The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) aims to increase its power generation capacity from floating solar farms at its nine hydropower plants to 10 gigawatts by 2037, with investment of almost 300 billion baht.
The government earlier approved Egat's plan to develop 2,725 megawatts from floating solar farms at the nine dams.
Egat is waiting for approval of its capacity expansion from a committee drafting the 2023 national power development plan, said Boonyanit Wongrukmit, governor of Egat.
The authority already finished developing its first floating solar farm, with a capacity of 45MW, at the Sirindhorn Dam in the northeastern province of Ubon Ratchathani.
Egat is building a second floating solar farm with a capacity of 24MW at the Ubonrattana Dam in Khon Kaen, also in the Northeast. This project includes the installation of an energy storage system and weather forecasting equipment to ensure more stable power supply from the solar farm, said Mr Boonyanit.
The development of floating solar farms at seven other dams is in the pipeline.
He said Egat expects it can speed up the process of building other facilities because of the government's campaign for carbon neutrality, a balance between carbon dioxide emission and absorption.
According to Mr Boonyanit, floating solar farms not only help the government cut carbon dioxide emissions, but they can also support the development of new tourist attractions at Egat dams. The authority built a 415-metre walkway at the Sirindhorn dam to draw tourists.
Wattanapong Kurovat, director-general of the Energy Policy and Planning Office, said solar power, especially rooftop solar panels, is becoming more popular after a surge in energy costs based on fossil fuels.
The development costs of a solar power facility total 30 million baht per 1MW, down from 200 million baht per 1MW a decade ago, he said.
One limitation for solar is it only generates power in the daytime, for around 12 hours, Mr Wattanapong said. To deal with this shortcoming, authorities are supporting projects that combine solar farms and energy storage systems, hoping they can better compete with fossil-fuel power generation.
The Energy Regulatory Commission's 5.2GW renewable scheme covers bio-gas (335MW), wind power (1,500MW), on-ground solar farms (2,368MW), and on-ground solar farms with energy storage systems (1,000MW).