I-REC’s Roles in Decarbonization in Thailand: Challenges and opportunities

Abstract

 Thailand has electricity from renewable energy resources 13%-15% of the total electricity supply, but it comes through the mixed grid with brown energy as The Electricity Generation Authority of Thailand is the single buyer of bulk electricity and distributes it nationwide through one grid. However, those companies can claim the use of renewable energy by purchasing renewable energy certificates. The certificate available in Thailand and acceptable at the international level standards is the Trading of the International Renewable Energy Certificate (I-REC). This research studies I-REC’s role in decarbonization in Thailand and its ecosystem by the qualitative method through in-depth interviews. The result shows that I-REC meets the needs of the company that wants to claim its decarbonization at the international level standards and focus on the utilization of renewable energy.  However, registration costs and customer acquisition are not easy to make decisions for some small renewable energy power plants. There is a business model that offers support on the registration fee, manages marketing and sale of their I-RECs, and shares profits with the project owners. It will encourage more development of renewable energy and promote more supply of I-REC in the Thai market. Currently, I-REC demand is exceeding the supply. According to the Utility Green Tariff scheme and The Feed-in Tariff (FiT) Scheme for the Period of 2022 to 2030, there can be an impact on the players in the I-REC registry the market, the price, and the demand and supply.