Greenyellow Thailand, a subsidiary of the French solar company Greenyellow, which is itself a subsidiary of French mass-retail company Groupe Casino, has commissioned Thailand’s first floating solar power plant. The 2 MW plant has been deployed in Thailand on the historic site of local agro-food company SPM group. The 6,000 solar panels used for the project occupy a 1.6ha area on a 4.3ha pond. The plant will produce 2.8 GWh of low carbon electricity per year, covering up to 20 per cent of the annual energy consumption of the site.
According to Greenyellow, as the price of solar electricity sold to SPM is significantly lower than that of the electricity grid, this project will allow the group to achieve significant savings on its monthly electricity bill. SPM will also benefit from the maintenance and performance monitoring system provided by Greenyellow at no additional cost, the company said, noting that the project makes it possible to exploit an under-utilized basin.
Thailand aims to develop its capacity for floating PV installations, particularly on dams. According to Bloomberg, the country plans to install nearly 2.7 GW of solar capacity on nine dams by 2037. In June 2019, the Thai Government Electricity Authority issued a call for tenders to develop 55 MW of floating solar. Four months later, French floating PV specialist Ciel&Terre, and SCG, an Asian petrochemical company, signed a memorandum of understanding to develop floating PV systems on hydroelectric dams in Thailand.
Greenyellow was established by Groupe Casino in 2007. In 2016, the company obtained authorization to implement the sale of power to final clients and power providers through its subsidiary, Greenyellow Vente d’Énergie. It has mainly deployed solar projects on France’s mainland and overseas territories and in French-speaking Madagascar. In 2018, Greenyellow joined forces with France’s energy giant Engie by creating a common subsidiary that will be primarily active in the development, construction, operation, and maintenance of PV power plants. The unit is specifically dedicated to solar production for B2B.
