Many new ethanol plants using both molasses and cassava will begin production in 2008; it is expected that by December 2008 the total production capacity will reach 8 Million litres /day and Thailand can produce much more due to the surplus of raw materials for ethanol. As for biodiesel, the government started to promote the new oil palm plantation with a target to increase area by 200,000 acres/year for the next 5 years so that raw material will be sufficient to meet the target for biodiesel production. By 2011, it is expected that Thailand will have 1.1 million hectares of oil palm plantation, at least half of the production will be used for bioenergy production by 2011. In this respect, the bioenergy crop development in Thailand, given the appropriate policy implementation, will be the new engine of growth to increase the income for rural agricultural sectors. It is also foreseen that co-operation among the Greater-Mekong subregion in biomass energy areas will also enhance the significance of energy sufficiency development in the region.

Successful examples

Thailand is today the only country in Asia to adopt bioenergy into the main consumer market where both bioethanol and biodiesel blends are available in all region of the country. Renewable electricity and heat/steam are also promoted in the industry and substantial progress are being made to meet the target set by the government.

MTEC and NSTDA will focus on the R&D efforts to help the industry and the small and medium enterprize to adopt and integrate bionergy into their respective energy production and utilization. The success of Thailand will be a good example for other countries in the region, especially LPDR, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam, to explore the ways forward with this new developmental vehicle. It is expected that CDM mechanism and climate-change adaptation schemes will become a significant developmental issue in the coming years.