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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.

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Adoption of solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation systems has been accelerating around the world, contributing to the debate about the future of policy and regulation in a high distributed energy resources future. As one of the leaders in solar investment in Southeast Asia, Thailand has recently shifted its policy framework for the support of small scale, distributed solar PV systems from subsidizing power export through feed-in tariff toward a policy that is focused on self-consumption. This paper investigates stakeholder perspectives of the detailed design options for self-consumption schemes for supporting rooftop solar PV installations. The research methodology employed questionnaires and focus group discussion in order to capture stake-holder perspectives for each element of rooftop solar PV self-consumption schemes. In all, the data derived from questionnaires and focus group discussion involved a total of 72 stakeholders. The results indicate that most stakeholder groups expressed a strong desire for compensation for excess generation of PV electricity from rooftop PV systems. While the majority of electric utilities prefer a system of net billing with real-time buyback, designed to minimize revenue losses, consumers and policymakers preferred a net-metering-based compensation scheme for supporting use of rooftop PV electricity in Thailand.

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