Shell powering petrol stations with CIS Solar

Oil and gas giant Shell is turning to solar energy to power its service stations in Thailand.

The oil company recently launched its inaugural solar power retail system at the newly-built Shell service station in Chacheongsao province. The service station’s two rooftops were equipped with 21.76kW CIS thin-film solar panels from Solar Frontier. All power generated will be for self-consumption, making the service station eco-friendly, according to Solar Frontier.

The project was constructed by Energy Pro Corporation, a Thai solar power EPC specialist that has worked with Solar Frontier on several other projects. The installation is part of a wider project by Shell to establish eco-friendly service stations in the Asia Pacific region.

Solar Frontier’s CIS thin-film solar panels have been installed on over 400 Shell service stations throughout Japan, according to the company.

Thailand has been experiencing a solar boom, as the country starts to shift away from natural gas amidst expectations that its once-plentiful reserves will run out within a decade—forcing it to rely on imported fuel.

Thailand’s goal is to boost its solar capacity to 6,000MW by 2036, which would account for 9% of the country’s total electricity generation, helping it meet the electricity needs of up to 3 million households, according to a Reuters report.

The Thai government’s feed-in-tariff subsidies of up to $0.2 per kilowatt-hour paid out over 25 years to energy producers has attracted foreign investors such as Japan’s Kyocera, U.S.-based First Solar and China’s Yingli Green Energy.