@ Resort - Ice factory - Eua Arthorn Housing, save electricity and clean energy
ALT appreciated the rising trends of Solar Roof Top. Industrial customers - Medium-sized factories and the government are interested in installing a large number of Private PPA types. In the first 5 months of this year, 21 projects were installed resulting in over 11 MW, making a total contract lifetime of over 600 million baht. ALT set a target for 50 projects this year. While residential customers set a target for 150 households. Resort operators - ice-making factories - Eua Arthorn Housing revealed that the installation helped save electricity, was environmentally friendly, and consider clean energy.
Ms. Preeyapun Bhuwakul, Vice President of ALT Telecom Public Company Limited (ALT), revealed that the feedback on the installation of solar panels on the roof or Solar Rooftop was excellent. Customers in the sector of industry, medium-sized factories, SMEs, as well as government agencies were very interested in the installation. By the amount of the first 5 months of this year (Jan – May 2022) already installed 21 projects, totaling 11 MW.
ALT customers who have installed Solar Rooftop have a variety of businesses throughout the country, including a frozen factory, ice cream factory, resort business, ice-making factory in Phrae province, rubber processing & export plant, plastic plant in Nakhon Phanom province, several government projects, and Eua Arthorn Housing project.
“People shows interest for installations, which can assumed to be from many factors to affecting feedback positively i.e. lifestyle changes, as more people are working at home, the world is more interested in clean energy, electricity cost increase. At the same time, the price of solar panels tends to be lower, with the government rolled-out policy that enables the private sector to sell back electricity to the government, this considerably boost interest in installing solar panels faster” said Ms. Preeyapun
In the Private PPA (Private Power Purchase Agreement) model, ALT will invest in both the installation investment and the maintenance of the system for customers. It is suitable for business owners that have a monthly electricity cost of 100 thousand baht or more and electricity consumption peak occurred during the day than at night. It is very cost-effective and can save customers at least 15-20% per electricity bill. The average contract life is about 15-20 years, afterward, the company will transfer the ownership to the business owner. This approach enables business owners to own the solar system without investing and also reduces the electricity bill for 25 years.
Ms. Preeyapun also mentioned the installation of Solar Rooftop the company has marketed in the last few months. For houses with average electricity consumption of 2,000-3,000 baht per month and the electricity consumption during the day is quite considerable. The cost of installing solar panels will be around 1.5-1.9 hundred thousand baht and there is a system for customers to choose whether to pay at once or pay 0% interest to financial institutions for up to 10 installments. A large number of people were interested and called to ask for more information and many are in the process of being installed. This year, the company has set the goal of having 150 households. “After COVID-19, people's lifestyles changed drastically, turning toward work at home as well as private businesses, such as e-commerce which also work primarily at home, resulting in higher volumes of electricity during the day which is a good investment to install solar panels. For households that have average electricity consumption of around 3,000 baht per month, if installed with 3 kWh solar panels, the cost of installation is just over a hundred thousand baht and can show a return on investment within 6-7 years,” Ms. Preeyapun said.
Mr. Sitthikhun Tanetvitayavet, Director and major shareholder of IM Pro Asia Co., Ltd., which operates the resort under the name of X-it Resort, Soi Yothinpattana, Bangkok said that X-it Resort has been operating for 11 years with 30 rooms, which in the past paid an average electricity bill of about 100 thousand baht per month, but in the past few years, the trend of the electricity bill has been increasing, resulting in electricity cost went up to around 1.5 hundred thousand baht per month which represents about 15-20% of the total cost.
The Solar Rooftop installation has been recommended by friends. After consideration and research, the panels can save energy, cost, and consider an upcoming trend. ALT offer is also a good deal to install a Private PPA type because the company does not have to invest and also has the right to buyback. The installation of solar panels saves electricity around 30 thousand baht per month from the cost of electricity of 1.5 hundred thousand baht per month. It is considered a significantly reduce cost.
“The panels were installed completely for 2 months. The resort's electricity utilization usually starts to peak afternoon when people checked in. The Solar Rooftop is fit for our purpose, but we can only install it partially because it's mostly a rubber roof. It's a good model and worth the consideration. Electricity cost is cheaper than normal and can be considered a win-win. We can use electricity at a cheaper rate than Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA). When I look at over the next 3-5 years or 10 years, we still benefit to reduce the cost from the electricity bill that is going up regularly, “Mr. Sitthikhun said.
For Chairman of the Board of Condominium Juristic Person, Khachonwit Eua Arthorn Housing 2, Samutprakarn province said that Khachonwit Eua Arthorn Housing 2 project has a total of 30 buildings, totaling 1,348 rooms. The common room will normally pay about 1.2 hundred thousand baht per month for the electricity bill. Installing solar rooftop panels with ALT is considered a power-saving project in Phase 2. The first phase carried out in 2020, is the replacement of the electric light bulbs on the corridors, reducing the cost of electricity to 70 thousand baht per month. We decided to install solar panels in March but has not been completed yet, so it is still not clear how much we will save the electricity.
“We've been studying solar panel installation for more than 2 years as this is a plan from the juristic office. It's not a hard decision to make. We talked to a few vendors, as for ALT we also researched it from Google and contacted the sales staff. After a discussion, the solution is exactly what we needed, thus we start the Private PPA implementation. Hopefully that this project can save electricity at least 15% of the current cost of electricity so that we can continue to save money to develop other common areas.”
Mr. Thongchai Sirikitpinyokul, the major shareholder of Mae Lai Partnership, which operates an ice-making plant in Phrae Province, said that the installation of solar panels with ALT in the last 3-4 months in the form of Private PPA to help reduce electricity during the daytime because electricity is considered the main cost of the plant. Such solar installation is considered to reduce the cost of the plant without investing or costing anything as ALT invests and maintenance the system for the duration of the contract.