Thai rooftop solar gets boost

Government plans to support major expansion of solar rooftop sector.

Sources said the government intends to support the installation of 100,000 domestic rooftop systems and 1,000 commercial systems. Total capacity installed is expected to be some 800MW

Thai energy minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal said rooftop photovoltaic plans will be published in June. Sources said a working group has been organized to develop a financial framework covering a feed-in tariff and other supporting measures.

Thailand has had a alternative energy development strategy since 2008. This covers all renewable energy sectors, including large-scale solar projects. There has, however, been no rooftop policy in place, either for large commercial and public buildings or the domestic sector..

As well as a FIT, the government is also considering a system of tax breaks and soft loans to financially underpin the policy.