At COP26, Thailand announced two ambitious targets: carbon neutrality by 2050 and net-zero emissions by 2065. To achieve these goals, Thailand needs to decarbonise its power, transport, and industrial sectors, which are still dominated by fossil fuels, and increase variable renewable energy (vRE) generation (e.g., wind and solar), which remains far below its full potential.

The potentials of variable renewable energy (vRE) remain far below what is feasible in Thailand, while other energy-intensive sectors (i.e., transport, industry) are still dominated by fossil fuels. The market penetration of vRE and the electrification of end-use sectors are both limited by barriers inherent to the Thai power sector. These include inflexibility in power-system operation and planning, but also limited technological resources and skills in integrated planning, which stand in the way of a renewables-based transformation of the energy system. Ambitious carbon neutrality (by 2050) and sector-specific targets have not been pursued by the market and regulatory structures that could drive transformation. Other barriers to transition are a lack of concrete decarbonisation roadmaps and poor understanding of sector coupling, as well as insufficient cross-sectoral dialogue. These factors prevent investment and vRE ramp up and currently limit their role as decarbonisation options in the transport and industry sectors.