Eppo: Feed-in tariffs for renewable stable for two years

A solar project in Samut Sakhon province owned by a private company. The government's feed-in tariff rate for renewable energy will be unchanged for two years except for solar power.SOMCHAI POOMLARD

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The feed-in tariff (FiT), which the government pays to private power producers, will be mostly kept unchanged for the next two years, says the Energy Policy and Planning Office (Eppo).

However, FiTs for solar farms will decline in line with their falling production costs, the Eppo said.

Wattanapong Kurovat, director of the Power Policy Bureau, said up to 1,054 megawatts of renewable power are due to be open for bidding next year.

Of the total, 514MW would be from solar farms under the ownership of state agencies and agriculture cooperatives, while 400MW would be from biomass and 140MW from waste-to-power projects.

He said the FiT rate for biomass power would remain in the range of 4.2-5.3 baht per kilowatt hour (unit), while the rate for waste-to-power would stay at 5.0-6.3 baht.

However, the FiT rate for solar farms would drop to 4.12 baht, down from 5.66 baht the previous year.

"The technology to generate power from biomass and waste is about to develop, so we kept their rates static to allow these sectors to form," said Mr Wattanapong. He said the costs of solar modules and systems have dropped substantially over the past two years because of technology, leading Eppo to reduce the FiT rate for that energy.

The average capital expenditure for solar on the ground, or solar farms, was 200 million baht in 2007, when private firms sold power at an adder rate of eight baht per unit.

Investment in solar farms declined to 120 million baht in 2010, when the adder rate dropped to 6.5 baht. Investment fell again to 54 million baht in 2014, when power purchasing rules were changed from an adder to a feed-in tariff of 5.66 baht.

Licences to be granted to private firms next year are for very small power producers with total power-generating capacity of up to 9.9MW.

The small power producer business model with total power-generating capacity of 10-90MW is still under discussion by the policymaker.

Sarawut Kaewtathip, the director of policy and the strategy management office, said Thai energy policymakers are seeking ways to help Thai state agency offices curb power bills by installing solar rooftops or solar farms near their buildings.

The Cutting Energy Consumption in State Agencies 2016 report said state agencies consumed 2.63 to 2.76 billion units of power each year during 2013 to 2014.

The government is planning to encourage state agencies to cut consumption by 10% per year, starting this year, by providing energy-efficient lighting and energy-saving electrical equipment under the Energy Conservation Fund.