Bangkok – Banpu NEXT, a Banpu subsidiary and a leading smart clean energy solution provider in Asia-Pacific, today signed an agreement with Tribeca Enterprise, the developer of LK Rubber Industrial City Hub (LK-RICH) in Rayong, in a pivotal partnership to set up a solar floating that will be the largest privately-owned development of its kind in Thailand with total capacity of 16 megawatts. The solar capacity will equip LK-RICH with greater energy efficiency in support of its endeavour to be an eco-industrial town. The installation work is scheduled to begin in February 2021.
Mrs. Somruedee Chaimongkol, Chief Executive Officer of Banpu PCL. and Banpu NEXT Co., Ltd., said, “We are delighted to be entrusted by Tribeca Enterprise as the development partner to set up a solar floating in LK-RICH. With our extensive experiences in solar farm development abroad and diverse array of technologies and solutions that we offer, we are very well positioned to develop flagship projects like this one to meet specific needs of our customers. Moreover, our one-stop service boasts Internet of Things (IoT) technology, which enables smart control of the system and accurate collection, processing and analysis of clean energy data for energy management and planning towards optimum energy efficiency.”
“The area that will be home to this solar floating is a reservoir with a volume of 4,293,000 square meters,” she explained. “Solar panels with high photovoltaic performance and high tolerance to moisture and corrosion will be mounted on HDPE floating platforms of food-contact grade, which ensures no harms to the underwater ecosystem in addition to the flexibility to mount multiple types of solar panels safely. The installation will involve calculations to determine the optimum space between solar panels and water surface, as well as floating platform design and panel mounting system that will minimise wobbling caused by waves and winds. Moreover, real-time system monitoring is enabled to allow 24/7 system inspection and immediate notification of any issues via the company’s mobile application.”
Dr. Luckchai Kittipol, Chief Executive Officer of Tribeca Enterprise Co., Ltd., the developer of Rayong’s LK Rubber Industrial City Hub, added, “Tribeca Enterprise has a vision to develop LK-RICH as the hub of downstream rubber industry that turns processed rubber into value-added products, such as automotive tires and parts, as well as an eco-industrial estate where the tenants, their employees and the surrounding communities can work and live together with good quality of life. Moreover, we aspire to be a hi-tech industrial estate that adopts advanced technologies such as automation and robots to the production lines and conveying systems to assure high quality products at minimal production times. This calls for extremely high energy demands, and we have been exploring opportunities to introduce clean energy to LK-RICH. A key factor why we entrust Banpu NEXT is its parent company, Banpu, that has a longstanding reputation in energy sector, especially solid experiences of more than five years operating solar farms in China and Japan. The company has a receptive approach to our needs and limitations—to put idle expanse of the reservoir to productive use and to have a clean energy solution that meets electricity demands of LK-RICH while providing a sustainable cost-saving advantage.”
“The installation work will begin in February 2021 with planned completion in the same year,” he added. “When operational, this solar floating will play a key role to boost our energy efficiency. Though 20-year term of the contract, we will be able to save more than 200 million baht of electricity cost, reduce pollutions, bring added values to LK-RICH and its tenants, and gear towards aforementioned goals of LK-RICH. We also have a plan to expand this industrial estate with additional 3,000-rai development for S-curve industries. This clean energy project and our positioning as a hi-tech industrial estate will help attract Thai and foreign investors into LK-RICH.”
“In addition to this partnership, we will continue to offer other solar power solutions and technologies for suitable applications within LK-RICH to top up its clean energy development and support Tribeca Enterprise’s plan to expand the industrial estate. We hope that this solar power project will inspire other entrepreneurs in EEC to adopt clean energy as a tool to bring sustainability to their businesses,” Mrs. Somruedee concluded.