Thailand’s Energy Transition

September 21, 2022
INTRODUCTION The energy transition is disrupting markets around the world, and Thailand is no exception. The move from energy based on fossil fuels to renewable sources will reshape energy markets over the coming decades. The disruption this will cause will give rise to plentiful opportunities for climate-tech businesses. The Thai government has already announced a number of measures it will implement in order to facilitate the transition. CURRENT SITUATION Before looking at the measures the Thai government is taking to support the energy transition, it is worth examining the status quo. Thailand’s energy needs are currently met by fossil fuels such as refined petroleum products and natural gas, as well as a mix of renewable sources such as solar, wind, biomass, and hydroelectricity. Petroleum Thailand is a net importer of both crude oil and refined oil products. Natural gas is sourced both domestically and through imports, which arrive through pipelines from Myanmar and as liquefied natural gas (LNG). With domestic gas supplies being depleted and limited opportunities for new investment in the upstream sector, LNG looks likely to play an increasingly important role in supplying Thailand’s energy needs in the coming decades. Earlier this year, the Department of Mineral Fuels, Ministry of Energy (DMF) announced the 24th bidding round for offshore exploration and production blocks; bids are due between 5 – 16 September 2022. Electricity Generation As of May 2022, Thailand’s installed grid capacity was approximately 46.8 GW.1 This does not include very small power producers (VSPPs), which are defined as power projects with an installed capacity of less than 10 MW. The figure also does not include so-called “behind...

Waste to Energy: The Alternatives to Waste and Energy Problems

August 16, 2022
With its increasing population and urbanization, Thailand cannot escape from the mountains of solid waste generated in households and in communities across the country. The inappropriate disposal of solid wastes will cause serious ramifications which would be a national nightmare, such as air pollution, water pollution and contagious diseases. All of these issues are harmful not only in the environmental scale, but also in respect of the public health of each domestic sector. The government has foreseen this catastrophic event and thus declared the solid waste problem as one of its national agendas. In compliance with the first revision of the Power Development Plan 2018 (the “PDP 2018 Rev. 1”), which aimed to improve energy efficiency and foster sustainable energy and, importantly, to encourage the participation of the public with respect to energy projects, the meeting of the National Energy Policy Council (the “NEPC”) no. 3/2022 held on May 6, 2022 approved the Feed-in Tariff (the “FiT”) for waste to energy project (the “WTE Project”) under the PDP 2018 Rev. 1. This approval allows the very small power producer (the “VSPP”) and the small power producer (the “SPP”) to sell the electricity generated from solid waste from the approved 34 WTE Projects to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (the “EGAT”), Metropolitan Electricity Authority (the “MEA”) and/or Provincial Electricity Authority (the “PEA”) (collectively, the “Electricity Authority”) and receive payment for the sale of electricity on the FiT basis, with the total collective capacity of 282.98 MW and the Scheduled Commercial Operation Date (the “SCOD”) between 2025 and 2026. Following this, the NEPC authorized the Energy Regulation Committee (the “ERC”) to introduce rules and regulations in relation...

INDONESIA: The risk of government force majeure under PPA

October 13, 2017
The electricity industry is known to be a complicated but important industry, where external factors that are beyond the control of the parties involved can cause problems to the progress and/or cost of the projects.