Who says solar power doesn't save institutions money?
Thammasat University's Rangsit Campus has already shaved its electricity bills by 10% after successfully installing solar panels on its rooftops last year in the early phase of a broader project, it announced recently.
"This is just the start. We've just completed installing five megawatts of a planned 15MW of solar panels," said Prinya Thaewanarumitkul, the university's vice rector of administration and sustainability.
"Our electricity bills will plummet further when the project is finished."
Caption caption. rr
He said the campus, which includes a large hospital, has typically been paying 300 million baht a year for electricity, or roughly 25 million baht per month.
The final project will slash its utility bill by 30%, translating into an annual savings of 7.5 million baht (US$235,000), he added.
The campaign drew widespread attention and approbation last year when it was touted as the largest solar-panel project for a university rooftop in Asia, and No.4 globally.
The top three are all in the United States: Colby College in Maine (30MW), Arizona State University (24MW) and the University of California (16MW).
Before Thammasat launched its ambitious project, the 5MW panels on rooftops at Nangyang Technological University in Singapore outranked all other such projects in Asia.
To put things in perspective, 15MW would be sufficient to power 8,400 houses in the United States.
However, solar rooftops are about more than just saving money, Mr Prinya said.
"It shows how we can all generate our own electricity," he said. "Society as a whole can work to reduce overall demand for electricity [on the national grid]."
Mr Prinya is considered an expert on public law who has taken a leading role in conservation efforts and sustainability.
If similar programmes are adopted nationwide emissions could be cut dramatically. It could also put an end to controversial fossil-fuel projects such as one involving a coal-fired power plant in the South.
Thailand currently relies on fossil fuels for 70% of its energy needs, mainly natural gases and coal.
Not that installing solar panels is a cheap option open to everyone.
"We don't have enough cash to invest in energy projects like this. We are a university with a duty to provide education," said Mr Prinya, explaining how it was able to engineer the project without having to sacrifice its budget.
The university let a private company invest and sell electricity on its campus at a normal rate. The firm received a kind of state subsidy available for renewable energy projects so it could compete with cheaper, fossil fuel-generated electricity.
The project is expected to break even within eight years. Its shelf-life is almost 30 years.
"We aim to become a zero-net university, which means we need to produce enough energy to meet all our demands," Mr Prinya said.
This would not be possible with rooftop solar panels alone, he added.
The university hopes to reach this target by implementing more projects at its new, smaller campus in Lampang province. It plans to install solar panels there generating 7MW.
"We may even be able to sell some of that to the local community if we produce a surplus," Mr Prinya said.
"We aren't just committing to sustainability for the sake of our students' health or to raise awareness [of sustainable energy]," he said in a speech delivered early this week.
"We're doing this voluntarily because we see it as our duty as global citizens."
"Many people live an excessive lifestyle [in terms of consumption]. That would be considered sustainable if there were a billion people on the planet, but there are 7.6 billion of us," the vice rector said.
"The impact of climate change is more sporadic than ever so we must create a sustainable planet for the next generation."
Referring to recent news from Nasa that it would take humans approximately 600,000 years to reach the closest-known habitable planets by current means, he said: "Right now, this planet is all we've got".