Research Database

In Thailand, most schools rely on electricity from the national grid, making it challenging to achieve net-zero energy. However, this research focuses on a school near the Thailand-Myanmar border, utilizing locally available solar and hydropower resources. A proposed electrification system, including PV modules, batteries, and an inverter, effectively supplied the school's electricity needs. As a result, annual diesel consumption dropped significantly, leading to a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (3650 kg-CO2e). With further energy efficiency measures, the school has the potential to achieve net-zero energy.

The article discusses the importance of renewable energy for ASEAN's sustainable development and outlines the challenges, goals, and initiatives in achieving a 23% renewable energy target, highlighting the need for policy adjustments and further research to optimize renewable resource potential.

This review paper presents a survey of solar energy policies implemented in Southeast Asian countries, specifically Malaysia, and assesses effective existing solar energy strategies in developed countries.

This paper examines solar PV policies in Southeast Asia over a decade, emphasizing their impact on solar PV growth, particularly successful cases like Vietnam's Feed-in-Tariff scheme, and recommends adopting policies such as FiT and Renewable Portfolio Standards to enhance solar energy utilization across ASEAN countries, providing valuable insights for regional policymakers and energy professionals.

Strategic dam planning and the deployment of decentralized renewable technologies are two elements of the same problem, yet normally addressed in isolation. Here, we show that an integrated view of the power system capacity expansion problem could have transformative effects for Southeast Asia’s hydropower plans. We demonstrate that Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia have tangible opportunities for meeting projected electricity demand and CO2 emission targets with less hydropower than currently planned—options range from halting the construction of all dams in the Lower Mekong to building 82% of the planned ones. The key enabling strategies for these options to succeed are solar PV and regional coordination, expressed in the form of centralized planning and cross-border power trading. The alternative expansion plans would slightly increase the cumulative costs (up to 2.4%), but substantially limit the fragmentation of additional river reaches, thereby offering more sustainable pathways for the Mekong’s ecosystems and riparian people.

Access to sustainable energy source is crucial for healthcare facilities to deliver their services. Hybrid solar energy systems (HSES) are seen as a strong solution given the proximity of the Philippines to the equator. This study addresses the knowledge gap in the estimated energy consumption profile of Philippine rural health units (RHU) using easily replicable questionnaire and work sampling technique. The estimated energy consumption profile was used to determine the optimal HSES design and benefits. The RHU of Los Baños, Laguna was considered, and simulation of different energy system configurations was performed in the HOMER Pro software. Two scenarios were considered: a grid-connected and an off-grid RHU. The estimated average scaled load of the facility is ∼92 kWh per day. Estimates were validated against actual consumption, with 15–21% error. Results of the simulations show that a solar photovoltaic panel-grid system is optimal for the grid-connected scenario and can reduce cost of electricity by ∼35%. Meanwhile, a solar photovoltaic panel-generator-battery system is optimal for the off-grid scenario and can reduce cost of electricity by ∼61%. In both scenarios, the solar component is estimated to contribute ∼71–85% of the total annual energy production and can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Sustainable Energy Development is a must consideration for energy sector. Energy Trilemma index is quite low in Myanmar as only 40% of the country is electrified At 66% of Final Energy Consumption, the residential sector was the largest energy consumer, due to the use of fuel wood for cooking. For electricity sector, load shedding problems are frequently occurred in dry season because of insufficient generation. Local peoples are also protesting Coal fired power plants and natural gas is also not available sufficiently. In this paper, the role of solar energy to enhance energy security, affordability and environmental sustainability are analyzed using energy Trilemma index as a tool. Energy Trilemma is used as a tool to determine the sustainability development of the energy sector. According to the analysis, three indices of energy trilemma can be improved by solar energy and it is a vital role for sustainable energy development in Myanmar.

Transition towards sustainable energy systems is of utmost importance to avert global consequences of climate change. Within the framework of the Paris Agreement and Marrakech Communique, this study analyses an energy transition pathway utilising renewable resources for the Philippines. The transition study is performed from 2015 to 2050 on a high temporal and spatial resolution data, using a linear optimisation tool. From the results of this study, technically, a 100% fossil free energy system in 2050 is possible, with a cost structure comparable to an energy system in 2015, while having zero greenhouse gas emissions. Solar PV as a generation and batteries a as storage technology form the backbone of the energy system during the transition. Direct and indirect electrification across all sectors would result in an efficiency gain of more than 50% in 2050, while keeping the total annual investment within 20–55 b€. Heat pumps, electrical heating, and solar thermal technologies would supply heat, whereas, direct electricity and synthetic fuels would fuel the energy needs of the transport sector. The results indicate that, indigenous renewable resources in the Philippines could power the demand from all energy sectors, thereby, bringing various socio-economic benefit.

Over the past few decades, universal electricity access has grown together with an increasing awareness of the need to combat global warming. Nevertheless, electricity access remains a critical driver of economic growth and poverty reduction for developing countries. This study characterizes the demand for solar energy and its impact on electricity consumption in Myanmar. We estimate discrete choice models for solar device ownership (or usage) using the World Bank multi-tier framework (MTF) global survey for Myanmar. We estimate a binary choice model for solar device usage, and find that individuals who are married and living in their own houses in rural areas without access to the national grid are more likely to become solar device owners. Using a multinomial logit model estimation, we find heterogeneous characteristics of the demand for solar device ownership by payment method. Finally, we estimate an electricity consumption function with solar device ownership as an endogenous selection using Heckman’s selection model estimation. The estimation result indicates that there is no substantial rebound effect due to solar device ownership.