Localizing Energy Production Around Asia

June 23, 2018 | ProgressTH 

Something we've been following for a long time has been localized energy production. A firsthand example of this in Thailand is the "Pa Deng model," in Phetchaburi province. Another good example is Sisaengtham School in Ubon Ratchathani province.   

Alternative energy is really taking off in Thailand through localized networks taking it upon themselves to jump-start the process. What's interesting is how a similar process is taking place in other nations around Asia. 

A recent article by Sebastian Groh titled Rural Bangladesh has already embraced renewable energy. Here’s what the rest of the world can learn takes a look at how developing nations actually have an advantage when it comes to building decentralized power grids using solar and other renewable sources of energy. 

This is because as developing nations grow, they don't necessarily have to expand their centralized power production models with it. They can choose to use decentralized alternatives, including emerging technology developed nations would have to build over existing, centralized power grids.

Solar Power Reaches Where Others Cannot

May 14, 2016 | ProgressTH Solar power systems allow electricity to be produced virtually anywhere the sun’s rays reach whether it is in space or in a remote island village otherwise disconnected from national power grids. With costs dropping and the capability of these systems rising, along with an ever growing community of people able to design and set up solar powered systems, it can reach out and light up places technically, economically, and even politically where other sources of power cannot.

A remote village on the Thai island of Phuket has been in energy limbo for quite some time. The villagers are from a tribe and live on land that is in legal dispute. Because of this, setting up power through the national grid is problematic. However, solar power allows the villagers to produce and use electricity on site without access to the national power grid, allowing them to power their homes until the dispute is settled.

Something like a light and a fan may seem simple to most, but for people living in a tropical country, a simple electrical fan can make all the difference between just surviving and being comfortable.

Asia at the Edge of a Solar Tomorrow

April 28, 2016 | ProgressTH Prakruwimolpanyakhun (Monk-Teacher Wimolpanyakhun) also known as “the Solar Monk,” heads the Sisaengtham School (Facebook here) in northeast Thailand. The school not only is solar powered, it also includes alternative energy design, installation, and maintenance in school curriculum. The school also has its own organic gardens which students learn to tend and feed themselves with.

Beyond promoting technological progress, academic improvement, and spiritual enlightenment for his students, the Solar Monk also has worked tirelessly to promote these ideas nationwide.

In a recent trip to Australia to visit Buddhist practitioners within Thailand’s Buddhist networks, the Solar Monk took some time to investigate solar power in Australia and see what lessons he could bring back with him to help Thailand.

Field Test: Biogas Really Works!

March 1, 2016 | ProgressTH About a year ago we covered a remote village that solved its energy problems (not being connected to the national power grid) through using solar power and biogas. Not only could the simple biogas reactors they built help power generators on cloudy days to charge their homes’ batteries, but the biogas could also easily meet daily cooking gas requirements.

With just some kitchen leftovers and some misshapen cucumbers fed to it everyday, a biogas reactor can meet a home's daily cooking gas requirements. Really! We've done it!

We visited the training and support center locals created to maintain, improve, and expand their localized power grid and saw all of these systems in action, from solar powered water pumps used for local irrigation, to biogas fueled kitchens, to lighting at night drawing from batteries charged during the daytime.

But visiting a training center and seeing others doing it is one thing, doing yourself is another. The villagers had a lot of experience, and the stories they told of how capable their systems were seemed too good to be true. Since that visit, we have stayed in touch with this amazing team running the center. Eventually, one of our co-founders decided to install a biogas system at the family farm so we could test it for ourselves.

Tesla's Alternative World is Here and Now

February 10, 2016 | ProgressTH US-based electric car company Tesla Motors set out with a goal to usher in an era of electric driven transportation using renewable sources of energy. It was founded in 2003, and 13 years later it looks well on its way toward achieving that goal.

Today, supercharger stations crowd a map of the United States, with similar coverage planned for Europe and Asia. The company has produced 3 successful models, the Roadster, the Model S, and most recently the Model X. Each car was designed to help develop the electric car market in a very specific way both financially and technologically with each model being progressively cheaper and more capable, and thus more accessible to a wider range of people.

