Power companies are expected to rack up an additional 190 billion baht from electricity sales to the government as Thailand shifts towards greater use of renewable power between 2024 and 2037, says Krungthai Compass, the research unit of Krungthai Bank.
The substantial revenue results from the state plan to increase the proportion of renewable power to 51% of total electricity supply by 2037, up from 20% this year, as mentioned in the new power development plan (PDP).
The plan, which runs from 2024 to 2037, passed a public hearing and is awaiting approval from the new government for enforcement, expected in October.
Greater use of renewable energy is expected to increase total revenue in the renewable energy sector from 100 billion baht in 2023 to 290 billion baht in 2037, with an average growth rate of 7.9% a year, said Phongprapha Napapruekchat, energy analyst at Krungthai Compass.
According to the new power development plan, the state plans to increase the proportion of renewable power to 51% of total electricity supply by 2037, up from 20% this year.
Thailand should see huge investment in three key renewable power generation facilities -- solar, wind farms and biomass-fired power plants -- with spending projected to reach 1.7 trillion baht in 13 years, he said.
The think tank predicts these facilities will generate a total of 39.6 gigawatts, with most of the power supply coming from solar (30,412 megawatts), followed by wind (7,845MW) and biomass (1,436MW).
According to Krungthai Compass, the North is the most attractive area for developing solar farms, expected to represent 30% of new renewable power generation capacity.
Most wind farms are expected to be located in the Northeast, making up 90% of the new capacity. Biomass-fired power plants are possible in all regions as they use agricultural refuse for fuel.
Waste from palm plantations should be a key raw material in the South, while unwanted parts from corn and rice can be used by power plant operators in other regions, noted Krungthai Compass.
As the costs of renewable power generation facilities tend to decrease, Mr Phongprapha believes this will reduce the power tariff to less than 4 baht per kilowatt-hour (unit), eventually leading to cheaper power bills.
Businesses and households currently pay a tariff of 4.18 baht per unit. The rate is mainly determined by gas prices. Gas makes up 60% of the fuel used to generate power in Thailand and its price fluctuations are often blamed for driving up electricity prices.
More use of renewable power under the PDP is expected to reduce emissions by 27.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
