Thailand is expected to announce a new energy price structure around the end of this year or early 2024 to attract businesses to invest in renewable energy projects.
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) has been working with various organizations, including the Board of Investment (BOI), the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA), and the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) to determine an energy price structure to entice companies to invest in mega projects in the country.
The “Utility Green Tariff” (UGT) is the result of the EGAT’s assessment to design a system in which businesses are encouraged through tax measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, thereby creating a better environment for clean energy investments.
EGAT’s assistant governor for research, innovations and business development, Warit Rattanachuen, said that in order to be eligible for green energy rights, EGAT needed a reliable source of renewable energy and to modernize its grid system to accommodate various types of renewable energy, such as solar, wind and biomass.
Warit siad that while EGAT has been working with a variety of groups to minimize CO2 emissions, there is still a long way to achieve real zero carbon emissions. He also added that a short term solution is to plant an additional 160,000 hectares of trees to absorb CO2.
This means EGAT would have to take various measures such as creating more green spaces to absorb CO2 or implementing additional measures to encourage the reduction of emissions.
