Environment

Thailand to put world’s largest floating solar farm into use this June

The facility, which generates power on a water surface of 72 hectares, was originally scheduled for operation in December last year, but the launch was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Published

4 months ago

January 25, 2021

Bui Dung

Bangkok (VNA) – State-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) expects to operate a 45-megawatt floating solar farm it claims to be the largest in the world this June.

Egat signed a contract with B.Grimm Power Plc, which will serve as an engineering, procurement and construction firm to develop photovoltaic panels worth 842 million baht (28 million USD) on Sirindhorn Dam in Ubon Ratchathani, where an Egat hydropower plant is operating.

The floating solar farm is designed to be a hybrid system, working in tandem with 36MW of hydropower generation to increase optimisation capacity.

The facility, which generates power on a water surface of 72 hectares, was originally scheduled for operation in December last year, but the launch was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Local media quoted Chatchai Mawong, Egat’s director for hydro and renewable energy power plant development, as saying that construction is now 82 percent complete. Workers began installing the first lot of floating solar panels in December 2020 and are speeding up installation.

Under the 2018 National Power Development Plan, Egat is committed to building more floating solar farms on all nine of its dams nationwide over the next 20 years, with a combined capacity of 2,725MW.

It is also planning to adopt a modern energy management and energy storage systems, crucial to store electricity produced by solar panels./.

VNA

Source link

Environment

Southeast Asia remains a hot spot for plastic pollution

The use of plastics is deeply embedded in our daily lives, in everything from grocery bags and cutlery to water bottles and sandwich wrap. But the quest for convenience has gone too far and we are failing to use plastics efficiently, wasting valuable resources and harming the environment.

Published

1 month ago

April 6, 2021

Victoria Kwakwa

Southeast Asia has emerged as a hot spot for plastic pollution because of rapid urbanization and a rising middle class , whose consumption of plastic products and packaging is growing due to their convenience and versatility.

(more…)

Environment

Diamonds are forever but “James Bond Island” in Phang Nga Bay may not

Published

1 month ago

April 2, 2021

Boris Sullivan

Thailand’s Department of Mineral Resources will assess the stability of the limestone karst towers, which make up the chain of islands, after several similar rock formations, in both the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea, have collapsed.

(more…)

Environment

Climate Change: how Asia-Pacific will affect the whole planet

Pursuing a green recovery in the aftermath of COVID-19 might sound daunting, but it’s actually a great opportunity to direct recovery spending into stimulating sustainable jobs and growth and fight climate change.

Published

2 months ago

March 26, 2021

Headline Editor

Forget the poetic flap of a butterfly’s wings in Beijing causing rain in Central Park. Climate change issues in Asia-Pacific are measured in superlatives. The world’s biggest population. Two of the three largest carbon dioxide-emitting countries and the largest share of emissions globally.

(more…)