Thailand turns solar power from green option to economic necessity amid ongoing Mideast conflict

Thailand's energy crisis, sparked by Middle East tensions, has rapidly turned solar power from a green option into an economic necessity.

As electricity costs surge, homes and businesses are rushing to install rooftop panels, with demand outpacing supply and installers struggling to keep up.

Heavily reliant on imported energy, Thailand is vulnerable to global shocks.

Despite abundant sunshine, renewables still make up only about 10 percent of its power mix.

To accelerate adoption, the Thai government has recently introduced tax incentives for residential solar.

Homeowners can now sell excess power back to the grid, with guaranteed rates.

"Actually, we've been looking into this for a while, and we only just made the decision now because electricity prices keep going up," said Kriangkai Kajondetpisan, a resident whose family is among a growing number of Thai households turning to solar.

Energy experts said the timing is critical.

Thailand relies heavily on imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) to power its electricity grid, making the country highly vulnerable to global energy price volatility.

"Import LNG is especially dense from the area in the Arab Gulf, and that is a straight impact to the electricity vulnerability of Thailand. So the government is really concerned about the shortage of this energy. We have studied that every 2,000 megawatts of installation of solar rooftop, around maybe 300,000 households, we can reduce the LNG import by five to seven percent," said Chalie Charoenlarpnopparut, associate professor at Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology (SIIT) under Thammasat University.

That policy push is now translating into real demand.

Solar companies said business has surged in recent months, as households rush to lock in long-term savings.

"This year, it's clear that the increase has been huge, a percentage increase of over 100 percent. And that's not even counting the projects where we're out of stock and can't install, or have to wait for availability," said Bamrung Thanapornphibalchon, managing director of the V-Techs Advance Solution Co., Ltd.

The rapid expansion has been made possible by the availability of cost-effective equipment. Affordable and widely available Chinese panels are driving much of this boom, helping scale up installations during a time of global supply strain, backed by a supply chain built for speed and scale.

What began as a crisis-driven necessity is now accelerating Thailand's long-awaited energy transition.

Thailand turns solar power from green option to economic necessity amid ongoing Mideast conflict

The framework agreement recently reached between Israel and Lebanon faces serious challenges in its implementation, according to Israeli experts.

After several days of negotiations brokered by the United States, Israel and Lebanon reached a new trilateral framework agreement aimed at ending the conflict in southern Lebanon.

The agreement was signed by the U.S., Israel and Lebanon on Friday at the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C. It calls for the disarming of all non-governmental armed factions in Lebanon, the deployment of the Lebanese army in southern areas of the country and a complete Israeli withdrawal back to the border.

Hezbollah says it will oppose the agreement and work to defeat it politically and practically. The group did not wait long before making a very public stand.

Just minutes after the announcement in Washington, thousands of Hezbollah supporters took to the streets of the Lebanese capital Beirut late Friday vowing to stand firmly against the agreement.

Parliament members aligned with Hezbollah added that the government has no authority to sign such a deal and it will therefore never stand.

"There is no way any Lebanese government could implement any agreement signed with Israel because it doesn't have the strength, it doesn't have the means and because of Hezbollah being in the opposition and holding the government by its throat," said Dr. Jacques Neriah, an analyst for the Middle East at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu already said the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) will not withdraw from the security zone they maintain in Lebanese territory before Hezbollah is disarmed.

"It is up to the seriousness by the Lebanese military and until such time that the IDF sees that the Lebanese army is serious and can take the job, only then does Israel retreat and there are pilot projects and I think it's the best way to go about it," said Or Yissachar, executive director of Israeli think tank David Institute for Security Policy.

Israel-Lebanon agreement faces challenges in implementation: Israeli experts