According to a recent report, Thailand’s Justice Ministry has announced solar panels will be installed at all 143 prisons throughout the country. Above all in a bid to reduce their electricity costs. The Corrections Department was found to have not paid the power bills in full in 2019, the Justice Minister stated recently.
According to the Minister, the department in fiscal 2019 was allocated THB217 million for power costs. However, the actual consumption cost 372 million baht. Leaving an overdue amount of THB178 million.
To reduce power costs, the Minister stated that he has asked the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency’s Energy Conservation Fund to help install solar cells at 143 prisons across the country.
The Corrections Department has also been instructed to replace older electrical appliances in its offices with power-saving equipment such as LCD lights.
The solar panels and new electrical appliances, supported by other power-saving measures to be introduced, are expected to help reduce the department’s power costs by THB 45 million per year.
Green technology in Thailand
Green technology in Thailand is seeing major support from both the public and private sectors. Also, the country’s citizens are embracing various green technology in all its forms.
A little over a year ago, OpenGov Asia reported Thailand has ambitious and revolutionary solar energy plans.
The largest and oldest cement and building material company in Thailand and Southeast Asia aim to install a giant 45-megawatt floating solar farm at the Sirindhorn Dam — the first of eight dams that may receive the treatment.
Floating solar farms provide the benefits of solar energy without taking up valuable space on dry land in densely populated areas.
Other advantages include their comparative ease of installation and decommissioning, along with helping to reduce evaporation as a result of partially covering the water surface.
The cement company is among Southeast Asia’s biggest manufacturers of building materials. It has developed the proprietary floating solar panels that it promises to build, install, and maintain.
The company’s panels are made from high-density polyethylene, which is both durable and recyclable. The company claims that its panels will last for around half a century and take up approximately 10 per cent less space than the floating plants developed by rival companies.
The company plans to build a floating solar plant at Sirindhorn Dam is the first part of an ambitious floating solar panel project announced by Thailand’s state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT).
More recently, in January 2020, a Thai-Chinese consortium signed an EPC contract to build the world’s largest hydro-floating solar hybrid project for the EGAT.
The consortium, as a selected bidder with the deal worth over THB842 million, will construct and install a 45-MW solar power plant on water surface combining with the existing hydropower of EGAT.
Implementing this project is an important eco-friendly energy scheme that will encourage and strengthen the kingdom’s security of power supply.
It was noted that the hydro-floating solar hybrid project at Sirindhorn Dam is regarded as a major step in the development of renewable energy in Thailand.
Thailand is currently taking proactive measures to help in the global fight against climate change, enacting various policy changes and encouraging the use of renewable energy, solar panels, wind turbines and other green technologies.