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Sustainability: Embracing community-based tourism/Energy: Officials contemplating nuclear power/Direct renewable power sales/UOB and A Solar Partner/Maha Sarakham’s new waste-to-energy facility/To carry out green hydrogen study/Huawei supporting renewable energy transition/Water: PTTEP develops ocean data platform/Plastics: Southeast Asia’s first bio-based ethylene plant/Electric vehicles: GAC Aion opens electric vehicle assembly line/EV upstarts to battle Japanese heavyweights/Wildlife: Thai tiger numbers swell/Stop serving shark fin/‘Major market’ for wildlife trafficking/
Embracing community-based tourism as a way to thrive and survive amid climate change
At 47, Cheunjit “Chuen” Chuaysong stands as one of the last individuals born in Khao Sok National Park, Thailand — a rainforest with biodiversity rivaling the Amazon. She is among the few women wilderness guides in the area who have championed community-based tourism and successfully engaged the next generation in this effort.
Passionate about the natural world and her home, she also highlights the challenges her community faced when Khao Sok took on its status as a national park. The story of Khao Sok is complex, and it challenges assumptions about the role of national parks in conservation and their impact on local lives. Continued …
Officials contemplating nuclear power
Energy authorities are planning to conduct a feasibility study on small nuclear power plant development in line with the revised power development plan (PDP), which promotes greater use of clean energy to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, says an Energy Ministry official.
This type of nuclear power technology is called “small modular reactor” (SMR), with a capacity of up to 300 megawatts per unit, about one-third of the generating capacity of larger, traditional nuclear power reactors, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Continued …
Direct renewable power sales garner support
The state’s move to promote direct power purchase agreements (PPAs) is gathering momentum, with the authorities and business people to jointly conduct a study over a plan to support direct sales of renewable energy from producers to factories in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), says the EEC Office.
Peer-to-peer power trade in the renewables category has not been permitted in Thailand, but the National Energy Policy Council wants to run a direct PPA pilot project to attract foreign investors, especially those in data center and cloud service businesses, who demand a sufficient supply of clean energy for their operations. Continued …
UOB and A Solar Partner for SME Solar Rooftop Loans
UOB Thailand has recently partnered with A Solar Corp. to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) looking to decarbonize by adopting renewable energy through solar rooftop installations.
Building on the success of the U-Solar program, where the bank connects the entire solar ecosystem to make solar energy accessible for businesses and individuals, A Solar Corp. has joined the network of EPC contractors with UOB to offer SMEs installation, commissioning, operations, and after-sales service packages for solar power systems. Continued …
Maha Sarakham’s new waste-to-energy facility
A new energy-from-waste (EfW) facility, located in the province of Maha Sarakham in central northeastern Thailand, will feature state-of-the-art steam generation, combustion and environmental technologies from Babcock & Wilcox Renewable (B&W).
Anticipated to go into service in 2025, the plant is designed to generate electricity, as well as steam for industrial use. Continued …
Hermes, US firm to carry out green hydrogen study
Industrial estate developer Hermes Corp. is planning to jointly conduct a feasibility study with a U.S. company for a green hydrogen-derived electricity project to serve tech companies interested in investing in data centers and cloud services at the company’s new industrial estate in Chon Buri.
The move follows an earlier announcement by the company that it would jointly develop a 2.8-billlion-baht industrial complex in the same province with the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand to serve S-curve industries. Continued …
Huawei supporting Thailand’s renewable energy transition
Huawei is supporting Thailand’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 with its comprehensive digital power technology, including ultra-fast charging and green home solutions.
These solutions empower residents, industries and smart grids to transition seamlessly to clean energy, address global warming, and also translate to significant cost savings on fuel and electricity. Continued …
PTTEP develops ocean data platform to support marine conservation in the Gulf of Thailand
PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) has developed the marine science data platform called PTTEP Ocean Data Platform to collect marine science data, marking Thailand’s first time of using an offshore petroleum platform as a data collection station.
Under this initiative, meteorological data and oceanographic data such as air temperature, wind direction, water temperature, and ocean current mapping, etc., will be collected, in collaboration with several partners, including the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, Hydro-Informatics Institute (Public Organization) and Kasetsart University. Continued …
Southeast Asia’s first bio-based ethylene plant to open in Thailand
Biopolymer producer Braskem and petrochemical company SCG Chemicals have signed a joint venture agreement to create Braskem Siam Co. and open a new ethylene plant.
This joint venture aims to produce bio-ethylene from bio-ethanol dehydration and to commercialize “I’m green” bio-based polyethylene (PE). I’m green bio-based polyethylene is a plastic made from ethanol from sugar cane, a sustainably sourced renewable material. Continued …
GAC Aion opens Rayong electric vehicle assembly line
Chinese automaker GAC Aion officially opened its electric vehicle (EV) assembly line on Wednesday in Rayong province, its first such facility outside China. The company said the initiative aligns with its plan to expand into global markets and establish a new production base in Southeast Asia.
The EV assembly plant is situated in the Amata City Industrial Estate, within the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) project area. Covering a total area of 85,000 square meters, it is operated by Aion Automobile Manufacturing (Thailand) Co., also known as GAC Aion. Continued …
Chinese EV upstarts to battle Japanese heavyweights for Thailand’s pickup truck market
In the Thai beach town of Pattaya, travelers disembarking at the Bali Hai pier can hail a taxi or cram into a songthaew, a modified pickup truck. On a recent weekday, a row of shiny white songthaews stood at the pier, part of a pilot launch of Toyota Motor’s new electric vehicle truck that aims to shake up Thailand’s pickup truck market.
The Hilux Revo-e, a version of the popular workhorse Hilux, is the automaker’s first EV pickup truck. Toyota, which is under pressure from Chinese electric vehicle makers in Thailand, has said it will manufacture the Hilux Revo-e in the country by the end of 2025, and also export the vehicle. Its Japanese rival, Isuzu Motors, also plans to manufacture its electric pickup truck D-Max in Thailand, and begin exports from next year. Continued …
Thai tiger numbers swell in western forests
The tiger population density in a series of protected areas in western Thailand has more than doubled over the past two decades, according to new survey data.
Thailand is the final stronghold of the Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti), the subspecies having been extirpated from neighboring Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam over the past decade due to poaching, habitat loss and indiscriminate snaring. Continued …
NGOs call on the National Assembly of Thailand to stop serving shark fin
WildAid and Love Wildlife Foundation have submitted an open letter to the president of the National Assembly of Thailand to seek their urgent attention and action to cease serving and consuming shark fin at Parliament House and on celebratory occasions.
This call comes after Tossaporn Serirak, a member of Parliament from Phrae Province, and House of Representatives chairman of the Standing Committee on Public Health, shared a public post on his personal Facebook Page with a photo of a shark fin soup being ladled into a bowl accompanied with the text: “In the ocean, there are sharks, in the parliament there are… Should the Parliament House serve shark fin soup to members of the parliament? Stop catering food to MPs and senators.” Continued …
Cambodia accused of being ‘major market’ for wildlife trafficking
Thailand’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is conducting an investigation following the allegation by the Thai police that Cambodia is the main market for illegal wildlife trafficking.
Ministry of Agriculture spokeswoman Im Rachna said “the issue is being investigated”, adding that no further information would be released at this time. However, the accusation has not been denied or accepted yet. Continued …