| Abstract |
Many geothermal hot springs in Thailand are located along Thai-Malay plate, western part from North to South, and almost associated with granitic rocks. The exploration of geothermal energy in Thailand was commenced in 1978 by collaborating between Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), Chiang Mai University (CMU), Department of Energy Development and Promotion (DEDP) and Electricity Generation Authority of Thailand (EGAT) as a Working Group in geothermal research. The crucially detailed studies during 1980-1990 were comprised of geological survey, geophysical investigation, geochemical analysis and borehole drilling. Finally, the first small-scale of geothermal electricity power plant was constructed and produced electricity with a capacity of 0.3 MW by binary cycle system until nowadays. Subsequently, the policy of further intensive exploration has been terminated from consideration due to lack of financial support, expertise and technology. However, the expected demand of electricity energy in the nation in 2021 would be raised up to 39 percent of current status and 21 percent of this figure anticipated from renewable energy such as solar power, wind power, hydropower, biogas and biomass, and also geothermal power. Due to highly demand on electricity because of continuously economic growth in Thailand, and unlike restricted site location of high potential electricity energy development such as hydropower or nuclear power, hence, geothermal electricity is one of the most alternative energy, which friendly and sustainable to global environment. In 2011, a new partnership or new Working Group has been formed comprising of Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT), Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency (DEDE) and Department of Groundwater Resources (DGR) under Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in order to cooperate in exploration and development of geothermal resources for electricity generation by setting a target plant with a capacity of 5 -10 MW and an initial budget for only preliminary exploration is more than US$ 10 million. Hopefully, recent technological advances would be an extremely important role to be fruitful in exploration and development, particularly in Hot Dry Rock (HDR) that should be appropriated for Thailand geological conditions or non-volcanic zone. |