27 June 2007
Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency promotes wind turbine project
The Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency is promoting private sector wind turbine development as an alternative means of energy.
The Director General of the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency Dr. Panich Pongpirodome (พานิช พงศ์พิโรดม ) reports that his agency aims to promote the installation of wind turbines to produce 110 megawatts of energy by the end of 2007. The private sector has expressed interest in the project due to energy savings and feasibility.
The director general revealed that local communities will derive benefits from the project through energy tax incentive laws which will be enacted in the near future. Wind turbine sites will serve as tourism , education, energy production, and reserve energy centers. Members of the public interested in joining the project are welcome to contact the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency at 02-223-0021-6 or log on to www.dede.go.th
http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/previewnews.php?news_id=255006270035
A wind-energy plant in Pattaya could be the harbinger to many more across the country
Published on September 23, 2007
Pattaya's Koh Lan community will soon rely on the wind to supply some of its energy requirements. It will be the first wind-energy plant developed by Thai technologists tailored to suit local climate and weather conditions.
After eight months of hard work, 45 sets of wind turbines with 4.5-kilowatt (KW) capacity each have been installed. Dr Weerachai Ruaynarin of Rajamongkol University Thanyaburi, who designed and developed the plant, says test runs are being conducted now and the turbines will be fully operational in a month.
"The Bt84-million wind plant will be able to generate enough electricity to light up 100 houses all day long, with around 200 kilowatts of installed capacity.
"It might not be a sizeable part of the island's electricity consumption but it could solve the problem of erratic electricity supply in the island today, which has been responsible for the shorter life-span of electric appliances," he says.
"It will be a new tourist destination and landmark for Pattaya, while promoting the city's green energy policy," Pattaya's Deputy Mayor Royankij Akasing told The Nation.
"The real value of this project is in its educational purpose. It will have a great role in raising public awareness in this renewable and clean energy source. It will also serve as a site for visiting and training students in wind-energy engineering and operation," Weerachai says.
Koh Lan resident Anan Phuttha, 42, who owns a seafood restaurant on Samae Beach, said villagers on the island are excited about the wind turbines but there are doubts about their benefits to the locals.
"Many villagers still cast doubt over how much it could benefit us. As for me, I have no doubts as I had direct experience of it," he says.
Anan's restaurant was selected a year ago as a pilot site to test the wind-turbine technology on the island. Lighting at nine shelters on the beach belonging to his restaurant use electricity supplied by a wind turbine nearby.
"When there are strong winds, we can use electricity directly from the turbine all day long," he says. "But if wind speeds are low, we can use it for at least 10 hours a day and draw the rest from a battery that has stored energy from the wind earlier. Totally, I can save over Bt1,000 per month on my electricity bill."
"Wind energy is new to the Thai public but more and more people are getting familiar with it now," says Weerachai.
Apart from Koh Lan, Weerachai says that he is developing wind turbines of greater capacity for three other organisations - three 5KW turbines for the Energy Ministry's royal project, one 50KW turbine for the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) for installing at Lamtakong Dam in Nakhon Ratchasima and another 400- and 1,000-watt turbine for his office at Rajamongkol University Thanyaburi.
This is just part of the increasing development of wind energy in Thailand, says another key wind-energy developer, Banjong Khayankij.
"Based on my own experience, local communities and organisations around the country have been using wind energy for their specific purposes for almost five years without state recognition officially," he said.
Banjong, a worker at Chon Buri's Burapha University and a self-taught wind-energy developer, says he has transferred his wind-turbine technology to hundreds of people during the past five years, generating about 500KW now.
Most of Banjong's turbines are small-scale and aim to provide wind energy for community activities. They are made with local materials and require far lower investment compared to those developed with market technology.
"I think it goes along well with the sufficiency economy principle. My concern is not with the scale but applications. If people want energy for pumping water, what they need to do is learn about the wind situation in their place and then look for local materials while learning to produce the turbine from me and then doing it themselves. In this way, they are able to make the right size of wind turbine within their budget," Banjong explains.
"The key is to focus on small-scale turbines with a variety of applications, not to head for large-scale machines generating electricity for commercial sale, which might not be appropriate for the Thai climate," he says.
Banjong dreams of promoting much more wind-energy use in Thailand, with the country generating at least 100 megawatts by the year 2011. This will require the state, industry and universities joining hands and developing the technology both for domestic use and export, he says.
Banjong's hope might no longer be a dream going by the number of projects he is involved in.
"Once I became well-known among Net citizens and the public after a TV programme aired my story, more and more people came to me, including poor people who walked on bare feet, and the rich who drove expensive cars. Many students and teachers from different vocational schools and colleges asked for my advice on http://www.ThaiWindmill.com says Banjong.
He has been approached to help the military develop a wind farm project in Chiang Mai's Fang district, he adds.
What is missing is a nation-wide survey on the real potential of wind energy, which could provide specific site suggestions scientifically.
"Today, we have only a general map of wind potential, which does not help much to select the site," he explains.
"I have heard that the government has plans to install one wind-measuring station in every province. This is a good idea but it still needs at least five years to gather 24-hour data to assess the real potential of each province," he says.
Most of all, Banjong says he would love to see real political will from policy-makers.
"Today's policy-makers are hypocrites. It is like they shout 'you are welcome' in front of a 'military zone, no entry' sign. While the state says it promotes wind-energy development, it is a complicated process and costly for any wind-energy developer to link the surplus energy to the grid system of Egat," he says.
Weerachai says his greatest concern is the shortage of human resources for wind-energy development.
"I am the only PhD on wind-energy engineering today. We might have some wind-energy academics but not engineers. If we want to promote this clean energy seriously, we need at least 100 experts like me and another 100 related engineers within five years," the expert said.
