Transcript Document
Towards sustainable energy in Thailand
•Border Green Energy Team •Public interest energy policy
Palang Thai
Chris & Chom Greacen Oct 4, 2006 RAEL UC Berkeley
Palang Thai พลังไท พลัง ไท (palang): n 1. Power. 2. Empowerment. (thai): adj. 1. Independence. 2. Self-reliance • Thailand NGO • Objective: – To ensure that the transformations that occur in the region's energy sector: augment, rather than undermine, social and environmental justice and sustainability.
• Key approaches: – We teach hands-on energy technology – We draft policies – We critique wasteful & dangerous mega-projects and the closed decision-making processes that lead to these projects… and offer cleaner, more democratic, alternatives.
Border Green Energy Team •Conflict area •Little/no rural electrification
Border Green Energy Team Solar electricity for 28 medical clinics for internally displaced inside Burma
Up to 2 million internally displaced people in Burma
Ruggedized solar electric systems built by medics in 3-5 day hands-on trainings • 6 trainings (2003, 2004, 2005, 2005, 2006) • >60 medics trained • 28 clinics
Border Green Energy Team Community micro-hydro (4 villages)
Micro-hydroelectricity
Source: Inversin, A. R. (1986).
Micro-Hydropower Sourcebook
.
Kre Khi village 2003 E Wi Jo village 2004 Mae Sa Pau village 2005 Huai Krating 2006
E Wi Jo village microhydro Estimated power: 750 Watts Head: 20 meters Flow: 20 liters/second
Total installed cost: <$3000
Huai Krating “Pump as turbine” 3 kW Head: 35 meters Flow: 20 liters/sec
6A 2C 50μF
Huai Kra Ting – “C-2C” induction motor as generator
3kW Ballast Load ELC Motor Run Capacitors in Box Ballast Current 15A 235V Total Current 10A 380V To Village C 25μF 3000W 4 kVA 380V
Border Green Energy Team Refugee camp trainings
Solar/micro-hydro vocational education training Mae La refugee camp Sept 2005
So far: Solar PV Micro-hydro Hydraulic ram pump Solar cooking Coming soon: 7 hybrid solar/diesel systems Biogas
Border Green Energy Team Maintenance & repair trainings for > 14,000 Thai solar home systems
Thai government solar home program
203,000 solar home systems US$200 million No maintenance plan 23% failure rate within 20 months
Thai Government solar home program Existing linkages Tax payers $ Ministry of Interior $ PEA (national utility) warranty $ Installation company SHS End users
Missing linkages
Tax payers $ Ministry of Interior $ warranty PEA $ Installation company SHS End users
What happens when systems fail? There is no feedback loop from the end users to installation company, government or taxpayers
Tax payers $ Ministry of Interior $
Missing linkages
warranty Media PEA $ Feedback on status of systems, failure modes, successful interventions Installation company SHS End users Warranty awareness Self-help: local technicians + user training
Most
of Palang Thai’s work is on
policy & planning
level…
Grid-connected renewable energy
Grid-connected renewable energy
• Renewable energy producers need to be able to sell surplus electricity to grid.
• We drafted Thai Net Metering laws approved by Cabinet (2002) • Helped 1 MW 10 MW allowed per renewable energy installation (2006) www.netmeter.org
Power and gas sector governance
Public-interest energy policy analysis and advocacy • Analysis on: – Sector governance and reform – Policy & planning – Tariffs, cross-border interconnection • Thailand is privatizing state-owned energy monopolies… but lacks independent energy regulatory body • Helped develop litigation that successfully reversed EGAT privatization • We drafted “people’s version” of regulatory legislation, adopted by National Economic and Social Advisory Council (NESAC).
– Committee finalizing law used our draft as a candidate draft by government
Public-interest energy policy analysis and advocacy • Helped draft energy platform for a major political party (Democrat party), and provided inputs to their environmental platform.
• Engineered seminar that brought together human rights leaders, dam developers, and Thai policy makers to discuss Salween dams human rights crisis • Interviews & opinion pieces on TV, radio, newspapers www.palangthai.org/en/policy
Big thanks to…
• Volunteers • Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation • Hienrich Boll Foundation • Global Green Grants • US-Asia Environmental Partnership • Oxfam Australia • Finnish Embassy • Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy • Individual donors
For more information Thailand Contact: Chom and Chris Greacen
Palang Thai
Tel. 02-672-0364 [email protected]
www.palangthai.org