สำนักราชบัณฑิตยสภา

The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand √–∫∫∑ÿ ππ‘ ¬¡¿“¬„µâ √–∫Õ∫ª√–™“∏‘ ª‰µ¬·∫∫‰∑¬ Thailandûs Energy Conservation Program and the Role of New & Renewable Energy in Energy Conservation Vol. 32 No. 1 Jan.-Mar. 2007 130 6. The Role of NRE in the Coun- try’s Energy Conservation Pro- gram As mentioned earlier, renew- able energy development is one of the three main subprograms of the Energy Conservation Program of Thailand. It is a key implemen- tation approach to achieve the go- vernment’s target to increase the share of renewable energy in the total national fuel mix from 0.5% in 2002 to 8% by 2011. The Renewable Energy De- velopment Program focuses on the following five areas: 1) Promotion of the use of biofuels, especially gasohol and biodiesel, to be alternative fuels in the transportation sector; 2) Promotion of renewable energy utilization for power generation; 3) Promotion of renewable energy utilization for heat ge- neration in industrial factories; 4) Policy study and R&D on renewable energy of which Thai- land has high potential, such as solar, micro-hydropower and biomass energy; and 5) Human resources develop- ment in the field of renewable energy, and public awareness cam- paigns to create knowledge and understanding about renewable energy among the general public. 6.1 Promotion of Biofuels andAlternative Transport Fuels * Gasohol A biofuel product, i.e. gasohol 95 or the so-called “E-10,” which is the mixture of ethanol and octane 91 gasoline at a ratio of 1 to 9, has been intro- duced to the market. This means 10% of gasoline consumption can be reduced. Now, the Gasohol Roadmap has been developed, targeting to distribute gasohol 95 nationwide, starting on 1 January 2007 and then remove octane 95 gasoline from the market. From 2008 onwards, promotion of gasohol 91 will be made nation- wide. The price of gasohol 95 is now set to be cheaper than octane 95 gasoline (currently at 3.75 US cents/litre) to promote utilization of gasohol 95. Also, the guidelines on government support include, for example, in- vestment promotion through the Board of Investment for fuel-etha- nol production plants, reduction of import and excise taxes for flexible-fuel vehicles (FFV), and provision of soft loans to support domestic manufacturing of FFV engines. The market response to the gasohol promotion has been very satisfactory. The total sale of gasohol inMarch 2006 was 4 times more than the sale in the same month last year, i.e. from 0.816 million litres/day to 3.433 million litres/day 2 . As of March 2006, the number of gasohol service stations is 3,030 stations throughout the country. * Biodiesel Thailand has been pur- suing the Biodiesel Roadmap, targeting to replace 10% of diesel consumption by 2012 by biodiesel and to produce 8.5 million litres per day of biodiesel. Demonstration projects of biofuel production at the com- munity level, with the trial blend- ing ratio of biodiesel at 2%, or known as “B2,” have proved to be very successful as the product has been widely accepted by consum- ers and it causes no problem to the engines. According to the Biodiesel Roadmap, the blending ratio of biodiesel at 5% (B5) will be promoted nationwide by 2011 and at 10% (B10) by 2012. One major problem that prevents the immediate increase of biodiesel production is the raw materials. In Thailand, we can use raw palm oil, coconut oil and some other oil plants, including used- cooking oil, to produce biodiesel. However, exclusive of the use for producing cooking oil and export, the remaining production amount of palm oil, which is the main raw material used, i.e. 500,000 litres/ day, is currently not enough for biodiesel production. To solve this problem, the government has 2 Dept. of Energy Business, Ministry of Energy, Thailand, Oil Situation-March 2006 [Online], April 2006. Available : http://www.doeb.go.th/news/oil_april.htm [Accessed 26 Apr. 2006].