1 AIT Asian Institute of Technology

The impact of climate change on solar power generation in North East Thailand

AuthorRaju, Mutyala Bapi
Call NumberAIT Thesis no.RS-17-17
Subject(s)Climatic change--Thailand, Northeastern
Solar power plants--Thailand, Northeastern

NoteA thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems
PublisherAsian Institute of Technology
Series StatementThesis;no. RS-17-17
AbstractSolar energy is the ultimate source of energy which is dependent on the solar radiation, due to climate change solar radiation varies that emitting the surface due to the aerosol content or greenhouse gasses present in the atmosphere. Climate change is an issue of global concern and its huge impact o n solar power generation go unnoticed . This study focuses on climate change impact on solar power generation in northeast ern region of Thailand and identifying the potential zones for future time period. Three G CMs: CNRM - CM5, MIROC - ESM - LR and MPI - ESM - LR were used under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) for the future projection of solar radiation and temperature and were corrected using linear scaling. The future projection of temperatures on an average are expected to increase 2.66 o C to 6.72 o C. The projection of solar radiation showed on an average the highest increase by 16% and the maximum decrease by - 4%, the projections of solar radiation are not predominant and varies periodically. The analysis for energy generation was performed using PV system model. Energy production of surin power plant is about to change with the change in solar radiation. The average expected energy generation from the solar power plant shows a highest increase by 8.29% in 2090s under RCP 4.5 for MPI GCM and the maximum decrease by 5.67% in 2030s under RCP 8.5 for CNRM GCM. The analysis for all solar power plants in northeast region was showed that the energy generation of around 30 power plants were remains to be stable ( - 2 to 2% change) in 2060s and 2090s and remaining 4 are about to increase (2 to 8%). In 2030s, the energy production for 14 power plants was expected to decrease and 22 power plants to remain stable in both RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 conditions . MIROC and MPI GCMs showed an increase in energy production whereas CNRM mode shows decrease in energy generation due to the variability of projected solar radiation. Potential zones were mapped using solar radiation data for future periods, the results show that areas of the very high (12 to 16%) and high (8 to 12%) potential zones are increasing in 2060s and 2090s. Results showed that most of the existing solar power plants were in low (0 to 4%) zones. However, MIROC showed best case for energy generation and while CNRM shows a worst case for energy production in future. Installed capacity need to be increased in high potential zones to generate higher amount of energy
Year2017
Corresponding Series Added EntryAsian Institute of Technology. Thesis;no. RS-17-17
TypeThesis
SchoolSchool of Engineering and Technology
DepartmentDepartment of Information and Communications Technologies (DICT)
Academic Program/FoSRemote Sensing (RS)
Chairperson(s)Sarawut Ninsawat
Examination Committee(s)Tripathi, Nitin Kumar;Shrestha, Sangam
Scholarship Donor(s)AIT Fellowship
DegreeThesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2017


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