Energy Return on Energy and Carbon Investment of Wind Energy Farms in Thailand

This paper presents the Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROI) and Energy Return on Carbon Emissions (EROC) of 22 existing large onshore wind energy farms in Thailand. The estimation of EROI and EROC of each wind energy farm allows comparison of energy and environmental performance of each wind energy farm. Data on the 22 wind energy farms in Thailand were collected from the Electricity Generation Authority of Thailand and the Energy Regulatory Commission of Thailand. The results are showed that the total energy and carbon emissions of 22 wind energy farms over a 25-year life span are 8,755,010.26 GJ and 4,576,324.89 tCO2eq. The carbon emission intensity of wind energy farms in Thailand is 62.16 gCO2eq/kWh, which is tremendously higher than those for wind energy farms in China, Italy, and New Zealand. The EROI of 22 wind energy farms is ranged from 21.04 to 44.36. The weighted average EROI based on the installed capacity of the 22 wind energy farms in Thailand is 30.64. The EROC is ranged from 36.94 GJ/tCO2eq to 93.72 GJ/tCO2eq with the weighted average of 59.62 GJ/tCO2eq. Transportation contributes to the largest share of expended energy, accounting for 29.64% of total expended energy and the foundations of turbines are responsible for 35.09% of total carbon emissions for the wind energy farms.

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