2011 International Conference on Alternative Energy in Developing Countries and Emerging Economies
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Energy Development Program and the most
anticipated new feed-in-tariff program. In addition,
our observation suggests that financial institutions in
Thailand are building up capacity, knowledge, and
expertise to succeed in the renewable energy
investment.
Major barriers we identified for financial
institutions to help commercialize and stimulate the
renewable energy investments are as the following:
i) Government policies are still not stable. To a
certain degree, there are some
uncertainties
and
unpredictability
caused by changes in energy policies
and political landscape. The change in
solar’s adder and the upcoming election
in mid-2011 are good examples.
ii) Policies are still not aggressive enough to
make the investment in renewable
energy industry attractive. Given the
average return between 8 percent and
20 percent for investors, Thai
government might have to increase the
feed-in-tariff premium, subsidy period,
and soft loan support for investors.
iii) Moderate level of public-private partnership.
There should be more initiatives
fostering by government and private
sector
regarding
research
and
development,
demonstration,
deployment,
scale
up,
and
commercialization of renewable energy.
Moreover, transparency and speed of
public-private partnerships should be
improved.
We were unable to obtain the information
regarding the annual amount of total financing and
investment in renewable energy projects provided by
financial institutions in Thailand. Therefore, for a
future follow up research, the financing information
categorized by project stages and technologies will be
useful to justify the roles of financial institutions in
the development of this industry. The information
will be compared with the growth rate of the level of
renewable energy in the total energy supply per year.
A
C K N O W L E D G E M E N T
The author would like to thank the Office of the
Provost and Senior Vice President at Tufts University
for financial support.
R
E F E R E N C E S
[1] Population Division of the Department of Economic and
Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat,
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The
2008
Revision
,
source:
[2] Population Division of the Department of Economic and
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The
2009
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,
source:
[3] HIS Global Insight, May 2010,
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[4] World Resources Institute, 2009,
Green Stimulus Spending
by Country,
source:
spending-country
[5] United Nations Environment Programme – Sustainable
Energy Finance Initiative (UNEP-SEFI) and Bloomberg New
Energy Finance,
Global Trends in Sustainable Energy
Investment 2009
[6] Bank of Thailand,
Economic Conditions: Thailand at a
Glance,
2009;
source:
hai/genecon/Pages/Thailand_Glance.aspx
[7] Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Centre (CDIAC),
2006,
Fossil-Fuel CO2 Emissions by Nation
,
Source:
[8] Pallapa Ruangrong,
Thailand’s Approach to Promoting
Clean Energy in the Electricity Sector
, Energy Regulatory
Commission (ERC) of Thailand, March 2008 at the Forum
on Clean Energy: Good Governance and Regulations
(Singapore)
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Prasert Sinsukprasert, March 2009,
Thailand Clean Energy
Policy and Programs
, DEDE, Ministry of Energy of
Thailand
[13] Thailand Board of Investment, 2010,
Renewable Energy
,
source:
-
thailand-board-of-investment-boi-extends-measures-for-
sustainable-development/
[14] Sophie Justice, December 2009,
Private Financing of
Renewable Energy – A Guide for Policymakers
, UNEP-SEFI,
Bloomberg New Energy Finance and Chatham House.
[15] Private Energy Market Fund (PEMF),
source:
[16] Pallapa Ruangrong,
Thailand’s Approach to Promoting
Clean Energy in the Electricity Sector
, Energy Regulatory
Commission (ERC) of Thailand, March 2008 at the Forum
on Clean Energy: Good Governance and Regulations
(Singapore)
