Thailand is the regional leader in total installed renewable capacity in Southeast Asia.The latest Alternative Energy Development Plan (AEDP) 2015-36 sets a target for renewables to account for 20% of generation by 2036.
It was the first country in SEA to implement a feed-in premium intended to spur investment and development of renewable energy projects.
Thailand’s power market is partially liberalized, with the generation sector opened up to the participation from private players.
Thailand has achieved 100% electrification. In the 2015 PDP, total electricity demand is Fundamentals forecasted to increase at an average growth rate of 2.68% in the period 2014-36.
Stimulated by the attractive feed-in premium, also known as the ‘adder’, introduced in 2007, renewable energy capacity has grown significantly. Between 2010 to 1H 2018, asset financing for renewable projects totaled $9.7 billion.
Developing Nations assume mantle of global clean energy leadership
Since 2010, developing countries have collectively accounted for a larger share than wealthier countries of clean energy asset finance, a category that includes capital for wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and small hydro projects.
Surging electricity demand, sinking technology costs, and innovative policy-making have allowed developing nations to seize the mantle of global clean energy leadership from wealthier countries, a comprehensive new study from BloombergNEF (BNEF) concludes.
Between them, emerging market nations surveyed by BNEF’s annual Climatescope (www.global-climatescope.org) project accounted for the majorities of new clean energy capacity added and new funds deployed, globally in 2017.
Driving down clean energy costs
These countries are also playing the leading role in driving down clean energy costs, so that energy access can be expanded without boosting CO2 emissions.
In 2017, developing nations added 114GW of zero-carbon generating capacity of all types[1], with 94GW of wind and solar generating capacity alone – both all-time records. Concurrently, they brought on line the least new coal-fired power generating capacity since at least 2006.
New coal build in 2017 fell 38% year-on-year to 48GW. That represents half of what was added in 2015 when the market peaked at 97GW of coal commissioned.
“It’s been quite a turnaround. Just a few years ago, some argued that less developed nations could not, or even should not, expand power generation with zero-carbon sources because these were too expensive,” said Dario Traum, BNEF senior associate and Climatescope project manager. “Today, these countries are leading the charge when it comes to deployment, investment, policy innovation and cost reductions.”
This shift is being driven by the rapidly improving economics of clean energy technologies, most notably wind and solar.
Thanks to exceptional natural resources in many developing countries and dramatically lower equipment costs, new renewables projects now regularly outcompete new fossil plants on price – without the benefit of subsidies.
This has been most apparent in the more-than-28GW contracted through tenders in emerging markets in 2017, involving promises from developers to deliver wind for as low as $17.7/MWh and solar for as little as $18.9/MWh.
Clean energy dollars are flowing
Climatescope also revealed that clean energy dollars are flowing to more nations than ever. As of year-end 2017, some 54 developing countries had recorded investment in at least one utility-scale wind farm and 76 countries had received financing for solar projects of 1.5MW or larger. That’s up from 20 and 3, respectively, a decade ago.
