As a continuation of the The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Clean Power Asia programme, USAID Regional Development Mission for Asia (RDMA) in collaboration with the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) has conducted a workshop titled ‘Developing Renewable Energy Policies and Incentives to Achieve ASEAN’s RE Map Goals’, in Bangkok (Thailand), on 11-13 July 2017. This is the second workshop by ACE and USAID RDMA under the programme USAID Clean Power Asia, which aims to scale up investment in grid-connected renewable energy (RE) by integrating scenarios of high RE targets into RE planning; by establishing RE zones; improving policies, and technical framework to mobilise investment into the region. Prior to this, a workshop titled ‘Increasing Grid-Connected Renewable Energy Through Improved Planning’ was held in the same venue, on 29-31 March 2017.

In this second workshop, ACE and USAID RDMA reviewed RE incentives studies in ASEAN and collected all the lessons learned from ASEAN Member States (AMS) with more advanced RE incentives, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. To enrich the references, experts from Ecofys Consultancy shared about RE Auction and provided participants with guidance to develop RE Auction.

On the third day, participants went on a field trip to RE sites in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, that received the government incentive. The first destination was Wayu Wind Farm (60 MW in total) in Dan Khun Thot, developed by Gunkul Engineering Public Company Limited. Since 2010, the wind farm is beneficiary of the Thai government’s adder scheme, with payback period of only 7 years from the commercial operation date (COD). Other additional incentives like import tax holiday and corperate tax deduction are also enjoyed by the developer.

One of the 2-MW Wind Turbines in Wayu Wind Farm, Nakhon Ratchasima Province. Credit: USAID RDMA

Another visit was made to Korat Solar PV Farm 1 (6 MW) and 2 (7.5 MW) in Don Chompoo. This solar PV farm has been operational for 7 years since its first COD (Korat 1). The farm harnesses the solar irradiation by 18 polycrystalline PV modules in one array of 2×9. Korat Solar PV Farm 1 is the first solar PV farm in Thailand. (ADP/MW.  Featured photo credits:  USAID RDMA)