June 22, 2017
BANGKOK — The
woman who blazed the trail for solar energy in Thailand and hopes to do the
same for Myanmar and the rest of South-East Asia endured a lot of failure
before ultimately succeeding.
When Wandee
Khunchornyakong Juljarern was looking for loans to build a solar farm in 2009,
bank after bank rejected her.
They cited her
lack of experience in running commercial solar projects, even though she had
spent years installing offgrid systems across Thailand. Her new project was a
first for the country and too risky, they said. Back then in her early 50s,
they also told her she was too old.
“The more people
say, ‘You should not try it, you should not take a risk,’ the more I want to do
it,” Wandee said in an interview. Her goal was to prove Thailand could use
solar energy, so that “we can change the form of energy production, instead of
relying on only conventional means”.
Wandee had
retired in 2006 after decades as an entrepreneur running multiple businesses.
But when the Thai government announced permits for solar power plants that
could feed into the grid, she became the first to secure them.
Financing was a
major struggle, however. Finally, the tenth and last bank, Kasikornbank, whose
president was an engineer, showed interest. She needed US$20 million, but the
bank would only fund 60 per cent. So Wandee decided to sell some land and the
house she had been building.
“My mum said,
‘Do what pleases you.’ My husband said, ‘Let me think for three days’,” she
recalled. Her response was that she would sell it anyway, she said, roaring
with laughter.
Her first solar
farm opened in April 2010 in Korat, in Thailand’s sunny northeast.
Thanks to her
efforts to unlock private financing of about $800 million, by 2014, Wandee’s Solar
Power Company Group (SPCG) had 36 solar photovoltaic plants with a capacity of
250 megawatts, nearly a fifth of the country’s solar production that year.
SPCG is now one
of Thailand’s largest solar firms. Between 2013 and 2016, its revenues more
than doubled and its profits more than quadrupled.
As chairman and
CEO of the listed company, Wandee has been recognised by the United Nations for
her commitment to clean energy, and in 2015 Forbes dubbed her one of Asia’s
most powerful women.
“We are helping the
world by reducing CO2 (emissions) by almost 200,000 tonnes equivalent per
year,” said Wandee. This amounts to taking more than 40,000 cars off the road,
according to the World Bank.
The company is
expanding into solar roof systems and plans to invest in other Southeast Asian
countries. It is also looking at Japan, having received financial support from
Japanese electronics firm Kyocera during its infancy.
Solar is the
future for the region, Wandee said, with Thailand leading the charge.
The Thai government’s
2015- 2036 Power Development Plan aims to increase solar energy production to
6,000 megawatts, and boost the share of renewable energy from 12 percent to 30
percent of final energy consumption.
Wandee is
particularly keen to venture into Myanmar, where millions of people lack access
to electricity, but says it is difficult without a concrete national policy on
renewable energy.
Worldwide, solar
power costs have fallen by 90 percent and wind by half since 2009, removing the
need to choose between green or cheap, say experts.
Yet many
Southeast Asian nations are still looking to build more coal-fired plants.
Thailand has put on hold an 800-megawatt coal plant planned in a region known
for its pristine beaches following protests, but the power sector here is
dominated by fossil fuels.
According to the
United Nations, Thailand’s greenhouse gas emissions grew by almost 70 percent
between 2000 and 2010, although it now has a target to cut them 20 percent from
business-as-usual levels by 2030.
For Wandee, time
is of the essence - and solar farms are both quick to set up, taking months
rather than years, and clean.
“We are talking
about saving our next generation and the future of the planet. Nothing can
compare,” she said.
After SPCG
opened its first solar farm, Wandee was told to wait six months to see how it
went before starting a second project.
“I would call
Korat almost every hour asking, ‘What’s happening? You have enough sun? How
many kilowatt hours?’” she said, chuckling in the modern building now housing
the company in a fashionable part of Bangkok, with soothing green walls and
images of a lush forest on the glass doors and walls.
Luckily, the
project outperformed expectations and within three months, she was looking for
more investors.
The
International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private-sector arm, and the
multilateral Clean Technology Fund gave early backing. Wandee, who still lives
in her old house, wants to continue blazing a trail even though she is nearing
60.
She used to get
nervous when talking in public, asking herself what people wanted to know. Now
she just focuses on what she’s got to say.
“Women... have
to have confidence in (themselves),” she said.
Ref; The Global
New Light of Myanmar
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