However, despite its current success, Tesla Motors almost didn't come into being. Founder and CEO Elon Musk has recounted in interviews how he had hoped to encourage AC Propulsion to develop their tzero model into a more viable product. When they declined, Musk and others took the tzero design and transformed it into Tesla's first model, the Roadster.

The Solar Monk: Lighting Souls, Lighting Communities

School built by Thai monk blends academia, applied technology, and spiritualism into a community-transforming phenomenon. 

February 5, 2016 | ProgressTH What if school not only taught you the basics like reading, writing, and arithmetic, but also how to build a community from the ground up? With these skills, you could specialize in any field from the humanities to science and technology, and apply them directly to improving your community and your country. That is precisely the concept driving Sisaengtham School (Facebook here), also known as the “Solar School.”

The "Solar School's" main building in the background, and one of the school's many projects in the foreground.

Sisaengtham School is open for high school-level students and was founded in 2010, focusing on self-sufficiency, the environment, and the principles and philosophy of Buddhism. Its founder, Prakruwimolpanyakhun (Monk-Teacher Wimolpanyakhun) also known as “the Solar Monk,” looked for the best way he could make an impact on both his community and his nation and decided founding a school would be the solution.

A good community starts with good people, and that is what Prakruwimolpanyakhun’s Sisaengtham School sets out to create. So dedicated to this goal, Prakruwimolpanyakhun sold his own home to raise money to build the school.

The school is situated near the temple he is the abbot of, located in the forest of Thailand’s northeastern Ubon Ratchathani province.

The first task the school set about accomplishing was improving literacy. Prakruwimolpanyakhun believed that no progress at all could be made in other areas if something as simple as reading and writing was still a challenge.

The Conquest of (Roof) Space

December 29, 2015 | ProgressTH There exists sun-scorched, empty, forgotten wastelands ... not in some distant desert, but among the uppermost regions of our urban cityscapes. Upon our rooftops. Travel vertically in any city and look down, and you will see just how empty, forgotten, and unused these wastelands are.

A few brave souls have attempted to colonize these regions, with gardens, with utilities, even with power producing solar panels. And as this gradual process of colonization progresses, it could help change the very nature of the cities that exist below it.  

There have been a lot of proof-of-concept projects utilizing roof space, but the most successful ones are those that actually incorporate permanent business or personal motivations, and have survived, even thrived since their inception.

Among Singapore's urban sprawl, there is the ComCrop project. We have followed it for years now on Facebook, watching their progress from an experimental garden to a full-fledged business model that produces food on Singapore's rooftops and sells it to local restaurants below.

They use a variety of different methods to grow a growing variety of food, but most importantly they have built up a community of enthusiastic people to help participate.

Another use of rooftops is the production of power. Especially in warmer climates, rooftops are baked for hours a day in hot, unrelenting sun. The rooftops, often made of concrete, absorb this energy and transfer it to unfortunate people living inside the buildings not only throughout the day, but continuously throughout the night, long after the sun sets. To compensate, inhabitants usually find themselves running air-conditioning on and off, day and night.

Alternative Energy: What is Biogas?

December 26, 2015 | ProgressTH Biogas is quietly gaining ground on traditional fuels, and is used for everything from powering electric generators, to fueling cars, buses, and even trains. It is also replacing petroleum-based cooking gas across many parts of rural Asia, including India, China, and Thailand.

To make biogas, one needs only to create a sealed container and "feed" it everyday with organic waste which could be everything from kitchen scraps, to landscaping and farm leftovers. Inside the sealed container, bacteria breaks down the organic waste. Because there is no oxygen in the sealed container, the bacteria convert the waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer and several gases collectively called "biogas." Its primary component is methane, a flammable gas easily used as fuel.

The process of biogas thus provides a means of waste management, gas production, and onsite fertilizer production.

The scale on which you can produce biogas ranges from home-based units the size of a car, to industrial sites capable of disposing the waste of and powering entire towns while also providing their communities with tons of high-quality organic fertilizer.

