Solar power setup for your home in Thailand

[Nereus]

I am not sure how true the following is, but as it contains the expected Thai BS involving a "quota", I suspect that it is correct. It does not say WHY it takes so long to connect, despite the "improvement".

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/24 ... o-the-grid

Energy agency shortens grid connection time

[buksida]

TREND OF SOLAR PANELS ON THE ROOF NEEDS GOVT TO CUT RED TAPE
According to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) office, between January and March 21, 2013, 1,020 people applied to participate in the public solar project, representing a total capacity of 5,492.38 kilowatts. The figure was almost equal to the total number of 1,287 applications in 2022, representing a total capacity of 7,195 kilowatts.

Phuwadon Suntornwipart, president of the Thai Photovoltaic Industries Association (TPVA), said the trend of rooftop solar panels “has increased sharply”. The market is also expected to be two to three times larger in 2023 than last year.

He said that about two to three years ago, the public had little interest in solar as the Ft was in the negative, which made the electricity bill low and slowed down the return on investment in solar. However, as the government adjusts the electricity purchase price from 1 baht per unit in 2019 – 2021 to the current price of 2.20 baht per unit for the next 10 years, people’s interest is increasing.

Phuwadon added that the public solar project still has some obstacles, so the total number of participants is only 20 percent of the total quota. He explained that the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) is working with the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) to allow each participant to generate 5 megawatts of electricity per site, but the current quota is only 1 megawatts.

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/202 ... -red-tape/

The junta doesn't want people using solar because it would cut into their power monopoly profits.

[Dannie Boy]

In a world where global warming is clearly on the increase, where everybody should be encouraged to develop renewable energy, the opposite happens here

[KhunLA]

Do we really need encouragement, especially since it's less expensive to set up here, than say the USA. Not sure about UK, EU or AU.

[buksida]

The quotes I've had for a full setup are definitely not less expensive! And its illegal to feed the excess back to the grid.

[Dannie Boy]

Do we really need encouragement, especially since it's less expensive to set up here, than say the USA. Not sure about UK, EU or AU.

Although the UK is more expensive to set up, the incentives to sell surplus electricity back to the grid is significant


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bigston]

Have often tinkered with the idea
even a pretty "basic " set up here is about 30 % more than it was and still is in Australia

[STEVE G]

The quotes I've had for a full setup are definitely not less expensive! And its illegal to feed the excess back to the grid.

Actually, solar feedback to the grid is now legal in Thailand but apparently it's hard to do outside of the Bangkok Metropolitan area.

[brianks]

Good article or rather ad from SCG Solar. Outlines their processes and gives realistic timelines and figures. Still 7-10 years estimated payback and averaging 800 thb per day savings and their system costs about 10% more than others because they offer after installation service for the units installed. They also mention the regulatory hurdles with the Government. If you can find it, in business section its interesting.

[brianks]

Article in Bangkok Post

[buksida]

Why not just post the link?

[KhunLA]

TH is not very consumer friendly when it comes to 'giving back' for your investment in solar system for you home.

You have to use their approved components, along with inspection & approval to register, and it seems to take forever, to get approved, and for a pittance of compensation for your excess.

But please, don't let that keep you from investing in solar. Our system was not inexpensive, but will pay for itself, in about 6 years. It powers the whole house 24/7, and excess keeps the EVs topped up.

April was our highest Solar production/consumption month so far. Solar System installed August 2022. Almost hit 1000kWh, though doubt if we ever will. If not for thunder storm 30 April, would have broke 1000kWh for the month.

Highest 1 day production was 44kWh
988kWh = ฿5,451 if having PEA bill
+ EV savings ฿3000 = ฿8451 over petrol

We use to fill up the ICE, 2X a month, for about ฿1500 each time.

