Active. Utility scale solar plus storage, supplier market entry, and a gap between plan targets and actual procurement.
The draft 2024 power development plan targets 10,485 MW and 26,010 MWh of battery storage by 2037. The starting point is two operational pilot projects, 16 MW and 16 MWh in Chaiyaphum and 21 MW and 21 MWh in Lopburi.20 The transmission utility also plans three additional pumped hydro projects on top of three operating facilities of roughly 8 GWh, for a fleet of about 4 GW and 27.84 GWh under the same draft plan.20 Development bank data put Thailand at the end of 2024 with three utility scale solar plus storage installations combining 184 MW of solar with 345 MWh of storage, and no standalone storage facilities.21
The gap between the target and the installed base is the story. Most storage product on display in Thailand is commercial and industrial scale rather than utility scale.21
What has actually procured capacity is the 2022 auction round, which awarded 994 MW across 24 solar plus storage projects at a feed in tariff of 2.8331 baht per kilowatt hour on 25 year agreements, against 2.1679 baht for standalone solar, a premium of roughly 31 percent for dispatchability.22 That premium is the clearest signal in the Thai market of what storage is worth to the system. One developer holds a large share of the awarded capacity and has been financing further build with development bank debt.22
The other route worth watching is the direct power purchase pilot for data centres. The national energy policy council approved a pilot in June 2024 allowing investment promoted data centres to contract renewable power directly through third party access to the grid, up to 2,000 MW. Draft regulations were released by the regulator in October 2024. Generators must be renewable, must be newly built without a pre-existing offtake agreement, and a renewable plus storage hybrid is permissible.23
We have delivered a certification and regulatory market entry analysis for a storage equipment manufacturer entering Thailand. That work covered the two distribution utilities' approved product requirements, gaps against national industrial standards certification, grid code compliance obligations, and a phased twelve month plan naming the approval bodies. Project licensing for storage sits with the regulator, and participation in procurement rounds carries a per kilowatt deposit at application.24
Manufacturing incentives are pulling battery production into the country through the investment board, which changes the competitive position of imported product over the next few years.22