A Different Future for Energy

December 24, 2015 | ProgressTH Just this past week, private rocket company SpaceX headed by entrepreneur and innovator Elon Musk, not only sent 11 commercial satellites into orbit upon its Falcon 9 rocket, but the first stage returned to Earth, landing under its own power, like something out of a science fiction movie. SpaceX not only hopes to put humans into orbit with its Dragon space capsule, it has aspirations to land humans on Mars and beyond.

But SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk has another science fiction-style future in mind as well. It's one closer to Earth, an alternative to how we power our homes, our cities, and our transportation.

His other companies, Solar City and Tesla seek to build up the infrastructure, first in America, then worldwide. Solar City creates solar panels while Tesla creates electric vehicles, batteries, and battery charging systems. Together, both compliment each other creating a total solution for energy and transportation.

Crowdfunding Local Development

April 2, 2015 -- Progress Thailand South of Thailand's capital of Bangkok in the province of Phetchaburi lies the sub-district of Pa Deng. Tucked away among rugged hills, the communities here are so remote, they lack access to Thailand's otherwise modern telecommunications networks, the national power grid, and even municipal water.

Something as simple as a single solar panel giving residents lighting and use of a water pump can make a big difference in the lives of those otherwise disconnected from the national power grid. 

The people of Pa Deng are engaged in farming. They are not starving nor homeless. However, many of the modern conveniences we take for granted are missing from their daily lives. For children in these communities, that can mean lacking adequate lighting at home to do their homework in the evening after returning from school. The myriad of free resources online are inaccessible to Pa Deng's people because they have neither the electricity to power computers, nor a signal to connect to the Internet with.

This means in a world increasingly built upon technology, the people here stand to be left behind.

เปลี่ยนความมืดมิดให้เป็นแสงสว่าง จุดเริ่มต้นลดความเหลื่อมล้ำ

26 มีนาคม 2558 - Progress Thailand - ไฟฟ้าเป็นปัจจัยสำคัญที่สุดปัจจัยหนึ่งสำหรับการดำรงชีวิตประจำวันของเราทุกคน เพราะไฟฟ้าเป็นพลังงานหลักในทุกเรื่องไม่ว่าจะเป็นการสื่อสาร การคมนาคม การให้ความรู้ การศึกษา ซึ่งเป็นปัจจัยสำคัญในการพัฒนาเศรษฐกิจ ลองคิดดูว่าสมัยนี้หากไม่มีไฟฟ้า เราจะอยู่อย่างไร

แต่ทว่าในความเป็นจริง ก็ยังมีชุมชน/หมู่บ้าน ในพื้นที่ห่างไกล อีกจำนวนมาก ที่ไฟฟ้ายังเข้าไม่ถึง คนเหล่านี้ต้องอยู่กับความมืดมิด ใช้ตะเกียง/เทียน เพื่อให้แสงสว่าง ซึ่งเทียบไม่ได้เลยกับแสงสว่างที่มาจากหลอดไฟ แต่คนเหล่านี้ไม่มีโอกาสเข้าถึงความสะดวกสบายตรงนี้

ไม่มีโอกาสได้ดูโทรทัศน์ ไม่มีแอร์ ไม่มีพัดลม ไม่มีโอกาสใช้คอมพิวเตอร์/เล่นอินเตอร์เน็ต รวมถึงไม่มีสัญญานโทรศัพท์ ไม่มีโอกาสได้พัฒนาศักยภาพใดๆ เพราะติดต่อสื่อสารกับโลกภายนอกไม่ได้ ชีวิตที่ตรงนั้นช่างแตกต่างกับคนในเมืองยิ่งนัก เราไม่ควรปล่อยให้เป็นแบบนี้ เพราะนี่ คือความเหลื่อมล้ำที่ต้องแก้ไขปัญหาอย่างเป็นรูปธรรม

District Tech Centers?

February 11, 2015 -- Progress Thailand We've seen several incredible projects headed by equally incredible teams of people working hard to solve real problems with real, tangible solutions. Everything from reducing the costs of and dependency on chemical fertilizers, to bringing electricity and cooking gas to Thailand's most remote regions, to developing cheap, open source tools for precision agriculture, is being worked on and spread across Thailand's 76 provinces.

