FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Hydro-floating solar hybrid plant expected to supply electricity from October

Hydro-floating solar hybrid plant expected to supply electricity from October

The hydro-floating solar hybrid power plant on Sirindhorn Dam in Ubon Ratchathani province, with a capacity of 45 megawatts, will start operating from October, Boonyanit Wongrukmit, governor of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat), said.

He said the plant, which is the largest floating hybrid solar project in the world, would help reduce the limitation of being able to generate electricity from a renewable energy source only for a certain period of time. He said it would now be possible to produce electricity for a longer time. It generates electricity from solar cells during the day and from the hydroelectric power plant at night, using a battery that stores the electricity generated in daytime. It is also the best use of the existing resources of the dam, such as power transmission lines and high-voltage power stations, and reduces the cost of electricity.

Egat has completed installion of seven sets of solar panels and buoys in Sirindhorn Dam, concrete buoys of the underwater anchor system and the switchgear building. It is expected to be able to supply electricity to the commercial system in October 2021.

Egat is still waiting for the Ministry of Energy to approve the expansion of floating photovoltaic power generation from the current power development plan of 2,725 megawatts to 5,000 megawatts to meet the country's clean energy needs.

In the transportation sector, Egat has promoted the use of electric vehicles (EV) to reduce carbon emissions in a concrete way, such as installing 14 EleX by Egat EV charging stations and preparing to expand 34 more. In the future, there will be the development of the EleXA application for finding EV charging stations, Egat Wallbox for charging EVs at home or business places, including the development of the BackEN platform for the management of EV charging stations, the governor said.

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