Least cost energy planning in Thailand:A case of biogas upgrading in palm oil industry

Thailand is currently the world’s fourth largest producer of crude palm oil. The palm oil mill effluent is proposed to beused for biogas production. A value added option is then proposed by increasing thermal efficiency of the biogas by removingCO2 content and increasing the percentage of methane, consequently turning the biogas in to green gas. In this study, thebiogas and upgrading process for electricity generation with the subsidy or adder in the long term planning is presented. Thisanalysis uses the MARKAL-based least-cost energy system as an analytical tool. The objective of this study is to investigateupgrading biogas with a selected water scrubbing technique featuring least-cost energy planning. The co-benefit aspect ofbiogas and biogas upgrading project is analyzed by given an adder of 0.3 Baht/kWh. The target of total electricity generationfrom biogas is 60 MW in 2012. The result shows that green gas will account for approximately 44.91 million m3 in 2012 andincrease to 238.89 million m3 in 2030. The cumulative CO2 emission during 2012-2030 is 2,354.92 thousand tonnes of CO2.Results show that under the given adders the upgrading project is competitive with the conventional technologies in electricitygeneration planning

Multi-objective and multi-criteria optimization for power generation expansion planning with CO2 mitigation in Thailand

In power generation expansion planning, electric utilities have encountered the major challenge of environmental awareness whilst being concerned with budgetary burdens. The approach for selecting generating technologies should depend on economic and environmental constraint as well as externalities. Thus, the multi-objective optimization becomes a more attractive approach. This paper presents a hybrid framework of multi-objective optimization and multi-criteria decision making to solve power generation expansion planning problems in Thailand. In this paper, CO2 emissions and external cost are modeled as a multi-objective optimization problem. Then the analytic hierarchy process is utilized to determine thecompromised solution. For carbon capture and storage technology, CO2 emissions can be mitigated by 74.7% from the least cost plan and leads to the reduction of the external cost of around 500 billion US dollars over the planning horizon. Results indicate that the proposed approach provides optimum cost-related CO2 mitigation plan as well as external cost

Waste to Electricity Generation in Thailand: Technology, Policy, Generation Cost, and Incentives of Investment

Waste-to-Energy is a challenging management in developing countries. There are many different technologies to generate electricity or heat from wastes. However, reuse and recycling are first prioritized as left a fraction of waste can be used as energy recovery. The initial cost to generate electricity from solid waste incineration is prohibitively high due to its cost of advance technology and the cost of equipment to control emissions. Thailand is agricultural based country and has experiences of many technologies to utilize waste to energy. Landfill gas and thermal gasification are increasingly interesting alternatives to municipal solid waste incineration and it is recommended that biogas technology is suitable and is cost effective in management of organic waste or animal manure waste. This research studied in existing technologies in terms of electricity generated from waste, long term government policy, carbon dioxide reduction, electricity cost production and incentive investment. Until recently, Thailand has generated electricity from waste of 47 MW, from the target in 2021 with target capacity of 400 MW. Since Thailand has an incentive investment of electric power generated from renewable sources and wastes in terms of feed-in tariffs it can motivate private investors to invest and produce electricity to the grid. To generate electricity from waste it also has potential in reducing CO2 reduction and creates more potential jobs. In various agricultural based industries such as palm oil industry, cassava industry, in animal farm and in landfills gas have potential to generate electricity in Thailand. In case of landfill gas with the installed capacity of 3.0 MW, it can generate electricity of 13,492 MWh per year and produce potential of selling carbon credits of 60,532 ton-CO2 per year

Energy Saving and CO2 Mitigation of Electric Vehicle (EV) Technology in Lao Transport Sector