Solar System ROI at that level = 4.38 yrs
Expect 600kWh average a month for the year + EV savings, so ROI about 6 yrs.
If monthly; 600kWh = ฿3223 + ฿3000 = ฿6223 average saved every month

Installed system components:
Deye 8kwh hybrid inverter
18-540w solar panels
Two 10kWh ESSs

We got a digital meter (grid), on new house build, as all new builds are getting digital meters, so spinning back isn't an option. We won't even bother applying for PEA to buy excess, as wouldn't be approved anyway, since our inverter is not one of their approved inverters. If so, the cost to get approved is a bit silly.

[buksida]

Glad its working for you but the bottom line is the government here doesn't want the plebs using solar.

We have no EVs so the ROI for us on the off-grid system we had spec'd for our place by a company in Hua Hin was 12-14 years not including replacement parts/equipment. Full solar implementation simply isn't viable in Thailand for most people, and the regime wants to keep it that way sadly.

Now if we could sell the excess or share it with neighbours (a system called Power Legder enables this in Australia) it would be different, but Thailand is backwards when it comes to these things, junta profits must come first. Its such a shame as the country is perfect for solar adoption, most people could effectively have free energy after a while if it wasn't so expensive to install and the state didn't monopolize power production and management.

Edit: my rudimentary portable setup gets me through the power cuts, but that is the only thing practical for us at the moment given the costs and red tape. If those power bills keep getting hiked, then the ROI will come down and it will be worth reconsidering.

[Dannie Boy]

TH is not very consumer friendly when it comes to 'giving back' for your investment in solar system for you home.

You have to use their approved components, along with inspection & approval to register, and it seems to take forever, to get approved, and for a pittance of compensation for your excess.

But please, don't let that keep you from investing in solar. Our system was not inexpensive, but will pay for itself, in about 6 years. It powers the whole house 24/7, and excess keeps the EVs topped up.

April was our highest Solar production/consumption month so far. Solar System installed August 2022. Almost hit 1000kWh, though doubt if we ever will. If not for thunder storm 30 April, would have broke 1000kWh for the month.

Highest 1 day production was 44kWh
988kWh = ฿5,451 if having PEA bill
+ EV savings ฿3000 = ฿8451 over petrol

We use to fill up the ICE, 2X a month, for about ฿1500 each time.

Solar System ROI at that level = 4.38 yrs
Expect 600kWh average a month for the year + EV savings, so ROI about 6 yrs.
If monthly; 600kWh = ฿3223 + ฿3000 = ฿6223 average saved every month

Installed system components:
Deye 8kwh hybrid inverter
18-540w solar panels
Two 10kWh ESSs

We got a digital meter (grid), on new house build, as all new builds are getting digital meters, so spinning back isn't an option. We won't even bother applying for PEA to buy excess, as wouldn't be approved anyway, since our inverter is not one of their approved inverters. If so, the cost to get approved is a bit silly.

To save me trying to calculate the cost from your expected ROI, can you give a figure of how much the installation cost?

[KhunLA]

Fossil fuel is not releasing their grip without a fight.

Deye's 5kWh inverter is approved for single phase, and 10kWh inverter approved for 3 phase. So fairly obvious, they don't want you to be completely self sufficient, as 5kWh isn't enough to run the house, with the electric appliances we use. Nice supplement, but not self sufficient.

And if they'd make it easy & decent pay back for excess, then you really wouldn't need the ESSs for overnight, making a system much cheaper. If ours was grid tie in, w/good pay back, it would have cost half to install, with early ROI.

Our installer charges 20k to get PEA approval, which takes for ever, as he has to hire 2 sparky engineers to get it approved. Or so he told us, and no reason to really doubt him, as he knows I wasn't going to anyway. Said other installers charge up to 50k to get it approved. That's just silly, especially for the 2.2 or 2.6 they pay you.

Even having a T.O.U. meter installed, if you have an EV and want to charge overnight using the grid, at discounted rate, is silly priced, along with a higher monthly service charge, and for most, wouldn't pay for itself.

This snapshot alone, makes the solar system investment well worth it, whether it pays for itself or not:

Zeaobil.jpg (167.66 KiB) Viewed 941 times