Pumped storage power plants are power plants equipped with two reservoirs with an elevation difference: in the hours of low load, cheaper electricity from the common grid is used to pump water from the lower reservoir into the upper one, from which it gets discharged in the hours of high demand, setting off water turbines. PSPPs are essentially energy storage facilities that can reduce the risks of using wind and solar generators. This is becoming increasingly important for Thailand, where the overall share of low-carbon energy sources rose from 8% in 2013 to 16% in 2023.
A key role in Thailand’s power industry is played by gas-fired power plants, which accounted for 68% of the country’s power output last year. To supply gas-fired TPPs with feedstock, Thailand uses both domestic and imported resources. According to the Energy Institute, the country’s domestic gas production reached 25.7 billion cubic meters in 2023, with LNG imports totaling 16.1 billion cubic meters (in regasified equivalent). Due to highly depleted gas fields, gas production in Thailand has fallen by an average of 4.1% per year over the past decade, while LNG imports have increased by 23% per year.
Despite its status as the second-largest source of electricity, coal is gradually losing its dominance in the country’s power industry. The share of coal-fired power generation dropped from 19% in 2019 to 16% in 2023 as a result of the decommissioning of 7% of installed capacity (450 MW) in 2019 and the launch of wind and solar generators, whose aggregate capacity rose from 11.7 GW to 12.5 GW in the same period.
