Thailand

The overarching framework is guided by the National Energy Plan (NEP) along with the Power Development Plan (PDP) and the Alternative Energy Development Plan (AEDP), which targets a significant increase in renewable energy capacity, with solar PV playing a central role.

According to the draft AEDP 2024, which set the target of 37% share of renewable energy in total final energy consumption by 2037, the target of solar power installation capacity was set to achieve 38 974 MWp and floating solar target hybrid with hydro power plant was at 2 789 MWp.

As of 2024, Thailand’s cumulative installed PV capacity reached 9 942 MWp, which was consisted of 6 334 MWp solar ground-mounted, 3 310 MWp solar rooftop, 281 MWp floating solar, and 17 MW off-grid solar systems. In cases where electricity can be sold back to the grid under utility PPA, the figure includes all projects that are commercially supplying electricity to the grid, projects with PPA signed, and projects notified of power purchase acceptance.

Key policy instruments included Feed-in Tariff Scheme – for solar ground-mounted, solar ground-mounted with BESS, and residential sector -, the Utility Green Tariff (UGT) program, a solar rooftop tax deduction program development for residential sector, regulatory simplification and processes streamlining, and exploration of emerging trends including utility third party access, and integration of BESS in all levels.

For example, the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) in collaboration with Kaneka Corporation, Japan, demonstrated the experiment of the “Building-Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) to evaluate energy performance, thermal impacts, and economic feasibility under tropical conditions, with the aim of developing localized design standards.

Moreover, NSTDA also developed the SolarSure platform, a data management and quality screening system for solar PV modules which serves as a tool to enable the safe and appropriate reuse of previously used solar panels that still maintain high performance

Many organizations were also interesting in implementing demonstration projects in integrating solar PV with agricultural area (Agrivoltaic) to explore the possibility of advancing Thailand agricultural-intensive perspective with solar PV, to develop scalable models for dual land use, and to improve social acceptance of solar deployment

In 2024, there were 15 PV cell and module manufacturers in Thailand, (up from 10 in 2023), with machine production capacity of up to 10 GW/year. Moreover, 7 inverter manufacturers and 3 Li-ion battery
manufacturers were presented in Thailand.

As of 2024, export activity still remained a key driver with slightly drop from the previous year, with PV panel exports valued at approximately $2.1 billion and PV cell exports at $0.9 billion.

In 2024, the price of PV modules in Thailand ranged between $0.11–$0.37 USD/Wp (slightly decreased from last year), while installation costs for PV systems in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors were also slightly decreased as follows:
Residential: $0.58 – 0.92 USD/Wp
Commercial: $0.55 – 0.73 USD/Wp
Industrial $0.52 – 0.58 USD/Wp