Thailand Inaugurates Its 1st Solar Thermal Power Plant

December 5th, 2011 by Zachary Shahan

We don’t write about Thailand all that often (OK, I don’t know if I’ve ever written about it here on CleanTechnica), so I figured I had to give a shout out to this good solar news story from the thoroughly flooded country (a country I probably get a good portion of my rice from). The news, as the title indicates, is that Thailand now officially has its first solar thermal power plant up and running. “Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Yongyuth Wichaidit has pressed the start button of the first solar thermal power plant in his country,” Wirsol/Independence reports (but in German).

The solar thermal parabolic trough power plant is located in the province of Kanchanaburi Huaykrachao, for those of you somewhat familiar with Thailand, and is has a power capacity of 5 megawatts (images above, and more images as solarlite).

While this is the first, it won’t be alone for long. Thailand has plans to build 14 more solar power plants in this province.

And, beyond this being a first for Thailand, it’s actually also a first for the world!

“The power plant TSE 1 is the first in the world that operates on the basis of the direct evaporation of water / steam. The technique is considered to be particularly efficient.”

Thailand, you guessed it, has a feed-in tariff (FiT) in place that supports solar power. The FiT is for “small power plants” with a capacity up to 10 megawatts.

Source: Wirsol/Independence | Thailand bells & flag via Cyril Plapied | Top Thailand solar thermal power plant images via khaosod.co.th & Bottom image via Vision E Consultant (Thanks to commenters for sharing the images of the power plant.)

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Tags: Thailand, thailand solar, thailand solar energy, thailand solar power, thailand solar thermal

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.