RAYONG: A giant pond inside SCG Chemicals' plant at Rayong's Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate was originally developed to deal with a water shortage crisis that crippled production in 2007. The 20-rai pond, equivalent to about 10 football fields, has become an experimental site and the country's first floating solar farm.
For visitors, it looks like a floating mirror in a pond. Almost half of it has been covered with 3,400 photovoltaic cells to convert the sun's energy into electricity.
These cells stand on a special pontoon the company has created for this purpose.
The pontoon is not just a floating raft, said Win Indarangkula Na Ayudhaya, the project manager. SCG Chemicals, a listed company and petrochemical titan, has developed a special plastic made of high density polyethylene (HDPE) for the project.
The pontoon is designed to handle the weight of over 3,000 solar panels and related equipment like cables and power transmission systems. Its has a 25-year shelf life, the same as regular solar cells.
The floating solar energy plant can produce 1 megawatt of electricity, or less than 1% of that required by the plan per year.
This is used to power small buildings inside the project area, helping to cut electricity costs by up to 5 million baht a year.
"We have worked for over a year, testing the system to determine the best design and assembly methods. Finally we found the right model, which is not only good in terms of engineering and business feasibility, but also in terms of environmental protection," Mr Win said.
The project was first developed last year. The pontoon cost 40 million baht to make and took six months to assemble.
It is made of prime-grade plastic that is typically used to package food. The HDPE materials used are good for the environment, do not decompose, and are not easily damaged by heat, Mr Win said.
SCG Chemicals plans to commercialise the project countrywide to tap the growing solar energy market.
Floating solar panels may not be a new development globally but they are in Thailand, which has only installed solar-panel projects on land previously.
The company claims its model is compact as it requires 10% less real estate on which to operate. Users do not need to replace the pontoon throughout its service life; and after 25 years, it can be recycled.
SCG Chemicals is capitalising on a bright business opportunity in the nascent renewable energy field in Thailand, according to Cholanat Yanaranop, the firm's executive vice president.
He said the company has been investing in energy efficient tools such as special construction materials to pursue its goals in this field.
Mr Cholanat said the floating solar farm has bright prospects given the abundant water surface at its disposal, which in this case measures 14,400 sq km.
The company estimates that some of the water surface can be used to generate electricity of up to 500MW.
"That figure shows the market is worth investing in," he said.
Apart from the floating pontoon, the project has developed a maintenance system that makes use of drones and robotic monitoring systems.
Drones will be used for on-air monitoring while machines will be used to examine the conditions underwater.
Apart from providing a regular maintenance service, robotic technology will also be used to measure the rate of heatwaves.
All of the data will be sent to the monitoring programme to build a greater understanding of this way of producing electricity, and to help them solve problems when the solar cells break down.
Despite the fact that floating solar farms are now 25% more expensive to build than land-based farms, they can potentially produce 5-20% more power due to the cooling effects the water offers, Mr Cholanat said.
He described the floating solar farm as one of SCG's emerging business opportunities.
The company has expanded from its early days as an extractor, when it focused on producing gypsum and then chemical byproducts from petrochemicals, into more innovative arenas including energy efficiency.
It has since placed greater emphasis on experimenting with new construction materials and coating systems that can reduce heat and help save energy.
It has also been making inroads in new areas such as creating new materials for robotic machinery.
So far, the company has invested 3.6 billion baht in research and development by working with 40 universities, 30 research institutes and 130 industry partners, it said.
There are now 630 researchers working in the company.
Compared to 2017, the rate at which it has been registering local and international patents has jumped 83%.
Despite the energy business producing little income for the company compared to its petrochemical and gypsum products, Mr Cholanat said this new business is growing at a rate of around 10% a year.
Two of its products, Emisspro and Emisspro-HT, have already established themselves as proven coating materials for industrial furnaces.
They reduce heat loss during the manufacturing process by over 5% and are already generating income for the company of around 100 million baht per year, it said.
Investment in renewable energy is growing in Thailand at a steady clip.
Kasikorn Research Centre said that over the last five years, cumulative investment stands in the region of 100 billion to 150 billion baht.
Of this, 39% has been poured into solar power, 38% into wind energy, 12% into biogas and 11% into recycled waste, it added.
Part of reason behind the surging popularity of solar energy is conducive state policy, which has driven growth in both the off-grid supply and independent power supply (IPS).
The energy ministry is now drafting a new policy to buy more electricity from IPS operators so the state does not have to build more large power plants.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) reported early this month that IPS production from its "solar rooftop" scheme is expected to grow faster because developmental costs have declined, and the average power tariff now stands at 3 baht per kilowatt-hour.
ERC Commissioner Viraphol Jirapraditkul said solar energy production has grown by 4-5MW per month, particularly from large companies like Central Pattana Plc, Tesco Lotus and big industrial plants.
Many corporations have invested in solar.
SCG has installed solar panels worth 30MW at its properties, including a plant in Cambodia. It said it plans to increase solar-cell installations to 150MW by 2021.