The high increase in number of vehicles in Lao transport sector in the medium and long-term happens due to continuous growth in transport service demand, which in turn will increase energy consumption in the transport sector. Electric vehicle (EV) technologies can inhibit increment in energy demand growth and energy-related CO2 emissions in the transport sector; however, cost remains a barrier for the technology diffusion. In this study, a stock vehicle turnover model of the passenger vehicles was developed to assess the potential of EV technology employment for energy saving and CO2 mitigation in the case of Lao PDR. Three vehicle technologies of EV were chosen to develop countermeasure scenarios. They were the battery electric vehicles (BEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). The Long-rang Energy Alternative Planning (LEAP) model was used to forecast sector-wise transport demand until 2050, considering the base year as 2010. Altogether three scenarios were developed namely, the business as usual (BAU) scenario that relies on conventional internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), and two alternative scenarios, namely CM-R and CM-I scenarios, targeting the penetration of (i) BEVs, (ii) HEVs, and (iii) PHEVs. In addition to the analysis of emission mitigation and energy system impacts, co-benefits of CO2 mitigation are also investigated in terms of emissions of local air pollutants under modelled scenarios. Results show that in the BAU scenario, energy consumption in the transport sector will increase from 548 ktoe in 2010 to 2,823 ktoe in 2050 while CO2 emission will increase from 1,656 kt-CO2 in 2010 to 8,511 kt-CO2 in 2050. However, in countermeasure scenarios, the high penetration of EV technologies will result in reduction of CO2 emissions when compared with the BAU scenario. In co-benefit analysis, reduction in emissions of other air pollutants was also observed

Scenario-Based Analysis of CO2 Mitigation Potential in the Transport Sector: Comparison between Lao PDR and Thailand

This paper presents an analysis of CO2 mitigation potential in the transport sector between Lao PDR and Thailand. The Long-rang Energy Alternative Planning (LEAP) model was used to forecast transport service demand, energy consumption and CO2 emission of two selected countries during the period from 2010-2050. In this study, a stock vehicle turnover model was developed to assess the potentials of energy saving and CO2 mitigation of policies relevant to the transport sector in Lao PDR and Thailand. For this analysis, three mitigation actions were selected, namely, 1) fuel switching, 2) advanced technology and 3) modal shift to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Results of analyses show that, in the business as usual (BAU) scenario during 2010 to 2050 for Laos, it can save 9.4% of total energy consumption in 2050 while the cumulative CO2 emissions will be reduced by 15% in 2050. For Thailand, the energy consumption in the transport sector will increase by approximately two folds. However, in CO2 countermeasure scenario, the cumulative energy savings in 2050 will be approximately 5.2% while the cumulative CO2 mitigation in 2050 will be about 14.6% when compared to the BAU scenario

Energy Efficiency Improvement and CO2 Mitigation in Residential Sector: Comparison between Indonesia and Thailand

AbstractThis paper presents energy efficiency improvement and CO2 mitigation in the residential sector between Indonesia and Thailand. The Long-range Energy Alternative Planning (LEAP) model was used to analyze future energy demand and CO2 emissions during 2010-2050. This study applied the Demand Side Management (DSM) options to reduce CO2 emissions in the residential sector by implementing energy efficiency improvements such as efficient lighting, cooking, cooling and entertainment devices. The results indicate that in the business as usual (BAU) scenarios between 2010 and 2050, for Indonesia the energy demand will increase from 18147 ktoe in 2010 to 36044 ktoe in 2050. By adopting these scenarios, energy will be saved by 27.6% of total energy demand in 2050 while cumulative CO2 emission can be reduced by 16% of overall CO2 emissions in 2050. For Thailand, the energy demand will increase from 1879.1 ktoe in 2010 to 3167.8 ktoe in 2050. The energy will be save by 15.5% of total energy demand in 2050 and cumulative CO2 emission can be reduced by 13.36% of overall CO2 emission in 2050

Thermodynamic and Economic Analysis of 1.4 MWe Rice Husk Fired Cogeneration in Thailand ,

Abstract Rice husk is a residue from rice milling process. Rice husk can be used in an economical way to meet the energy demand within the rice milling industry by using rice husk as fuel for heat and power production to supply the heat and electricity in the processes, and to produce surplus electricity for selling to the national grid. Two cases of the study: thermal-match and rice husk-match of different energy utilization are considered for economic evaluation of power plants to meet different demand categories. The capacity of the plant is 576 tons paddy/day. The total load of thermal energy consumption is 1,062 MJ/ton paddy and the electrical energy consumption of the rice mill is 6,518 MWh/year. The total capital cost of the thermal-match cogeneration plant is 1 million US$while the total capital cost of the rice husk-match cogeneration is 1.24 million US$. Results show that the rice husk-match cogeneration is more economically feasible than the thermal-match cogeneration. The capacity of back pressure steam-fired boiler is 18 tons/hour of steam at 25 bar (absolute) and 400 o C. The rice husk-match cogeneration can generate power of 1,432 kW while the thermal-match cogeneration can produce power only 923 kW. The economic analyses in terms of the net present value (NPV), simple pay-back period (PBP), and internal rate of return (IRR) are also evaluated. Results show that the rice husk-match cogeneration has NPV of 0.30 million US$/year, PBP of 3.7 years and IRR of 27$/year, PBP of 5.5 years and IRR of 17%. The two cases of the study are based on 180 days/year of operation of rice mill cogeneration. Results of the study also show that rice husk-match cogeneration is more profitable than the thermal-match cogeneration

