supplementary local electricity production is needed because access to the
existing grid is poor due to the remoteness of the province and its rugged
terrain.
Transmission lines have not been built due to fears that their construction
would damage a protected forest area.
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