The first political problem is the image of the solar PV industry in the minds of the public and the government. The ‘gold rush’ period created the image that solar PV is receiving unjustified amounts of government resources, particularly when there are other pressing causes such as flood protection. There are also questions raised about how much benefit the ‘gold rush’ period actually did for Thailand, considering the components were designed and manufactured abroad and often foreign companies were the ones receiving the subsidies. This seems to make any strong political support for solar PV difficult, and may have contributed to the two year silence from policy makers.