| Abstract |
Triggering by an incident of Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011, the development of nuclear power plants have globally been delayed in many countries included Thailand. In response, the Thai government has updated the Alternative Energy Development Plan for 2012-2021 targeting 25% renewable energy of the total energy use in the country. Geothermal energy development has also been placed in the plan. The geothermal energy was known for more than 30 years as the operation of Fang power plant, in the northern Thailand, with capacity of 300 kWh since 1989, and still producing nowadays. Even though there were several exploration programs in other potential hot springs, mainly the geothermal energy in those areas were developed for agricultural and tourism purposes. In addition, most of the high-temperature hot springs are located in the National Park in which prohibit for further development. In 2010, Department of Alternative Energy and Energy Efficiency in cooperation with Department of Groundwater Resources and PTT Public Company Limited have established a program for geothermal energy exploration for potential assessment. The program will be started by mid of 2013. This paper presents the overall situation of geothermal energy exploration and development in Thailand. The geothermal energy exploration in Thailand has been conducted for over thirty years. The explorations were mainly conducted for a shallow depth survey in North of Thailand. The geothermal sources in Thailand are categorized into low to medium enthalpy geothermal resources. The main phenomena indicating heat sources of geothermal energy in Thailand are presumed to be associated with granitic rock intrusion. Recent studies indicate more complicated heat sources are encountered. The rejuvenated young plutons are possible heat source in spite of the prevailing older granitic rocks exposed in the areas. On the other hands, the lesson learned from Tertiary oil fields onshore Thailand illustrated the significant influence of young basalts intruded into the Tertiary basins and thermally increased the source rock maturity to oil window stage. The Tengchong region in Yunnan is famous geothermal area in China. The basement is Mesozoic granitic rocks overlaid by young basalts possibly originated from mantle. These two conceptual models of geothermal heat sources will be assessed within the upcoming geothermal exploration program. |