Energy Talk : Renewable Energy Focus By EGCO Group

               So, Thailand is located in equatorial zone which could gain higher average solar power than other areas of the globe. Our country’s Northeast and a part of Southern Central have high potential to generate electricity from sunlight up to 10,000 megawatts.

               Moreover, Thailand is a pioneer of ASEAN’s solar power plants which EGCO Group is amongst Independent Power Producers (IPPs) investing and developing in many energy projects. Nowadays, EGCO Group has 7 solar power plants with a total contracted capacity of 94 megawatts equity. Lopburi Solar is the first solar power plant operated by a subsidiary of EGCO Group, Natural Energy Development Company Limited (NED).

               NED is currently one of the world’s largest solar photovoltaic projects. It has operated and managed 2 solar power plants – Lopburi Solar with a capacity of 55 megawatts and Wang Ploeng Solar with a capacity of 8 megawatts. The total capacity of the two solar power plants accounted 63 megawatts. Built on about 1,400 rais in Lopburi province, it has been using more than 500,000 solar panels and started commercial operation from 2011 and 2013 respectively.

               Major solar power plants often use Polycrystalline type of solar cells, but in Lopburi Solar and Wang Ploeng Solar have a different way. They selected Thin Film solar photovoltaic panels because of the distinctive features such as only 0.5 microns, lightweight, high resistance to heat and lower installation costs. With these benefits, it’s also suitable for a mega project.

               With the obstacle in the area’s soil structure of hard rock, the two power plants’ solar cells are installed on the special mounting structure offering resistance to wind pressure and earthquake. They also are on the material specified for the mounting structure called “Super Dyma” which prevents the corrosion by special coating technology.

               Although Lopburi Solar and Wang Ploeng Solar have installed Fixed System which often gain solar power just around 5 - 6 hours per day, but in preinstalled stage they have calculated suitable installation degree by average sunlight density for maximum efficiency. With a wide range of advantages like low cost of installation and simple maintenance, so this installation type of solar cells is preferred to use among Thailand’s solar power plants.