Kyocera’s solar PV modules installed at a project in Japan | Source: Kyocera
A partnership between solar photovoltaic modules maker Kyocera and Thailand’s largest power utility has finally seen the completion of an ambitious project the companies undertook in 2010. The project’s completion marks an important milestone for the Southeast Asian country.
Late last month, Thailand marked the completion and commissioning of the last of 35 solar PV projects built jointly by Kyocera and SPCG. The ambitious project that included implementation of 35 solar PV projects was launched in 2010, and the 35th project was commissioned in June.
Kyocera supplied a staggering 1.1 million solar panels for all the projects which have now been connected to the power grid in the northeastern part of Thailand. The power generated from the solar farms will be supplied to the Provincial Electricity Authority of Thailand (PEA). The 257 MW capacity is expected to generate 345 million kWh electricity every year, enough to power almost 290,000 Thai homes, SPCG claimed.
The Thai government has enacted several policies for the promotion of renewable energy technologies. The National Renewable Energies Development Plan 2008-2022 (REDP) aims to increase the share of renewable energy in Thailand’s total energy mix to 20.3% by 2022. Investments in solar power sector are expected to reach about $1.7 billion by 2022 as per the REDP targets. To promote enhanced investment from the private sector, the government provides import duty exemption on machinery, an 8-year corporate income tax exemption, and a further 50% reduction for the years 8 to 13th.
The Thai government has announced numerous initiatives to promote solar power infrastructure. Last year the government announced long-term feed-in tariffs for rooftop as well as large-scale solar PV projects.
According to WikiSolar, which tracks solar power plants with more than 4 MW capacity, Thailand has a cumulative installed capacity of about 600 MW from 62 projects while another 15 projects with total capacity of 484 MW is under construction.
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