Small Tech Centers could be established in districts across Thailand with a simple computer and Internet connection and perhaps basic presentation technology to help spread ideas being developed elsewhere in the country without requiring teams and specialists to waste time traveling to all 76 of Thailand's provinces. Eventually, these district experts will make their own breakthroughs, and knowledge will begin flowing both ways.

At least two projects have begun conducting "clinics" where trained professionals travel the country, assisting local communities in the use of technology to improve their lives. Dr. Prateep Verapattananirund has invited us to at least 2 events -- a talk in Chainat and a soil clinic in Saraburi -- to show us the work he and the network he works with are doing. By testing soil samples brought to the clinic for nutrient testing, farmers can finely tune their fertilizer use, usually reducing costs by as much as 50%. 

Proof of concept is no longer an issue. The next step is figuring out a way to spread this technique, as well as finding a way to continuously update and improve the process. Eventually, eliminating dependency on chemical fertilizers altogether may be a possibility, but only if knowledge, news, and techniques can be easily shared.

Thailand's Solar Rooftops Poised to Decentralize Energy Production (and Profits!)

February 16, 2015 -- Progress Thailand Solar power is a growing industry in Thailand. While attending the "solar roof" conference at Thailand's Mahidol University this month, attendees saw the exponential adoption of solar power by industrial players and homeowners alike, both in highly developed areas of the country as well as in rural agricultural areas.

Thailand -- Maximizing use of otherwise unused rooftops.

We've previously mentioned one of those areas in Pa Deng, Phetchaburi province where an entire district was off-the-grid and using a combination of solar and biogas energy to power their homes and cook their food.

One of the keys to keeping alternative energy solutions a growing industry in Thailand is adding commonsense incentives to its use. Did you know that until recently it was impossible to sell energy back to the national power grid? Homes producing an excess of energy had no where to send it. What a waste! More recently, a quota was set, allowing private homeowners to produce energy from solar panels and sell excess energy to the national grid, but only to an extent.

Still, this is less than ideal. The more power that can be sold back, the more willing people will be to adopt alternative energy solutions and help decentralize both energy production in general, and dependency on traditional fuels like gas, oil, and coal. In decentralizing energy production, the benefits and profits are decentralized as well.

มหัศจรรย์ “ป่าเด็งโมเดล”นวัตนกรรมพลังงานทดแทน ในพื้นที่สายส่งไฟฟ้าเข้าไม่ถึง ตอน 2 (จบ)

29 ม.ค.2558 - หลังจากที่ได้รู้จัก "ป่าเด็งโมเดล" ต้นแบบนวัตกรรมพลังงานทดแทน เพื่อพื้นที่ห่างไกลไร้สายส่งกันแล้ว  มาดูกันว่าใครเป็นใครที่อยู่เบื้องหลังความสำเร็จเหล่านี้

มหัศจรรย์ “ป่าเด็งโมเดล”นวัตนกรรมพลังงานทดแทน ในพื้นที่สายส่งเข้าไม่ถึง ตอนที่ 1

27 ม.ค. 2558- หมายเหตุ - ทีม Progress Thailand (www.progressTH.org) ได้ลงพื้นที่ ต .ป่าเด็ง อ.แก่งกระจาน จ.เพชรบุรี เพื่อเข้าร่วมศึกษา “ปฏิบัติการพลังงานชุมชนครบวงจร” เพื่อการพึ่งตนเองในพื้นที่ไฟฟ้าสายส่งเข้าไม่ถึง ที่จัดขึ้นโดยกระทรวงพลังงาน เมื่อเร็วๆนี้

