Phuket forum opens to promote green cities across southern Thailand

The Thailand Greenest Cities Forum & Expo @ Phuket 2026 opened at Prince of Songkla University’s Phuket Campus on 24 September, bringing together public agencies, businesses and academic representatives to promote clean energy, sustainable development and healthcare in southern Thailand.

The event, themed “People and Planet First”, runs until 26 September. It is chaired by Pongpol Yodmuangcharoen, spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy and representative of the energy minister.

Four statements of intent are scheduled to be signed during the forum. They cover food-waste reduction, clean-energy cities, the development of southern Thailand as a medical centre, and green-city development.

The programme also includes an academic conference on green cities, practical workshops on food waste, air-conditioning systems, air filtration, medical platforms and healthy-hotel management, and an exhibition of innovative products.

Rooftop solar plan

Pongpol said the Ministry of Energy was promoting clean energy use by households, industry, hotels and property businesses. He said a programme for 1 million rooftop solar installations was being developed and was expected to open for registration in October 2026.

Under the proposed scheme, electricity would be bought back at B2.20 per unit, with a combined capacity of 10,000 megawatts, a limit of 5 kilowatts per meter and 20-year contracts.

He said the policy was intended to increase the share of clean electricity and reduce reliance on imported liquefied natural gas and oil. The ministry is also promoting B20 and E20 biofuels made from domestic agricultural products.

Pongpol said the draft Power Development Plan 2026 set a target for clean energy to account for 65% of the energy mix over 25 years and for solar-generation capacity to exceed 20,000 megawatts. He said new electricity demand, including from data centres, was expected to total 8.8 gigawatts.

He also said the conflict in the Middle East was accelerating changes in energy policy and represented an opportunity to reduce dependence on expensive imported oil and LNG by increasing domestic energy production.

Southern development vision

Associate Professor Dr Phan Thongchumnum, deputy rector of Prince of Songkla University’s Phuket Campus, said the Phuket, Hat Yai and Surat Thani campuses were ready to act as a development hub for a green southern region. He said the university would work with public and private-sector organisations on infrastructure, physical development, medicine and health.

Thapana Boonyapravit, president of the Thai Planning Association, said the forum was intended to establish a development vision for southern Thailand through 2040 and strengthen cooperation among local authorities, government agencies, businesses and the private sector.