Thailand is approaching a pivotal moment in shaping its energy future. The draft Power Development Plan 2024 (PDP2024) — currently awaiting finalisation — outlines the country’s power strategy for the next two decades. But as it stands, the draft leans heavily on legacy thermal infrastructure, including continued reliance on fossil fuels.
In this draft, policymakers have bet on unproven technologies like carbon capture and hydrogen co-firing, many of which remain technically uncertain or prohibitively expensive.
Last year, Climate Finance Network Thailand (CFNT) raised concerns over these choices, calling for a faster and more cost-effective pathway towards decarbonisation. Now, a new voice has joined the conversation.
BloombergNEF’s (BNEF) May 2025 report, “Thailand: Turning Point for a Net-Zero Power Grid”, presents a compelling, data-driven alternative grounded in current market realities.
At the report’s launch in Bangkok, I had the opportunity to speak with Shantanu Jaiswal, BNEF’s Head of South and Southeast Asia Research, who presented the report’s findings. The panel discussion also included insights from Dr Supawan Saelim of Agora Energiewende, Arthit Vechakij of the Federation of Thai Industries, and Ms Chaphamon Chantarapongphan of Super Energy Corporation — underscoring the urgency and relevance of the findings for Thailand’s energy direction.
Based on the report and the discussion that followed, here are five key takeaways that policymakers and energy planners should seriously consider:
1. Solar is Thailand’s cheapest new power source even with storage
Thailand no longer needs to wait for future breakthroughs. The cheapest form of new electricity is already here. Utility-scale solar is now the lowest-cost option for new power generation in Thailand. As of 2024, solar projects delivered electricity at (0.91–2.06 baht/kWh), which undercuts both coal and gas.
Crucially, even when coupled with four-hour battery storage, solar remains more competitive than building new fossil fuel plants.
This cost advantage is further amplified under Thailand’s pass-through pricing system. Fossil fuels expose consumers to global price shocks — especially in today’s volatile geopolitical environment.
Solar power, by contrast, offers price certainty and energy security. After all, the sun, never sends a fuel bill.
2. Storage is critical, but needs clear market signals
A major challenge for scaling up solar and wind power is managing intermittency. On-and-off is a major factor that drives consumers, especially commercial buyers from solar power. Therefore, renewable energy requires storage to shift power from times of oversupply, like midday solar peaks, to periods of high demand, such as evening hours. While Thailand’s solar tenders now require developers to include storage, this bundling approach is insufficient to unlock broader storage investments. The BNEF recommends launching dedicated storage auctions. These would allow investors to profit from energy arbitrage — buying electricity when it’s cheap and selling it when it’s needed — making clean energy more reliable and commercially attractive.
Importantly, battery costs are falling fast. The BNEF expects solar-plus-storage to become the cheapest source of energy generation in Thailand by 2025. Still, without policy support, the technology will remain underutilised.
3. Grid access needs reform
Today, Thailand’s enhanced single-buyer system gives the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) a monopoly to control the market. This limits competition and stifles innovation. Independent producers face high barriers to sell renewable energy directly to customers.
To unlock private-sector investment and scale renewable deployment, the government must allow third-party access and direct procurement. Transparent, cost-reflective wheeling charges — meaning, the fees for using the grid — are essential. But before that, Thailand must improve data transparency, given that the current state of the grid is a black box. Making grid data publicly available would enable better project planning and smoother delivery of clean energy to corporate buyers.
Grid modernisation is not optional; it’s the backbone of a high-renewables future.
4. Don’t waste resources on false solutions
PDP2024 places a significant emphasis on a hydrogen co-generator as a way forward for Thailand to reduce emissions and reach its zero-emission target. The hydrogen choice raises a question, as there is limited evidence of its economic viability.
If not enough, PDP2024 also champions other questionable options such as carbon capture, while some private operators are exploring ammonia co-firing. Carbon capture is included as an action plan of Thailand’s Long-Term Low Greenhouse Gas Emission Development Strategy.
The BNEF finds hydrogen co-generator and carbon capture not cost-effective for the power sector.
For example, hydrogen-fired power could cost over US$200 (6,530 baht)/MWh by 2030. That’s three times the price of solar-plus-storage. The cost of avoiding one tonne of carbon dioxide through hydrogen co-firing could exceed US$270. In comparison, direct use of renewables achieves deeper emission cuts at lower cost.
These technologies may have a role in hard-to-abate sectors like shipping or cement. But for Thailand’s power sector, they represent expensive distractions that risk locking the country into inefficient and high-carbon infrastructure.
5. Streamline permitting and embrace adaptive planning
One of the biggest obstacles to Thai energy transition isn’t technology — it’s bureaucracy. Despite solar projects being quick to deploy, developers face lengthy and confusing permitting procedures across multiple ministries.
Experts at the BNEF event called for simplifying and accelerating these processes. They also urged a shift toward more adaptive, market-responsive planning. Instead of revising capacity targets every three to five years, Thailand should move to more frequent updates that reflect rapidly evolving technologies and market conditions.
At this current juncture, speed is no longer just a luxury — it is now a necessity. The faster Thailand builds clean power, the lower its cumulative emissions and the greater its long-term economic benefits.
Thailand has pledged to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and net-zero emissions by 2065. But goals without action are just good intentions. As the PDP2024 draft will shape our power sector for the next two decades, the country must get it right.
It’s important to consider that the BNEF’s report does not call for radical change. Rather, it calls for rational choices, backed by robust data and market logic. The tools exist. The economics are sound. What’s needed now is an alignment between ambition and action.
Clean, reliable, and affordable power is no longer a far-off ideal. It’s on the grid, and Thailand just needs to plug it in.
First Published on Bangkok Post
