NATURAL
GAS AND OIL
The
potential for natural gas and oil in Thailand is quite
substantial. Proven and ultimate recoverable reserves of natural
gas found to be 348 cu.m and 513 cu.m. respectively. In 1985,
natural gas production from the Gulf of Thailand was about 6.8
million cu.m per day. It is expected that by 1991, the
production capacity will be over 13.5 million cu.m per day.
Methane, ethane, LPG and condensate are separated in a gas
separation plant and used for electricity generation,as raw
materials for the petrochemical industry, and as cooking gas and
vehicular fuels.
Proven
and expected reserves of crude oil and condensate have been
identified at 100 and 1,100 million barrels res pectively
Current production from the Sirikit oil field in Kamphaengphet
is about 20,000 barrels per day. New oil fields were recently
fiund off the Chumphon and the Bang Rakam District and are
expected to produce about 10,000 barrels per day. In addition,
more gas and oil fields are expected to be found in Thailand,
both off-and onshore.
LIGNITE
Lignite
deposits have been found in 37 basins in
and provinces in
Thailand. Present proven reserves are about 1,100 million tons,
of which over 80 percent are located in the North. Recently,
large lignite deposits have been identified at Songkhla, with a
reserve of over 100 million tons, and at Surat Thani, with
reserves of about 150 million tons, In 1985, five million tons
of lignite were used for electricity generation at 735 MW
capacity. It is planned that in 1991 the lignite-fired station
will have a total generation capacity of 1,485 MW and consume
about 9 million tons of lignite per year.
Utilization
of lignite in industry has been actively promoted. The amount of
lignite consumption by industry increased from 0.5 million tons
in 1885 to 1.3 milloin tons in 1988. At present industrial uses
of lignite occur mainly in the cement industry and also in small
and medium size factories around Bangkok. It should be mentioned
that though an air quality standard exists in Thailand, emission
regulation for lignite combustion has not yet been established.
Boilers used in power stations and industry emit sulphur dioxide
and NOX directly into the atmosphere. With the increasing uses
of domestic lignite and imported coal for electricity generation
and industry, a better pollution control in the use is being
considered. It has also been estimated that geological reserves
of lignite could reach 2,600 million tons, from which the
recoverable amount is quite considerable.
OIL
SHALE
Exploration
of oil shale in Thailand commenced in the northern part of the
country in 1935. To date 21,000 million tons of oil shale have
been identified with a shale oil reserve of about 6,700 million
barrels. Recoverable reserves are estimated about 2,400 million
barrels. The kerosene content in Thai oil shale is relitively
low, below 10 percent on the average. Though several processes
for shale oil extraction have been developed, mainly in the U.S.,at
the present level of oil prices the exploitatuon of shale oil in
Thailand would not be competitive. However, the oil shale
reserves represent a large domestic source of energy for the
future.
HYDRO
ELECTRICITY
The
total hydro potential of domestic rivers is estimated at about
10,050 MW. The current generation capacity of hydro electricity
at 2,300 MW. represents about 30 percent of the total generating
capacity of the country. Hydro potential of domestic rivers
still exists and can be further utilized when a few
environmental issuse can be resolved in the future.
As
part of rural electricfication program to bring electricity to
95 percent of all villages in Thailand by 1990, 29 small
hydropower sites have been identified as economically suitable
for more accurate cost estimates and detailed engineering work.
It should be noted that the thorough feasibility study of a
small hydropower project tends to indicate that the cosy of
electricity generated from a suitable site can be more
economical than electricity generated from a diesel-electric set
of a photovoltaic plant.
BIOMASS
In
1985, about 54 percent and 46 percent of rural households used
wood and charcoal for cooking. The total sustainable supply of
fuelwood in 1983 was estimated at about 15.5 million cu.m, but
the total consumption of fuelwood in the same year was about
38.6 million cu.m. The deficit of 23.1 cu.m was met by over-cutting
of forests. By 2001, potential demand for fuelwood could reach
30 million cu.m. To avoid serious environmental and economic
damages due to deforestation, reforestation programs have been
implemented and have had good success. During the last five
years, about 100,000 acres of eucalyptus have been planted, and
large plantations of other fast growing trees are planned by
both public and private sectors.
Several
agricultural residues have been as fuels in rural industries.
Most of the bagases resource, estimated at about 7.5 million
tons per year, is used as boiler fuel in sugar mills. Rice husk
supply was estimated in in 1987 to be over 5 million tons, 40
percent of which was used as boiler fuel in rice mills. More
than 3 million tons are still available as energy resource for
rural industries or electricity generation whose potential is
estimated to be at least 88 GWh per year. Palm oil wastes
consisting of fibre, shells, and empty bunches are also used as
boiler fuel in palm oil mills.
Other
agricultural residues such as straw, maize stalks, cassava
stalks, coconut shells and husk also have potential as energy
resources for rural areas, their total supply being more than 35
million tons per year. Viable utilization technologies are being
identified or developed.
It
is realized that some types of industrial waste waters can be
utillized for biogas production. Laboratory scale tests were
conducted on several types of such waters such as tapioca waste,
canning food waste, and dairy waste in order to determine their
potentials for this purpose. A pilot study of biogas production
from pineapple waste has been successfully conducted and an
industrial plant is under construction at a pineapple canning
factory. Several breweries in Thailand now generate biogas from
their wastes. Liquid wastes from sugar mills and palm oil mills
are also being considered for biogas generation.
SOLAR
AND WIND ENERGY
Thailand
is fairly well endowed with solar radiation at 17 MJ/(m*m) per
day on the average, though about 50 percent of the global
radiation appears as diffuse radiation. Equipment using direct
radiation is therefore hardly feasible economically. Solar
energy has been used non-commercially in the country for
centuries. Its use in salt production from sea water has been
estimated to be as much as the equivalent of 20 million barrels
of oil. Sun drying of about 15 million tons of paddy rice per
year requires solar energy equivalent to about half a million
barrels of oil. Sun drying has also been widely used for other
agricultural and marine products, though there has been no
official attempt to estimate the amount of non-commercial solar
energy utilization.
A
solar water heating industry has been established in Thailand
for almost a decade, with solar collectors installed for the
purpose in hospitals, hotels, and private homes. Current
domestic production of solar collectors is over 10,000 sq.m per
year. Development of solar dryers has also been very active in
the country and a few designs of concection dryers have been
commercialized with some success. Several designs of solar
stills have been developed, including vertical surface solar
stills, and installation of large solar stills for demonstration
is being planned.
Generation
of electricity by photovoltaic cells has developed rapidly in
Thailand. A large number of demonstration projects for
telecommunication, lighting, and water pumping have been set up,
with a combined peak output of about 400 KW. Semi-conductor
laboratories in two academic institutes conduct research and
development on solar cell materials and fabrication.
Photovoltaic modules are locally produced in two factories.
In
general, the potential of wind energy in Thailand is not very
promising as the average wind speed in the country is only about
2 m/s, which is rather low for economical utilization. However,
high wind speeds exist in some coastal areas, and windmills have
been used for water pumping in salt farms and rice fields in
Samut Sakhon, Chonburi and other provinces. It has been recently
shown that traditional sail-type windmills used for water
pumping in salt farms are more economical than diesel-driven
water pumps. Demonstrations of wind electric power systems have
also been conducted. |
