German solar panel firm plans major Thai expansion
Conergy, a Germany-based solar-panel supplier, aims to double its installation capacity in Thailand from roughly 20 megawatts this year to 40MW in 2012, reflecting the bright prospects of the renewable-energy industry in the Kingdom.
The Energy Ministry recently adjusted its target for increasing the proportion of electricity generated from renewable energy to 25 per cent by 2022 from the previous projection of 20 per cent after the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in March, which put plans for nuclear development here in doubt. As a consequence, the demand to invest in renewable energy in Thailand is also expected to increase.
Alexander Lenz, president of Conergy Southeast Asia and the Middle East, yesterday said Thailand was the most active country in the renewable-energy business in this region. The strong support from the government for green energy makes the country an important market in Asean. Conergy so far has worked with three projects in the country with a combined installation capacity of 17.8MW. The company expects to double this capacity of work on hand to 40MW in 2012.
Conergy recently won a bid to provide turnkey solutions to set up a solar farm for Ch Karnchang, Thailand’s second-largest contractor, with installation capacity of 9MW in Pak Thong Chai district, Nakhon Ratchasima. The project is scheduled for completion in June.
Conergy then will have handled four projects in Thailand. The first three are Yanhee Solar Power in Ayutthaya province with 3MW capacity, Indorama’s solar farm in Lop Buri with 2.4MW, and the 12.4MW solar project of Solarta, a joint venture between Yanhee and Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding, which is in Nakhon Pathom.
Lenz said Conergy was in talks with many investors granted power purchase agreements from the Energy Ministry. These interests are expected to invest in solar-farm projects over the next few years.
Conergy last year generated revenue of €913 million (Bt37.5 billion). Revenue in the Asia-Pacific region during the first nine months of this year grew by 180 per cent year on year.
“Conergy ... entered the Thai market in 2007. The growth in this region is very good,” Lenz said. “Although Germany remains our major market, as half of the solar-farm projects in the world are in that country, the [German] government’s decision to cut subsidies is the key factor for us to seek growth in other regions such as Asia-Pacific.”
