Banpu Infinergy Company Limited’s Director Mrs. Somruedee Chaimongkol (front row, centre) along with Managing Director Ms. Kanokwan Jitchobtham (back row, far right), pose with Dr.Twarath Sutabutr (front row, far left), Director General of the Energy Policy and Planning Office, Mrs. Taya Teepsuwan (front row, far right), CEO of Rugby School, and Mr. Aaron Attebery (back row, centre),of Black & Veatch, an expert in smart city planning and development from the USA, who presented their visions and discussed the development of the smart city at the “Banpu Infinergy Symposium: The Intelligent City of Tomorrow”, in front of solar kiosk, a prototype that Banpu Infinergy developed to demonstrate how the use of solar energy will drive Thailand towards becoming a smart city nation.
Banpu Infinergy Company Limited,a one-stop provider of total solar energy solutions through advanced technologies organized “Banpu Infinergy Symposium: The Intelligent City of Tomorrow” to demonstrate the company’s leadership in offering total solar energy solutions. As a sidebar to the symposium, the company also showed how it is responding to Thailand’s Energy 4.0 policy that promotes Thailand’s sustainable energy through innovations, through a mini exhibition that enabled participants to visualize the smart city concept through various solar energy functions. Over 200 people from the business sector, academia, as well as government officials and interested members of the public attended the seminar.
The symposium was also joined by prominent figures from the government and private energy sectors to discuss the development of smart cities. Speakers included Dr. Twarath Sutabutr, Director General of Energy Policy and Planning Office; Mr. Aaron Attebery of Black & Veatch, an expert in smart city planning and development from the USA; and Mrs. Taya Teepsuwan, CEO of Rugby School Thailand, who explained the plan for modern Thai education based on the smart campus.
Mrs. Somruedee Chaimongkol, Chief Executive Officer of Banpu Public Company Limited and Director of Banpu Infinergy Company Limited, said: “As a leading integrated energy company in Asia-Pacific, Banpu and its subsidiaries are committed to operating in an environmentally friendly manner and in accordance with Banpu’s Greener & Smarter strategy, which promotes green and efficient energy use through advanced technologies. We always look beyond the horizon to seek energy-related knowledge both by leveraging our own expertise in overseas business and from global sources and applying this to Thailand to elevate the quality of life of Thai citizens. Becoming a smart city requires active collaboration, knowledge and expertise from all sectors. We hope that this seminar will help to spark a serious conversation about moving Thailand towards becoming a smart city nation by encouraging the exchange of ideas, mindsets and experience in solar energy solutions.”
To help participants better visualize the smart city concept, the mini exhibition showcased different solar energy models, among them an on-grid and off-grid solar system. The systems are applicable to either power generated from grid or solar energy and included off-grid solar furniture, a screen that displays solar energy usage and energy saving results, as well as technologies that Banpu Infinergy has developed to allow customers to closely monitor solar energy generation and energy saving results. Also demonstrated was the ‘Infinergy’ mobile application, and a real-time control room system with 24-hour call center support.
Dr.Twarath Sutabutr, Director General of Energy Policy and Planning Office, said: “The Ministry of Energy has a policy to promote total energy management and encourage self-generated energy for personal use, evolving into smart homes, a smart grid and smart cities. The core objective is Energy Storage System (ESS), a key technology that will enable Thailand to move faster towards achieving its Energy 4.0 Strategy and develop cities of the future while at the same time enhancing the country’s competitiveness with other nations. I would like to thank Banpu Infinergy for cooperating with the government sector in pushing the country towards realization of the smart city.”
Ms. Kanokwan Jitchobtham, Managing Director of Banpu Infinergy Company Limited, said: “Through our experience of providing high-quality rooftop solar systems to various industries including the education and industrial sectors, factory outlets, petrol stations, hotels and hospitals, Banpu Infinergy has gained better insights and a more comprehensive understanding of different customers’ demands as well as the need to integrate advanced technologies in the monitoring of the solar system. These include mobile applications and surveillance drones to monitor the quality of the rooftop panels and a hi-tech control room to analyze the solar system in real time for efficient service. Through such technologies, the company is confident that it can offer the best tailor-made solutions to customers in all sectors as a total solar energy solution provider.”
Apart from adopting world-class solar energy technology to provide tailor-made service to customers, Banpu Infinergy has been studying new technologies and is continually seeking investment opportunities, particularly and currently in the areas of Energy Management System (EMS) and Energy Storage System (ESS), in order to increase effectiveness in energy production, transfer and storage. With its recent acquisitions of shares in Singapore’s New Resources Technology Pte. Ltd. (NRT), the company is coming closer to offering energy management and storage solutions as well as developing services involving electric vehicles (EV) and in promoting a smarter and more economical way to consume energy – ‘Go Green Together’towards a brighter tomorrow.
