4.7. Geothermal
Geothermal energy is natural energy from the internal heat of
the earth; the temperature varies with respect to the distance from
the earth surface (geothermal gradient) – the deeper from the
earth surface, the higher temperature. At the depth of about 25–
30 km, the average temperature will be around 250–1000 8C. There
are approximately 64 geothermal resources in Thailand, but major
ones are in the northern part of the country, especially the geyser
field at Fang District in Chiang Mai Province. Currently, EGAT is
operating a 300-kW binary cycle geothermal power plant at Fang
District, generating electricity at about 1.2 million kWh per year,
which helps reduce oil and coal consumption for power generation.
In addition, other benefits derived from the waste heat of hot
water used in the power plant. The temperature of hot water, after
being used in the power plant, will decrease from 130 8C to 77 8C,
which can be used for drying agricultural products and feeding the
cooling system for EGAT’s site-office space. Some other non-energy
uses of hot water from geothermal sources are for physical therapy
and tourism [24]. Due to limited geothermal resources in the country, Thailand has small potential to produce more renewable
energy from this area.
4.8. Nuclear energy
Thai Government is considering installing nuclear power to
cope with future energy demand increases. Growing electricity
demand, fluctuation of fossil fuel prices and climate change
pressure bring all in a favor of nuclear power. The use of nuclear
power will also help achieving emission reduction goal for climate
change in the future. Therefore, Under PDP-2010, five thousand
megawatt of nuclear power plant (5000 MW) are expected to start
operations during 2020–2030 and the first nuclear power plant
will operate in 2020 [10].
Government believes that modern nuclear plants are safe and
have high quality-control standards. Within 2012, the cabinet will
make the final approval on the construction of the first nuclear
power plant based on the results of the feasibility study on
infrastructure information, utility and public acceptance. However,
human factor is often weak point in the use of advanced nuclear
technologies; education is very important, training also a key issue
to develop specific behavior that can make the different between
industrial culture and safety culture, which is critically required by
nuclear operation. Now, the systematic process of nuclear
development program will require both a strong political will
and people’s acceptance to be open and transparent in order to
create public trust by providing essential and precise information
to the public along with the benefits to the country.