จุดหมายในการเดินทางครั้งนี้คือ “สถาบันการเรียนรู้เศรษฐกิจพอเพียงและพลังงานทางเลือก” โดยทันทีที่สายส่งไฟฟ้าสิ้นสุดลง สัญญานโทรศัพท์ถูกตัดขาด เราได้พบกับนวัตนกรรมพลังงานเพื่อการพึ่งตนเอง ทั้งพลังงานแสงอาทิตย์ และ แก๊สชีวภาพ ตามบ้านเรือนต่างๆตลอดสองข้างทาง โดยแต่ละบ้านจะมีแผงโซลาเซลล์ วางอยู่บนหลังคาบ้าน และตั้งไว้รอบๆบ้าน รวมถึงบอลลูนไบโอแก๊สขนาดใหญ่ตั้งอยู่ข้างบ้าน

 เทคโนโลยีเหล่านี้ทำให้ชาวบ้านที่นี่มีพลังงานไฟฟ้าและก๊าซหุงต้มใช้อย่างเพียงพอ ที่สำคัญทั้งหมดนี้เกิดจากองค์ความรู้ที่ชาวบ้านได้ลงมือปฏิบัติจริง จนสามารถฝ่าฟันความขาดแคลนพลังงานมาได้ ซึ่งเรียกกันว่า “ป่าเด็งโมเดล” ที่น่าสนใจไปมากกว่านั้น คือ เราค้นพบว่าแผงโซล่าเซลล์ที่ชาวบ้านนำมาใช้ เป็นแผงโซลาล์เซลล์ที่พังและถูกทิ้งไปแล้ว แต่ชาวบ้านได้มานำซ่อมอีกครั้ง!!! ???

Innovative Project Brings Light and Warmth to Remote Village, Literally

January 16, 2015 Travel to the remote sub-district of Pa Deng in Kaeng Krachan, Phetchaburi and you will cross over into an area disconnected from both Thailand's national power grid and telecommunications networks. There are no power lines, no cell towers, and few if any paved roads. The houses are very rustic, and the entire sub-district looks at first like you've traveled back in time.


However, almost precisely where the Ministry of Energy's powerlines end, an innovative project bringing power and cooking gas to this remote region beings. Called the "Pa Deng model," this project involves disseminating solar and biogas technology across Pa Deng. In this "land that time has forgotten," you will see solar panels rising up next to old wooden houses and biogas balloons sitting out back like giant pet dragons sleeping.  

Started independently by a small team including an employee of the Ministry of Energy, the Pa Deng model seeks not just to hand out technology to users, but to teach them how to use it, modify it, and adapt it precisely to their needs.  Rather than being "off grid," Pa Deng is building their own grid. Instead of being connected by powerlines and utility meters, it is instead connected by knowledge and technical and social collaboration.

What one will notice upon traveling about in Pa Deng is the wealth of information everyone involved in the project possesses, from the project team itself to the end users. Farmers employing solar energy and biogas were able to explain at length the process of trial and error they went through to create viable systems that met their daily needs. In fact, many volunteers helping the Pa Deng model team were local end users. 

Organic Agriculture on Display in Bangkok

December 6, 2014 The World Soil Day exhibition by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives on Ratchadamnoen Road showcased a variety of agricultural innovations you'd generally have to travel outside of the city to see in use. It included a detailed explanation of water management and irrigation, aquaculture of catfish and tilapia, caring for livestock and also the generation and use of biogas.

 Biogas is of particular interest because not only is it a long-proven technology in creating cooking gas, it has been adapted to produce electricity as well. The ability to create electrical infrastructure independently of the national power grid is good for many reason. First, it negates the need to use fuels such as coal to produce energy. Biogas serves as a form of waste management, removing organic waste that would otherwise be buried or burned. The waste is converted into fertilizer and methane gas which can be used for cooking or running electrical generators.

Cheap electricity allows rural communities to use technology that would be otherwise prohibitively expensive because of utility costs. Farming automation, electrical vehicles, agricultural processing equipment and a number of key technologies become one step closer to accessibility. 

Remote Phetchaburi Village Powered by Biogas

December 1, 2014 A remote village in Phetchaburi, Thailand previously without electricity now has lights and power for appliances thanks to the use of locally produced biogas.

 With much of rural Thailand engaged in agriculture, there is an abundance of organic waste that can be used in the production of biogas. Basically flammable methane, it is produced in bioreactors (vessels) by methanogen bacteria anaerobically (without air). The resulting gas can be used directly for cooking and heating or it can be used to run generators to produce electricity.