Optimization of Indonesian Geothermal Energy Resources for Future Clean Electricity Supply: A Case of Java-Madura-Bali System

Abstract Total of geothermal potential for power generation in Indonesia is estimated to be around 28 GW, equal to 40% of world's potential. Around 36% of Indonesian geothermal potential is located in Java and Bali Islands. In 2006, total installed capacity of geothermal power plants was only 852 MW or 3% of total potential in the country. The Philippines, in comparison, has higher geothermal utilization for electricity generation. It is around 12.7% of the national capacity. Meanwhile, Indonesian government's current policy concerning the power sector is to promote coal utilization. However, coal power generation faces environmental emission issue. This study examined utilization of geothermal energy for future electricity supply expansion in Java-Madura-Bali (Jamali) system, the largest electricity consumer in Indonesia, by using Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning (LEAP) model from 2006 to 2025. This study uses three scenarios of geothermal utilization to maintain reserve margin of 30%, according to the government plan, in 2025. In the first scenario, it was added with 50 MW of geothermal power plant, in the second scenario 100 MW of geothermal power plant was added, and in the last scenario 124 MW was added to the existing capacity. It was found that in the end of the period, by implementing the first scenario, the geothermal capacity increases by 5.7 GW. In the second and the third scenarios, the estimated increase is 8.2 GW and about 10 GW respectively. It was also found that in 2025 CO 2 emission reduction in each scenario were 12.9%, 21.5%, and 25% respectively, compared to the BAU scenario. Additionally, in the end of projection, the costs of each scenario were 6.6 Billion USD, 6.8 Billion USD and 7.1 Billion USD respectively, compared to 6.3 Billion USD in the BAU scenario. By considering externality from power generation, the first, second and third scenarios reduce external costs by 46.3, 71.6 and 80.8 million USD respectively, when compared with the BAU scenario. However, by including the external costs in the total cost, it does not make all geothermal scenarios cheaper than the BAU scenario

The Potential of Demand Response Measures of Commercial Buildings in Thailand

AbstractThe aim of this research is to estimate the potential of demand response measures applying to commercial building in Thailand based on the actual test result from 3 existing buildings in Bangkok. The potential measures can be divided into 2 main categories namely self-generation using existing standby generators and reducing their actual demand using various techniques. The initial estimation point out that the maximum of 2.1 MW can be reduced from these 3 tested building. However, the actual experiment shows that only 1.76 MW can be achieved. The difference of the peak reduction mainly comes from not only the in-accurate estimation of the standby generator ability in both capability and durability but also the effect on the comfort condition in the building. Therefore, the appropriate estimated level of demand reduction from the building should approximately 83% of technical potential. The final recommendation from the building owner is the building should adopt DR scheme and able to reduced their demand to some extent. However, it depends on the level of benefit offered to the building

Energy system transformation for attainability of net zero emissions in Thailand

This study analyzed energy and technological implications in the energy sector to attain net zero emissions in Thailand by 2050. The study used AIM/Enduse, a bottom-up type energy system model, as an analytical tool. A business-as-usual and a net zero emission scenario are analyzed. Net zero emission scenarios are assessed in terms of net zero greenhouse gas emissions (NZE-GHG). Results show that the GHG emissions from the energy sector in the BAU would reach 635 MtCO2e in 2050. Decarbonization of the energy sector and transition towards net zero emission by 2050 in Thailand would require rapid deployment of renewable energy sources like solar, wind and biomass. In net zero scenario, installed capacity of solar PV and wind for power generation in 2050 would reach 64 GW and 40 GW, respectively. In addition, this study assesses the role of green hydrogen in achieving net zero target. The 200 GW solar capacity would be required to produce green hydrogen for decarbonizing the transport, industrial as well as power sector. The high carbon sequestration from LULUCF sector in Thailand will make it possible to reach net zero emission with carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technology in the energy sector. Additional bioenergy or CCS technologies will need to be deployed in the power sector if the renewables cannot be deployed to the desirable extent