Minister Pongsak says decision will depend on the number of applicants
The government is prepared to expand the target for purchasing rooftop solar power if the number of applicants under the project exceeds the expected level, Energy Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal said yesterday.
The Energy Regulatory Commission this week has been holding the public hearing on the draft regulations governing the purchase of this type of solar power, which targets the purchase of 100 megawatts from households and another 100MW from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on a first-come, first-served basis.
The hearing, which started on Monday, ends today.
Pongsak said he had already told the Metropolitan Electricity Authority and the Provincial Electricity Authority – the public utilities that will purchase the power – that even if the number of applicants resulted in the overall target being exceeded, the state agencies should register all their names.
The ministry will submit the possible expansion of the purchase target to the National Energy Policy Council and the Cabinet, he said.
The minister gave a guarantee that all qualified applicants would be eligible to sell rooftop solar power, and that the combined figure of 200MW was just the initial target.
However, those permitted to produce power in excess of the initial target might be paid a lower feed-in tariff (FIT), he added.
He also said SME and household applicants would be permitted to transfer the right to the companies installing equipment on their rooftops, so that they could apply to sell electricity on their behalf.
But the latter will be required to have third parties such as financial institutions or insurance firms provide a guarantee of the equipment’s quality throughout the power-production licence period, he said.
The National Energy Policy Council recently raised its target for non-fossil-fuel energy sources to 13.9 gigawatts from 9.2GW under the revised Alternative Energy Development Plan (2012-21).
It endorsed the revised target for wind power to 1,800MW from 1,200MW, solar power to 3GW from 2GW, biomass to 4.8GW from 3.6GW, garbage-based power to 400MW from 160MW, biogas to 3.6GW from 600MW, and hydropower to 324MW from 1.6GW.
The biogas target was increased by 3GW due to the use of Napier grass, while the hydropower target was cut drastically.
Of the total 1GW increase in the solar-power target, 200MW will be supplied by household and SME rooftop-panel producers and the remainder by the planned community-based solar power plants.
Rooftop-panel-based producers will start feeding the power grid in December.
The FIT for this source of power ranges from Bt6.16 to Bt6.96 per unit.