ภาษาไทยThai bank offering free solar panels for half a million homes
Here comes the sun. To help spur Thailand’s transition to clean energy, KBank is offering free rooftop solar panels to owners of half a million homes to incentivize adoption of renewable power and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
With its Solar Plus project, KBank is banking on a reduction of 2.3 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, if all the panels are installed and operational within five years. Those with rooftop solar panels will not only be able to generate their own electricity, but also sell any excess for use in the power grid.
If the project proves successful, the bank believes that more homeowners will be willing to invest in solar power. That would be good for the planet and good for KBank’s business.
The financial institution, one of the top four commercial banks in Thailand, is investing substantially in services designed to grow the green economy, such as business loans for solar panel installation, Green Home Loans, EV car loans, and EV bike rental services.
Kbank executives said that they hope the project will serve as a prototype of peer-to-peer energy trading. A pilot peer-to-peer pilot project in the Sukhumvit area of Bangkok launched shortly before the pandemic has proven to be successful.
The Electicity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) has created a peer-to-peer energy trading platform for the Solar Plus project. It aims to improve the peer-to-peer energy trading platform to be more user-friendly, so it can win over consumers. EGAT itends to eventually introduce the platform for widespread commercial use.
Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has pledged that the Kingdom will achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and total zero emissions by 2065. To reach those goals, it will take more than government actions. The private sector, including banks, will have to be partners in the effort.