A plan to trade electricity among households is being developed as energy policymakers plan to pass new regulations and a business model for retail power trading.
The new regulation draft is aimed at transforming traditional power distribution from large power plants into a blockchain system, decentralising overall management from state power utilities to private operators, said the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
Viraphol Jirapraditkul, ERC commissioner and spokesperson, said the new regulations will serve the rapid increase in solar photovoltaic (PV) rooftops and independent power producers over the last two years.
"Solar power will be the new direction of the power trading business," said Mr Viraphol at a seminar on Monday on disruptive energy technology held by the Thailand Energy Academy.
He said the quick adoption of solar PV rooftops in Thailand has coincided with the proliferation of energy solution firms, but there are no regulations in place.
The new regulations will include the fee for electric power transmissions, which is the transport of electric power through the national grid, said Mr Viraphol.
Solar PV owners do not have to own the power transmission lines, but they must connect to the grid network and pay the fee to the owners of the transmission line based on how much the power is transferred and how congested the line is.
Mr Viraphol said the fee will also include the back-up generation charge because large power plant operators have to prepare for backup power when power demand after sunset shifts to rely on traditional power plants.
"The fee should be fair to traditional power plants; once the policymakers support renewable power, there will be fewer power generators for standby electricity," he said.
According to the ERC report, as of April, renewable power plants saw commercial operation dates (CODs) for a combined capacity of 7,751 megawatts (MW) and another 2,200MW is under development and being prepared for purchase contracts.
Mr Viraphol added the new regulations are crucial because independent power supply (IPS) has seen fast growth at 18% annually from 523MW in 2009 to 2,683 MW in April.
Most IPS fuels are biomass from sugar and rice millers and solar PV rooftop.
Movement from state utilities
Last week, the state-run Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) teamed up with SET-listed BCPG Plc, a renewable energy firm to study the feasibility of power distribution system and the pilot development of solar PV rooftops over the next two years.
Both parties are preparing to transform the power market in Thailand from traditional power generation by state-run utilities to a production-by-consumer (prosumer) system.
The prosumer model is set to enter the country's power market soon with policymakers' plan to launch the solar PV rooftop programme for general consumers by early next year.
Meanwhile, policymakers have already talked with several state-run utilities about preparations to launch the programme.
The business model and investment conditions will be disclosed to the public soon.
BCPG president Bundit Sapianchai said the prosumer model is likely to be introduced soon because policymakers are planning to launch the solar PV rooftop licences for retail households by early 2019.
The MEA has sufficient infrastructure to support the programme, while BCPG has knowledge and blockchain technology to support the prosumer system.
BCPG also has a strategic partner, Australian-based Power Ledger, to bring a peer-to-peer (P2P) model for renewable power trade into Thailand.
The first P2P project in Asean is the T77 on Sukhumvit Soi 77, developed by Thailand's property developer, Sansiri Plc.
Through BCPG's collaboration with Sansiri, the 80-rai T77 project is also Thailand's first smart community.
The project will manage its own power supply through solar PV rooftops with the aid of blockchain technology.