Article by : Pornphimol Winyuchakrit (Ph.D.)
Sustainable Energy and Low Carbon Research Unit
Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology, Thammasat University
What is “Clean energy”?
“Clean energy” means energy that does not cause pollution effecting to the environment. However, when referring the “clean energy”, its definition is broader than “renewable energy” or “alternative energy”. For example, under the consideration of the clean coal or coal with carbon capture storage (CCS) technologies, even these systems use coal to be fuel in the combustion process, but the system unreleases pollution from this combustion. Therefore, these technologies are clean energy, but not renewable energy.
Why do we need “Clean energy”?
It is well known today that people
around the world are a lot of resilience and awareness using clean energy by
the reason that the amount of fossil resources is continuously depleting due to
increasing energy demand. Also, burning of abundant fossil fuels from the past
is the main cause of climate change, affecting the increase in average global
temperature. Pollutants releasing from fossil fuel combustion in transportation
as well as factories in the big cities, causing a big problem in the present as
the high amount of 2.5-micron particle matter or PM 2.5[1]
also should be counted. This problem not only occurs in the big cities but also
in the medium to small cities as in many provinces of Thailand, i.e. Bangkok,
Saraburi, Chonburi, Ratchaburi, Chiang Mai, etc.
Direction of Thailand’s energy policy to clean energy investment
According to the above important problems, promoting use of clean energy has been doing throughout the world, including Thailand. During the past few years, as the target of the Thailand’s Alternative Energy Development Plan or AEDP, using of biomass, solar, wind and hydro has been promoted to be energy resources generating both heat and electricity. Implementation of solar energy is very successful, indicating that direction of clean energy policy in Thailand is improved clearly. Especially, approval of “Solar roof” installation for free electricity generation together with expanding of smart grid system are encouraging the public sector to participate more electricity production.
Besides, during the end of last January, the National Energy Policy Committee (NEPC) approved the new Power Development Plan 2019-2038 or PDP2018 with increasing target of electricity generation from solar energy, but it is in opposite direction for biomass, wind and hydro, compared to the previous plan. Now, the new AEDP is under developing to be in line with the new PDP. This indicates that the policy of promoting electricity generation from solar energy and solar energy investment market is to be more developed to achieve the target of new PDP.
Developing trends of clean energy technology to manufacturing industry
Nevertheless, it is certain that when we talk about power generation system, the energy storage is another important issue that cannot be discussed. Regarding the encouraging electricity consumers to play a role in electricity generation, the consumer can manage the use of electricity suitable for their own behavior. Energy storage system can store the excess produced electricity for using during the desired time, helping to manage energy consumption efficiently. Not only Thailand’s market is aware of development in this energy storage system, but renewable energy and clean energy markets in many countries are also moving in the same direction. The illustration below indicates that although the direction of RE development in many countries is focusing on solar and wind, which are plentiful and unlimited resources, many countries with such technological development such as United States, China and Belgium begin to focus on development of energy storage system instead. Therefore, development of energy storage system that can store large amount and charge quickly is one of the most challenging issues for the manufacturing sector that should plan and develop the production line supporting more increasing demand in the future.
Sauce: Deign, J., “29 Renewable Energy Markets You Need to Watch Out for in 2019”. Retrieved January 30, 2019, from https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/29-renewable-energy-markets-you-need-to-watch-out-for-in-20191#gs.i5vIARny
[1] Burning not only fossil fuels, but also garbage or agricultural waste in open areas causes PM2.5 problems. The occurrence of PM2.5 problem that is higher than the standard value normally occurs in stagnant weather, calm air and inverse air near the ground. Then, large amount of pollution is accumulated. Such phenomena occur on certain days during winter to early summer.