The Chiang Rai Solar Company project is said to be the largest solar power plant in northern Thailand, covering 24 hectares of mountainous terrain.
REC says this is the first Thai PV project to use REC solar modules. 7,200 households will benefit from the Chiang Rai power plant. The steep terrain proved to be a challenge and the solar panels had to be mounted on a special concrete structure. The power plant is connected to a high-voltage overhead line that already feeds 15,000 MWh annually into the Thai grid.
Chiang Rai Solar Company is a joint venture between Sonnedix and CK Power, an affiliate of CH Karchang, Thailands second-largest construction company. REC has already supplied solar modules for Sonnedix PV installations in Europe, thus making the choice relatively easy for Sonnedix. "REC solar panels were among the most reliable options for weather and climate conditions in Thailand and to comply with government regulations," said Franck Constant, Chairman of Sonnedix.
The Thai regulations are also attractive for PV at the moment. Jose Luis Martin, Project Development Manager Thailand, REC, explained, "Regulations are highly favorable at the moment. Power Purchase Agreements guarantee premiums on feed-in tariffs to incentivize new solar installations. Thailand is an exciting market and a magnet for solar investment."
REC, moreover, decided to move into the growing Thai PV market by opening an office in Bangkok. Martin added, "The best way to serve a market is simply to be there. A local presence in the country testifies that were taking a long-term view to our business activities in Southeast Asia."
Popular content
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
Share
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.