Thailand’s electronic industry has a strong competitiveness and a firm ability in research
and development of equipment (balance of systems), both off-grid and on-grid. Still,
there have been a limited number of entrepreneurs in the solar system business. Therefore,
the new entrepreneurs will require some time to develop technology and to establish
confidence of their products. Those entrepreneurs who have continued the business for
some time are able to develop their products and gain acceptance both locally and abroad,
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With the solar policy support from the Thai government and foreign countries, these policies
have brought about a rapid growth of on-grid solar systems in the form of megawatt-level
power plants, and an increasing deployment of 100s-kVA on-grid inverters. The equipment is
also required to be manufactured in a manner that meets the standards of the Metropolitan
Electricity Authority.
Apart from the development of equipment for solar systems, Thai researchers also
have the capacity and the commitment to undertake research on solar system technology,
such as research on the impact of connecting solar systems to power grid, the engineering
design of solar systems, standards testing for solar products and systems. Research
on these subjects will need to be undertaken over time. The status of solar technology
is demonstrated in Figure 12.