Thailand s new energy storage

Thailand may lack the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) necessary to navigate supply and demand challenges. The 2024 PDP draft included 10,000 MW of BESS, but this may see the country struggle to fulfil carbon neutrality and Net Zero commitments over the coming decades.

Their total combined storage capacity was 994 MW. Interestingly, this allowed generators to sign semi-firm power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) with minimum availability guarantees. Many solar projects in Thailand have non-firm PPAs in place due to a lack of storage on site.

In April 2023, Thailand awarded project rights for 1GW of solar capacity paired with one-to-four-hour storage. However, only 0.3GW has been commissioned to date. While the draft PDP2024 has ambitious battery capacity targets, Thailand has not clarified the mechanism to support deployment of renewable-plus-storage.

As Thailand plans to add significant amount of renewables capacity in the next 13 years, the government would consider more flexible gas power contract. As a result, thermal power plants will likely see their operational hours cut further. This will lead to costlier coal and gas power.

Thailand can manage its energy transition and solve the energy trilemma of sustainability, security and affordability by accelerating renewable power additions and grid capacity expansion, while limiting new thermal power capacity addition.

This is partly due to a lack of clarity on how battery storage fits into existing electricity infrastructure. In 2022, the Thai government approved 24 BESS projects, all of which were located alongside solar operations. Their total combined storage capacity was 994 MW.