On 15 September 2022, Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR), Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI) together with the Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT) of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) co-hosted the Regional Conference on Energy Resilience through Decentralized Power Plants and Smart Grid Integration in conjunction with the ASEAN Sustainable Energy Week 2022 (ASEW) at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC), Bangkok, Thailand. This regional conference was one of the proposed programmes 2022 that was endorsed by APCTT, and Thailand hosted it for the member states.
The objectives of this regional conference were to deliberate on enabling policies and strategies to encourage the deployment of decentralized power plants and smart grid integration, share experiences and good practices to achieve energy resilience through decentralized power plants integrated with smart grids, and identify strategies for international cooperation on technology transfer related to decentralized power plants and smart grids in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in the ASEAN countries.
For the opening session, Dr. Chutima Eamchotchawalit, Governor of TISTR gave an opening report. On this occasion, we are honoured to have Prof. Sirirurg Songsivilai, Permanent Secretary of MHESI, who performed a welcome remark on behalf of the National Contact Point of Thailand for APCTT, Ms. Preeti Soni, Head of the APCTT, UNESCAP, who delivered an opening remark, and Mr. Hongpeng Liu, Director of the Energy Division, UNESCAP, who gave a special remark. There were 4 panel discussions elaborating on decentralized renewable energy-based power plants – opportunities and challenges for energy security, integration of decentralized power plants with smart grids – opportunities, challenges, and barriers, enabling strategies for smart grids investment and commercialization, and regional cooperation for energy resilience through decentralized power plants and smart grids to advance Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy. At the end of the conference, Dr. Pratip Vongbandit, Deputy Governor of R&D Development Group for Sustainable Development delivered a closing remark.
The decentralized power plants provided promising opportunities for expanding access to clean energy services in remote areas and enabling optimal use of renewable energy for economic activity implementation and betterment of lives. These power plants minimized the dependency on fossil fuel use, mitigated transmission and distribution inefficiencies, and reduced economic and environmental costs. The integration of decentralized power plants with smart grids become significantly important due to their intelligent systems, reliability, efficiency, resilience to the electricity supply and demand, and reduction of greenhouse gases which was a major factor of climate change. In addition, the decentralized renewable systems integrated with smart grids fostered sustainable environment conservation and energy security, which was aligned with the Bioenergy–Circular–Green (BCG) Economy and fulfilled the Sustainable Development Goal No. 7: Affordable and clean Energy – Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.
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