Solar power push for household rooftops

Energy authorities are considering buying more solar power from households as part of efforts to promote clean energy and increase installation of rooftop solar panels, says an energy official.
The National Energy Policy Administration Committee earlier approved a plan to buy a total of 90 megawatts of solar power from homeowners under a long-term purchase plan running from 2021 to 2030.
Recent calls from businesses and members of parliament to encourage more people to use solar power have nudged authorities to adjust the purchase, said the official, who requested anonymity.
One way to encourage more people to install rooftop solar panels is to allow them to sell electricity to the state grid if they generate more power than they need.
“We expect the authorities to increase the amount of solar power bought from households to more than 90 megawatts, in line with this push,” said the official.
The move to increase the purchase amount is also influenced by the new power development plan (PDP) that promotes greater use of renewable energy.
Under the PDP, scheduled to be implemented from this year to 2037, renewable energy should comprise 51% of total fuel use by 2037, up from 20% at the end of last year, while coal and gas decrease to 48%, down from nearly 80% early this year.
The other 1% comes from nuclear energy and new energy solutions aimed at reducing fossil fuel usage and saving electricity.
Solar power, a key renewable power source in the plan, increases to 24,412MW by 2037, up from 2,863MW earlier this year.
According to the Energy Ministry, officials set the power tariff for solar power bought from households at 2.2 baht per kilowatt-hour on average.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) was assigned to plan for how much solar power from the total of 90MW the government will buy from households each year. Last year the ERC announced it would buy 10MW. Some 1,878 people offered to sell 10.2MW.
The Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency is pushing ahead with a new tax reduction scheme for people installing rooftop solar panels, aiming to stimulate clean energy use. The scheme plans to grant tax privileges to 90,000 households between 2024 and 2027.
New Energy Plus Solutions Co, a local distributor of solar panels, said it agrees with the tax reduction scheme as a tool to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions.