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Recent developments in disruptive technologies along with the cost reduction of photovoltaics have been transforming business models in the electricity sector worldwide. The rise of prosumers has led to a more decentralized and open local green energy market through the emergence of peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading, where consumers and prosumers can buy or sell electricity through an online trading platform. P2P energy trading has the potential to make green energy more accessible at the local level, provide a customer choice that aligns with community values, and promote the use of renewable energy (RE) for local consumption. Although P2P energy trading has already been adopted in some countries, its implementation remains challenging in other countries, including Thailand. In this work, we investigated the drivers and challenges of implementing P2P energy trading in Thailand based on the perspectives of P2P energy trading pilot project developers participating in the regulatory sandbox program. A strategic framework was used to identify the respondents’ standpoints on the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental (PESTLE) factors that can influence the implementation of P2P energy trading. This can help businesses, policymakers, and regulators better understand drivers and barriers of P2P energy trading, which is a potential local energy market. This paper also provides policy recommendations for regulatory changes for the future development of P2P energy trading, including opening a third-party access (TPA) regime, enabling a liberalized market in the electricity market, and integrating the role and responsibilities of the prosumer for P2P energy trading into existing law.

In recent years the power system is undergoing a rapid change from the traditional power system with large-scale power plants to small-scale distributed generations such as wind energy and solar photovoltaic system. In addition, the technology related to the electric business has been developed rapidly, such as solar power development technology, energy storage, and various communication and measurement devices, etc. The development of these technologies together with the reduced cost of technologies is the main factor in the transformation of the electric business model in many countries around the world, including Thailand to the way that electricity users turn from being consumers only to be both consumers and producers of electricity or called as prosumers. Also, it drives to the new paradigm: peer-to-peer electricity trading, where consumers and prosumers can buy or sell electricity locally. However, the concept of peer to peer energy trading is at early stage in Thailand. This study points out the benefits and barriers of peer to peer energy market based on reviewed existing peer to peer energy projects worldwide. The results of study show that the major regulatory barriers that restrictive to peer to peer market in most countries are the licensed energy supplier issue, network charging and no excess generation is fed back into the national grid.

The Thai Government has supported the use of solar photovoltaic systems for green electricity production toward the self-consumption policy since 2016. A photovoltaic support program with an installed capacity target of 100 Megawatt was announced in December 2018 to promote self-consumption and compensate for any excess photovoltaic generation at 1.68 Thai Baht/kilowatt-hour. However, the target was not achieved as a result of high upfront investment costs that are one of the main barriers in household application. To make solar photovoltaic systems more accessible to a larger group of users, financial mechanisms are required. The economic feasibility of financial options (cash, solar power purchasing agreement, solar leasing, solar loan) was analyzed for photovoltaic systems under the current Thai household solar rooftop scheme. The System Advisor Model, an open source techno-economic analysis tool, was employed to simulate photovoltaic production and cash flows to calculate the economic feasibility including the levelized cost of electricity, net present value, internal rate of return and payback period. Results showed that investment in a 3-kilowatt photovoltaic system with debt fraction of 50% and 100% cash was profitable, while investment in a 3-kilowatt photovoltaic system through a solar power purchasing agreement and leasing was not economically viable.

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