Thailand kicked off the study of wind-energy development 24 years ago in 1983, followed by installation of a wind turbine pilot plant on Phuket's Phromthep Strait in 1992. It later added a solar-cell generator to help improve efficiency of its electricity generation and finally added bigger wind turbines due to technical problems in maintenance of the previous turbines. It's total installed capacity is 180KW.
Globally, Europeans are the major users of wind energy, with a total installed capacity of 24,904 megawatt.
In Asia, China and India are starting to tap wind energy. India has an installed capacity of 1,500MW while China is waking up with today's capacity of 468MW and plans to reach 20,000MW in 2020.
In Thailand, apart from Phuket's pilot plant of Egat and the wind-power potential study by the Energy Ministry, there has been little effort from the state in promoting wind energy during the past decade. The Science Ministry recently agreed to provide scholarships for PhD students to study wind energy abroad. However, it will be three to five years before they graduate and make their knowledge available.
Kamol Sukin
The Nation
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/09/23/headlines/headlines_30049931.php
In Europe it has become fashionable to dis windpower on the grounds that it produces very little return for the investment and that it spoils the landscape. Are these arguments that can be ignored here?:
25 September 2007
Electricity generating windmill to be constructed in Phetchabun
Minister of Energy Piyasvasti Amranand (ปิยสวัสดิ์ อมระนันท์) says an area in Khao Kho (เขาค้อ) District, Phetchabun province, is suitable for the construction of electricity generating windmills.
The minister says the government has prepared many measures to promote the development of wind electricity generation among private entrepreneurs. There are many areas across the country which are deemed suitable for the construction of electricity generating windmills, including coasts along the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand and an area on the Khao Kho Mountain.
The ministry sees that this project will benefit the country and local people living in areas around the windmills which will not damage their plantations, Mr Piyasvasti says.
The minister adds that developed countries in Europe and Americas have promoted wind electricity generation by installing windmills which can also attract tourists.
Reporter : RTI-Reporter05
http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/previewnews.php?news_id=255009250007
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/09/23/headlines/headlines_30049931.php
Meeting discusses the end of an 84 Million Baht Energy project at Larn Island
On Monday Morning at Pattaya City Hall, Khun Niran, the Mayor of Pattaya, chaired a meeting to discuss the conclusion of a project undertaken by students at the Rajamangala University of Technology from Bangkok. They were brought in to set-up alternative energy supplies on Larn Island. The project cost tax payers 84 Million Baht and was completed in 300 days. The meeting confirmed that the project had been successfully completed and staff on the Island had been fully trained in maintaining the solar panels and wind turbines which have been installed on the Island. An extra 200 Kw of power is now being generated on the Island thanks to the newly installed power generation systems.
http://www.pattayacitynews.net/news_04_02_51.html
http://www.pattayacitynews.net/news_04_02_51.html
Biggest wind turbines installed for electricity generating
The Ministry of Energy installs the biggest wind turbines with the capacity of 1,750 kilowatts to generate electricity. The turbines are expected to reduce oil domestic consumption of more than 200 tonnes a year.
Energy Minister Poonpirom Liptaphan (พูนภิรมย์ ลิปตพัลลภ) visits to Nakhon Si Thamamarat province to lay a foundation stone of the installation of wind turbines at the Hua Sai (หัวไทร) district. The wind turbines are parts of the government’s wind electricity generating demonstration project.
Mrs Poonpirom says the ministry has set a target to generate 115 megawatts of wind electricity in 2011 and it will expedite the development of wind electricity. In addition, the ministry plans to increase the country’s consumption of alternative energies from 0.5% to 0.8% in the same year.
Two wind turbines will be installed in Nakhon Si Thammarat and the installation is expected to be completed soon. Two more wind turbines with the capacity of 1,750 megawatts will also be constructed at the Laem Ta Chi (แหลมตาชี) district in Pattani province.
3.4 million units of electricity will be produced from the four turbines each year. They can substitute 290 tonnes of crude oil, make the country save 6.8 million baht, and reduce green house gas by about 1,000 tonnes a year.
http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/previewnews.php?news_id=255104040006
Wind Farming
Like many countries, Thailand is looking for clean and affordable ways to generate electricity. Some people have developed their own variation of wind turbines to better harness the country’s low but constant winds along its coastline. We have more details in this report from REUTERS.
Whereas many countries tap into the natural energy produced by wind to generate electricity for big companies or factories, in Thailand many people use a smaller kind of turbine for their homes or shops.
Penchan Saengsawang has invested in wind turbines for her seaside restaurant in Samutprakarn province. She said "There is no way that wind energy will ever disappear. I think it’s good we can use wind to generate power."
But the problem is Thailand’s wind is of a constant low-level nature, not the big gales associated with other parts of the world.
And this is why one family-owned company, Thai Windmill Energy, has spent seven years developing a wind turbine using a low level generator with smaller propeller-like blades and thinner polls better suited to low wind speed.
It's not only a more efficient machine than bigger turbines from Western companies, but the cost of these locally-produced turbines is one-sixth the price of imported ones.
Kasidech Chuansatian, the company’s managing director, suggests homeowners who have a wind turbine also sell their unused energy by having it automatically switched out to an electricity company.
He said "We want to see all the coastal lines both in the Thai Bay and Andaman Sea full with wind turbines. It doesn't matter if the wind turbines are produced by us or by others."
Thailand has the potential for wind turbines to produce 3000 megawatts of electricity, which can be supplied to cover all the southern provinces, Greenpeace says it hopes to see more turbines developed according to the country’s climate.
Such clean and sustainable renewable energy will help reduce human’s dependence on fossil fuels, which are today becoming more and more expensive.
Last Update : 2008-07-12, 2008-07-12 (GMT+7:00)
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