2011 International Conference on Alternative Energy in Developing Countries and Emerging Economies
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Thailand’s feed-in tariff for renewable energy
generation
The first generation of feed-in tariff mechanism
(namely “Adders”) in Thailand was introduced in
May 2001 when the government provided “pricing
subsidy” in the form of energy payment adder for
electricity generated by renewable energy for a
period of five years at a maximum rate of 0.36
baht/kWh, under a competitive bidding [8]. The
programs have been implemented and revised since
its inception. In 2007, in order to induce more
investors to produce electricity from renewable
sources, the Minister of Energy set a target to
purchase power from SPPs using renewable energy,
totaling 530 megawatt (MW) [9]. Also initiated was
another supportive scheme, “Adder Provision”
- an
additional energy purchasing price on top of the
normal prices that power producers will receive
when selling electricity to the Power Utilities
. The
amounts of adders vary, depending on the technology
and fuel used [10] (see Table III: Adders for
renewable energy by type and capacity). The adders
are divided into two types:
Fixed Adder (230 MW)
- the adder rate for
SPPs using municipal solid waste & wind
Adder Bidding (300 MW)
- for SPPs using
other types of renewable energy, such as rice husks
or wood chips, the adder is provided via a
competitive bid.
The Adders program was also applied to VSPPs.
The provision of adders will be for a period of 7
years (10 years for solar and wind) as from the
Commercial Operation Date (COD) [11].
TABLE III
A
DDERS FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY BY TYPE AND CAPACITY
Investment opportunities in renewable energy under
the 15 Year REDP
According to the REDP, investment in all
renewable technologies is forecast to reach Baht 488
billion ($14.8 billion) accounting for 5.4 percent of
Thailand’s GDP in 2008. Private sector is forecast to
spearhead the future investment responsible for Baht
382 billion or 78 percent of total forecast investment,
following by government and state-owned enterprise
which account for 11 percent stakes each (see table 4:
Potential investment under REDP by sectors).
Within private sector investment, biomass is the
key growth area responsible for Baht 153.5 billion,
40 percent, of total potential investment. This is
mainly distributable to the fact that Thailand is an
agricultural economy, 40 percent of labors is
employed in the agriculture. Apart from biomass,
renewable energy from solar and wind possesses
bright potential business opportunities as they
account for 16.6 and 14.6 percent, respectively, of
total potential investment from private sector (see
Table 4: Potential private sector investment under
REDP).
T
ABLE
IV
POTENTIAL INVESTMENT UNDER REDP BY SECTORS
T
ABLE
V
P
OTENTIAL PRIVATE SECTOR INVESTMENT UNDER
REDP
The REDP also outlines strategic renewable
energy technologies that will become key players and
help Thailand secure its energy supply, reduce energy
import, and mitigate climate change impacts. The
technologies are as the following.
Advance generation of bio-energy (biofuels,
biogas, and biomass)
. The country will improve
farming process for higher productivity as well as
research and develop non-food material such as
cellulose and seaweed for future ethanol and
biodiesel production. Furthermore, Thailand plans to
