Energy Ministry promotes solar rooftop power

BANGKOK, June 5 (TNA) – The Energy Policy and Planning Office (EPPO) has promoted the installation of the solar rooftops among households and factories to cut power use from the national power grid during peak demand as part of the response plan to the shortage of the natural gas in 2021-2023. Deputy Director-General of the EPPO under the Ministry of Energy, Prasert Sinsukprasert said that the plan is being discussed to support individual households and factories to install solar rooftop panels for their own use or sell to the national grid power. The planned purchase of electricity from individual solar power generators could total 1,000 megawatts, he said. The solar rooftop plan is one of response measures to handle the national gas shortage during 2021-2023 due to a delay in natural gas management in the Gulf of Thailand and a possible cancellation of a coal-fired power plant construction. It will cause about two million tonnes of natural gas, equivalent to 1,700-megawatt natural gas –fueled power plant to disappear from the system. He said the crisis response plan will be finalized in September or October. Moreover, the EPPO also plans to increase buying electricity from Laos by 500-500 megawatts from the Nam Theun 1 Hydroelectric Project, which will be completed by 2021, the Xayaburi Hydroelectric Power Project and the Hongsa power project. (TNA)