The Thai government has received applications for 3.58GW of solar photovoltaic and concentrating solar power (CSP) plants through three subsidy programs.
These figures were published in English by renewable energy advocate Chris Graecen of Palang Thai (Bangkok, Thailand) in a February 4th, 2010 article clarifying Thailand’s solar feed-in tariff situation and the steps taken by the Thai government to limit applications.
"Measuring by vigorous interest displayed by the private sector, and by the number of applications posted to generate electricity from solar installations, the Thai government’s subsidy program on solar electricity has been a raging success," states Graecen in "Clarifying the Thailand solar feed-in tariff situation".
However, as of October 2010 only 16MW of PV projects were connected to the grid, with no CSP projects operational. Graecen states that the remaining 3.56 GW is "in the pipeline in various stages".
Graecen reports that the Thai government has received 1.6GW of applications for PV systems to its Very Small Power Producer program program and 477MW of PV applications to its Small Power Producer program, as well as 1.5 GW of applications for CSP systems.
The Thai government has taken mild steps to reduce subsidy levels. On June 28th, 2010 the Thai National Energy Policy Council reduced the "adder" for solar projects from THB$8/KWh (USD$0.260/KWh) to THB$6.5/KWh (USD$0.212) for all solar projects in the pipeline that have not yet been approved.
The same order agrees in principle to work towards establishing a fixed feed-in tariff rather than an adder. Graecen notes that no concrete details have yet emerged, however the resolution also called for a higher rate for rooftop PV.
