World’s largest floating hybrid solar farm will power Thailand’s all EV future

In case you missed it, Thailand has set itself on an ambitious path to ban the internal combustion engine (ICE) by 2035. Now that they have jumped on the journey, they will have to address the issue of where the energy will come from to power these electric vehicles (EV). The answer is this floating hybrid solar farm.

The hybrid solar farm is the first of its kind in the land of smiles and listed as the world’s largest. It is called a ‘hybrid’ farm because an Energy Management System is used to switch between solar and hydropower to generate energy.

This is because there are limitations to solar power. By allowing the facility the ability to switch between the solar panels and dam turbines, the facility will generate power continuously.

Also read: Thailand to ban sale of combustion engines by 2035, aiming to be EV manufacturing hub

Located in the northeast province of Ubon Ratchathani, the facility is built with 144,000 units of solar panel on a reservoir covering 121 hectares of water area. That’s about the size of 226 football fields.

Once work is completed in June, the farm is expected to have the capacity to generate 45 megawatts of power.

Also read: Thailand to produce EV taxi, prototype ready by end of 2021

The hybrid solar farm is built by state-run Electric Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT). Under the 2018 National Power Development Plan, EGAT has plans to replicate the model at 8 more dams across Thailand over the next 20 years with combined capacity of 2,725 MW.

This is in line with the country’s aim to draw 35 percent of its energy from non-fossil fuel sources by 2037.

Other than that, EGAT also has plans to turn these farms into a tourist attraction as the operator is building 415-metre natural walkways at all its reservoirs. 

Thailand is looking forward to a very clean future, any bets on when the country will announce the last of their ICE on their roads?