Thai solar subsidy proposal clears committee ahead of Cabinet review

A Thai government screening committee has backed a proposed ฿50 billion package to subsidise household solar installations, Finance Ministry Permanent Secretary Lawaron Sangsanit confirmed on October 20. The plan would provide up to ฿50,000 per household and is expected to reach Cabinet on October 26.

Up to one million households could receive support for rooftop or ground-mounted panels, generating power for their own consumption and selling any excess to the distribution network. Each household would receive only one entitlement. Applicants would need to hold a registered electricity meter or be electricity customers, with eligibility conditions still to be finalised.

Funding would be drawn from the ฿200 billion energy-transition allocation within the government’s borrowing programme. State-owned lenders expected to offer loans for installation costs not covered by the subsidy include the Government Savings Bank, Government Housing Bank and Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives.

Daily News reported that proposed financing would carry interest of 2.5 per cent over seven years, without collateral. Revenue from surplus electricity sales could go towards repayments. Officials projected that a five-kilowatt installation could earn approximately ฿1,000 monthly from those sales, depending on generation and exports; that income is not guaranteed.

Households can already sell excess solar power to the Metropolitan Electricity Authority and Provincial Electricity Authority. The existing Metropolitan Electricity Authority arrangement pays ฿2.20 per unit through a 10-year contract, subject to programme rules.

Applications for the subsidy are not open. The Interior Ministry is expected to request Cabinet approval before confirming registration procedures and final conditions. A mid-November start remains possible but has not been finalised.