Gulf solar farms to enable easier handling of power bills
The development of 25 new solar farms is expected to help the government better regulate electricity prices, potentially leading to lower power bills, says Gulf Energy Development Plc, which is building the solar power generation facilities.
Gulf, a large private power producer, anticipates future power pricing following the recent completion of power purchase agreements for 25 solar farms with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat).
The agreements last for 25 years. Egat can avoid fuel price fluctuations by purchasing electricity from the 25 solar farms, said Yupapin Wangviwat, deputy chief executive and chief financial officer at Gulf.
Thailand depends on gas as a key fuel for power generation. The country imports liquefied national gas (LNG) as the domestic gas supply is insufficient, but this can drive up electricity production costs if LNG prices soar as a result of geopolitical conflicts.
Costly LNG is one of the reasons cited for the surge in power bills.
The 25 solar farms, with combined power generation capacity of 1,353 megawatts, promise cheaper electricity because they have relatively lower production costs than the cost used to calculate the power tariff of 4.18 baht per kilowatt-hour (unit), said Ms Yupapin.
Monthly power bills are based on this tariff rate, which is applicable until August.
The development cost of the 25 farms, scheduled to start commercial operation between 2024 and 2029, is estimated at 63 billion baht.
The infrastructure includes 13 ground-mounted solar farms with a combined contracted capacity of 653MW, and 12 solar farms equipped with battery energy storage systems offering a total contracted capacity of 700MW.
These projects fall under the 5.2-gigawatt renewables scheme, overseen by the Energy Regulatory Commission.
Gulf was among the winners of the auction for this scheme to develop on-ground solar farms, on-ground solar farms with energy storage systems, biogas and wind power energy.
The 25 solar farms, along with those equipped with battery energy storage systems, will be granted a feed-in tariff of 2.16 baht and 2.83 baht per unit, respectively.
She said Gulf wants to increase the share of renewable energy in its portfolio to at least 40% by 2035, aligning with Thailand’s strategy to encourage clean energy usage.
To reach this objective, the company plans to expand its investments in renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydroelectric, said Ms Yupapin.