เรือยอร์ชโซล่าเซลล์ ฝีมือคนไทยลำแรกของโลก

29 พ.ย.2557 เรื่องราวดีๆ ที่ ProgressTH อยากบอกต่อ ว่าประเทศไทยไม่แพ้ชาติใดในโลก ด้วยการต่อเรือยอร์ชพลังงานแสงอาทิตย์ลำแรกของโลก  สร้างโดยคนไทย ไม่ใช้นำ้มัน ไม่มีเสียง ไม่ปล่อยมลพิษลงทะเล  ลองดูคิดว่า เรามีการพัฒนาเทคโนโลยีเหล่านี้และสามารถนำไปประยุกต์ใช้กับเรือประมงได้  ย่อมเป็นผลดีต่อสิ่งแวดล้อมแน่นอน  

โดยเว็บไซต์ kapook รายงานว่า 

เรือยอร์ชลำดังกล่าว ใช้เวลาสร้าง 3 ปี เป็นเรือยอร์ชที่ใช้พลังงานแสงอาทิตย์ ทำให้สามารถลดต้นทุนเชื้อเพลิงได้ 100% นอกจากนี้ยังไม่มีเสียงรบกวนและไม่ก่อให้เกิดมลพิษทางทะเลอีกด้วย

 และระบุด้วยว่า

ทุกคนมีความภาคภูมิใจในการทำงานนี้อย่างมาก ซึ่งแต่ละขั้นตอนในการสร้างจะต้องอาศัยความชำนาญอย่างมาก นอกจากนี้คนในโรงงานก็เรียนจบมาจากสาขาการต่อเรือโดยเฉพาะ แต่ก็เป็นที่น่าเสียดายว่ายังคงขาดแคลนคนงานในสาขาดังกล่าวอยู่ เนื่องจากคนไม่ค่อยสนใจเรียนทางด้านนี้กัน ซึ่งในความเป็นจริงงานต่อเรือนี้เป็นงานที่ได้ค่าตอบแทนสูงมาก 

 ติดตาม ProgressTH.org on Facebook ที่นี่  หรือ  Twitter ที่นี่  

Energy Co-Operatives -- The Power is in Your Hands

October 10, 2014 via BIT Magazine Energy production is a fundamental necessity that underpins modern society. Without it, society would grind to a halt. Energy policy is a challenging issue regardless of borders and is an issue we are all affected by in many ways.

With electricity in particular emanating from massive, centralized projects such as hydroelectric dams, coal or even nuclear power stations, we feel overwhelmed about problems and costs energy production brings. But what if there was a way to decentralize the production of electricity translating it into more manageable terms for us to deal with as a community and as individuals?

Enter the Energy Co-Operative 

Some may already be familiar with one form of energy co-operative or another. For those that are not, an energy co-operative is a community investment in the means of producing electricity, with quarterly reports, annual meetings, voting, and dividends the responsibility and benefit of each shareholder in the community. Usually the means of power production is local, and is something the community is aware of, can visit and tangibly understand readily.

One of the most successful and easiest energy co-operative to understand is the Baywind Energy Co-operative in the United Kingdom. Since 1996, wind turbines erected in farmland in northern England have provided enough electricity for over 1,000 homes. So successful have the original 5 wind turbines built by the co-operative at Harlock Hill, that they plan on replacing them with turbines twice as powerful.

Also due to their success, Baywind has established a separate company to deal with inquiries and in assisting other co-operatives in replicating their success. Called Energy4All, their website covers frequently asked questions offering starting points for those interested in setting up their own co-operative.

In explaining how Baywind was first conceived, it states:

Wind farm co-operative ownership in the UK was originally the idea of a Swedish wind farm developer who wished to replicate the success of community ownership schemes that dominate in countries such as Denmark and Germany. Seven local people from Cumbria formed the Baywind Energy Co-operative which originally bought two turbines at Harlock followed by a second share offer to purchase one turbine at Haverigg. A loan from the Co-operative Bank saw Baywind own the entire site of Harlock Hill.