Thailand’s commitment to modernizing its electrical network with a nationwide smart grid took another step forward in the last weeks with its order for 90 Siemens Energy wind turbines to be installed at two plants in the northeastern part of the country. While Thailand’s smart grid efforts haven’t been the stuff of industry media headlines, the country’s state electric utility,  Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), announced in April 2011 that it would invest $13 billion to develop a nationwide intelligent power network over the next 15 years, and later announced its Smart Grid Project roadmap to design a smart grid capable of integrating solar and wind power and supporting plug-in EVs.

The Siemens Energy wind turbines will provide a combined capacity of 200 megawatts of power for two power plants. Installation is expected to start in spring of this year.

Kay Weber

The market entry in Thailand proves that our business gains momentum in Asia,” said Kay Weber, CEO for the Siemens Wind Power Business Unit APAC. Weber added that the company expects more orders from the country. “The entry of Siemens on the Thai wind power market shows that our technologies are also much liked in Asia.” “We are confident that we will receive further orders from this region.”

The 90 wind turbines with a total rated capacity of 200 MW will be sited at two wind farms Korat I and Korat II in the province of Nakorn Rachasrima in northeastern Thailand. The customers, K.R.Two Company and First Korat Wind, are both subsidiaries of the Thai company Wind Energy Holding Co. Ltd. The orders include delivery, construction and inauguration of the type SWT-2.3-101 turbines. The rotor blades and nacelles will be manufactured in China. Construction of the two projects will begin in the spring, and the turbines are to go into operation at the end of 2012.

With a rotor diameter of 101 meters, the new powerful wind turbine SWT-2.3-101 is ideally suited to sites with low to medium wind speeds. It will provide more power at lower wind speeds, significantly increasing the return on investment of wind farms where there is less than optimum wind speed.

Thailand only has a wind-energy capacity of 5MW. The country has a target of 800MW installed wind capacity by 2022. To reach this goal — and realise its ambition to become south-east Asia’s wind power hub — the country has come up with an incentive regime designed to attract international investors. The government supports wind power by supplementing the normal electricity tariff with 4.5 Baht/kWh ($0.15/kWh) for farms under 50MW and 3.5 Baht/kWh for larger projects.

 

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