Smart-grid delays put Thailand’s investment appeal at risk, Business leaders warn

Thailand risks losing investment if slow approvals and restrictive power-market rules continue to limit access to clean, reliable electricity, business leaders have warned.

Executives from the energy, industrial-estate and property sectors said smart grids were no longer simply an infrastructure upgrade. They had become central to Thailand’s ability to attract factories, data centres and other energy-intensive industries.

The proposals were presented at the “KT Dialogue New Horizon Chapter 2: Smart Grid — Transforming the Renewable-Energy Network of the Future” forum on August 28, 2026.

The forum brought together representatives from the public and private sectors as well as academics to discuss the future of Thailand’s electricity network.

For industrial users, even a momentary fluctuation in power supply can damage machinery or interrupt production, said Nopadej Karnasuta, president for Thailand, Malaysia and Energy & Industrial Solutions Business at B.Grimm Power Public Company Limited.

Nopadej said B.Grimm had developed a smart transmission network extending 220 kilometres and described the company as one of the world’s largest developers in the field.

Five changes sought by B.Grimm

Nopadej proposed five measures to expand renewable-energy use and modernise the power system:

1. Create a shared data system: Government agencies and private operators should work from a single, transparent set of energy data.
    
2. Open the grid through Third Party Access: Third Party Access, or TPA, would allow independent participants to use the electricity network, linking industrial demand more freely with renewable-energy producers.
    
3. Support area-based energy systems: Industrial estates should be able to combine rooftop, floating and farm-based solar generation and facilitate peer-to-peer electricity trading.
    
4. Ease restrictive regulations: Private power lines should be permitted to cross public areas within industrial estates, as they can in Japan. Floating-solar projects should also be allowed to sell electricity to more than one customer.
    
5. Shorten approval times: Energy-related approvals can take as long as six years, although a new factory may require only three to six months to build.

Nopadej said smarter networks could reduce transmission losses and maintenance costs while extending the life of electrical equipment. With industry accounting for about 30% of Thailand’s gross domestic product, he estimated those savings at THB28 billion a year.

He said an energy ecosystem incorporating battery storage and more open electricity trading could generate another THB10 billion annually.

He separately put "the overall economic value of smart-grid development at THB30 billion and said improved production efficiency and lower system costs could reduce electricity charges by 20.3 satang."

Clean power becomes an investment condition

Akarin Prathuangsit, chief executive officer of WHA Utilities and Power Public Company Limited, said the competition for international investment had changed fundamentally.

Low labour costs and investment incentives were once decisive. Investors now place greater weight on whether they can obtain clean electricity at a competitive price and whether the local grid is dependable.

"Net-zero commitments have also become part of international trade, Akarin said. If Thai suppliers cannot reduce their emissions through clean power, their operations could add to the Scope 3 emissions reported by overseas customers, potentially putting future orders at risk."

Speed was therefore critical. Although the government had begun recognising the problem and preparing policies, Akarin warned that investors which passed over Thailand for better-prepared destinations might not return.

He proposed using industrial estates as regulatory sandboxes instead of waiting for every part of the national electricity system to be reformed simultaneously.

Under the model, an estate could serve as an energy aggregator and facilitate electricity trading among businesses within its boundaries. Successful trials could then be expanded elsewhere.

Power infrastructure should also be planned backwards from the expected requirements of new industries, including the round-the-clock demand created by data centres, he said.

Akarin called for improvements to the Enhanced Single Buyer framework and the creation of a flexible “Policy Fast Track”.

This would allow emerging clean-energy technologies, such as electricity-generating films, to be tested and traded more freely in urban areas with high power demand.

Data centres and EVs reshape demand

Chatrapon Sripratum, chief executive officer of Energy Absolute Public Company Limited, said Thailand’s future electricity system had to deliver three things:

 

1. Affordable electricity to preserve the country’s competitiveness.
    
2. Clean electricity, because low prices alone would not satisfy international trade and investment requirements.
    
3. Reliable electricity, without which neither affordable nor clean power would be sufficient.

Thailand had several advantages, he said, including a strong transmission network, abundant sunlight and extensive flat land suitable for solar generation. The existing grid could also support the expansion of electric-vehicle charging infrastructure.

Chatrapon said the cost of solar generation had fallen below THB1 per unit for long-term contracts of 20 years.

Solar power nevertheless remained dependent on weather conditions, making battery storage essential to system stability. Battery technology, he added, had now reached commercial break-even levels.

"A smart grid must manage both hardware and software so that electricity supply can respond efficiently to changing patterns of use."

Those patterns are becoming increasingly complex. Industrial companies need affordable clean power whose origin can be verified, while data centres require electricity 24 hours a day.

EV charging will also create large, concentrated loads that could fundamentally change how the grid is managed.

Batteries alter household energy economics

Asst Prof Dr Kessara Thanyalakpark, managing director of Sena Development Public Company Limited, said household participation depended on three elements: information about energy use, the ability to control consumption or generation, and clear visibility of the results.

Sena was among the first Thai property developers to install solar systems in housing developments. It has equipped nearly 2,000 homes over the past 17 years while testing several residential-energy models.

The company’s clean-energy housing concept has evolved from solar panels alone to an integrated package comprising solar generation, battery storage and EV charging.

For homes priced from THB4 million, Sena installs batteries during construction instead of leaving buyers to arrange them later.

Purchasing equipment across an entire development lowers costs, gives the developer greater bargaining power and allows buyers to include the system in their mortgage.

During the day, rooftop solar power can charge the battery while residents are away. Electricity is sent back to the grid only after the battery is full.

Although an indicative buyback rate of THB2.20 per unit is lower than the retail tariff paid by households, storing daytime power for use at night can offer greater value to residents.

Kessara said pricing was a powerful influence on household behaviour. Technology provided the tools, but consumers were more likely to change how they used electricity when the economic benefit was clear.

The most difficult barrier was no longer the technology itself, she added, but complicated government rules that kept consumers from participating fully in the changing energy system.

Source: Bangkokbiznews