Thailand possesses great biomass energy potential and opportunities are open. Thai government has laid a strong foundation and infrastructures for supporting and promoting the use of renewable energy and energy conservation especially in the form of necessary legislations and support funds. However, despite several financial incentives, the dissemination rate of the use of biomass energy technologies is still unsatisfactory due to institutional, policy, technical, financial and information barriers. Efforts have been made to try to remove some barriers such as government organization reform aiming to improve line of commands and coordination among organizations in the energy sector. More emphasis has been given to the promotion of renewable energy technologies particularly biomass energy. It is believed that some barriers have partially been understood and some are not known at all. It is recommended that more systematic and comprehensive study approaches involved extensive participation of stakeholders are needed to fully address barriers and set up effective measures to remove them.
Although energy policies adopted by the government are in the right direction, the pace of implementation is slow. A clear policy and a strong signal from the government are needed to disseminate information through public campaign, and encourage discussion and debate among various stakeholders so as to build a strong foundation and public confidence on renewable energy technologies. These policies and signals must be clear and strong enough for the private sectors to be confident and actively participate in the renewable energy projects. Restructuring and deregulation should ensure a real competitiveness in the energy market.