ESST

The European Inter-University Association on Society, Science and Technology

http://www.esst.eu

Understanding the Diffusion of Innovation in Rural Areas:

Study of the Management of Photovoltaic Project in Rural Thailand

Pranpreya Sriwannawit
Lund University
Masters Programme in Society, Science and Technology
Specialisation: Science, Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Time and Space
2010

18,220 words
Acknowledgements

Great supports have been received from National Science and Technology Development
Agency especially Mr. Chatree Tangamatakul who helped enormously with coordination and
gave useful suggestions for the thesis from an early stage when I was still in Sweden and even
after the field work in Thailand. Prof. Pairash Thajchayapong also gave moral support and
gave valuable advices for the thesis. During field work to Banhuaygiangnoi village, the
teachers from Office of the Non-formal and Informal Education helped with various things
even those not related to the research such as providing basic necessities for daily activities. I
would also like to thank every interviewee who spent time willingfully for the interviews.
During my whole Master’s degree education, I have learnt so much from Centre for
Innovation, Research and Competence in the Learning Economy. Therefore, I would like to
thank all the staffs and lecturers for the education they have given me. More importantly, I
would not have accomplished this thesis without help and precious guidance from my
supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Cristina Chaminade.

I would like to give a special thank to National Science Technology and Innovation
Policy Office who has funded my whole Master’s degree study and suggested thesis topic that
was directly linked to the national strategy and could benefit the nation. Above all, I was so
fortunate that this thesis is a part of royal project under Her Royal Highness Princess Maha
Chakri Sirindhorn’s initiation.

Last but not least, I would like to personally thank my father, Jit Sriwannawit, who
encouraged and comforted me especially during my hard times.
Abstract

This thesis studies a royal project which installed photovoltaic (PV) systems in thirty-six
places in the northern part of Thailand. One sub-project out of thirty-six was chosen for in-
depth investigation. Successful factors in the diffusion of PV system to users in the rural areas
of Thailand are identified. Those factors are (a) the characteristics of this innovation that
serves the real need of the community; (b) users’ roles in the whole diffusion of innovation
process; (c) proper training concerning the innovation for the users; (d) supporting functions
which are the outcome of collaboration among eight government agencies who perform the
tasks that they have expertise in and, last but not least, the role of Her Royal Highness
Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn - the princess of Thailand - which is very specific to
Thailand context. Moreover, the experiences from this PV project have potential to be applied
to other PV projects in rural areas if certain conditions exist. Policy recommendations
concerning communication, training and project evaluation are given which may be beneficial
for improving this project and for implementation for other projects in the future.

Keywords: Innovation, Diffusion of Innovation, Photovoltaic, Rural, Thailand, User,

Renewable Energy
Contents

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Relevance of the Topic to ESST ...................................................................................... 1
1.2 Relevance of the Topic for Thailand................................................................................ 2
1.3 Aim and Objectives.......................................................................................................... 4
1.4 Structure of the Thesis...................................................................................................... 4
2. Theoretical Framework .......................................................................................................... 6
2.1 Innovation and Innovation Systems in Developing Countries......................................... 6
2.2 Diffusion of Innovations and the Roles of the Users ....................................................... 8
2.3 Absorptive Capacity....................................................................................................... 11
2.4 Summary and Hypotheses.............................................................................................. 11
3. Methodology ........................................................................................................................ 13
3.1 Case ................................................................................................................................ 13
3.2 Research Approach: Retrospective Study ...................................................................... 14
3.3 Data Collection Methods................................................................................................ 15
3.3.1 Desk Research ......................................................................................................... 15
3.3.2 Interview.................................................................................................................. 15
3.4 Sampling......................................................................................................................... 18
3.5 Data Analysis ................................................................................................................. 18
3.6 Limitations, Reliability and Validity.............................................................................. 20
4. Description of the Case ........................................................................................................ 21
4.1 Origin of the Project....................................................................................................... 21
4.2 Tasks of Each Agency.................................................................................................... 23
4.3 Sub-Case: Banhuaygiangnoi Learning Center ............................................................... 29
4.4 PV System ...................................................................................................................... 30
5. Empirical Analysis and Discussion...................................................................................... 34
5.1 Successful Factors in the Diffusion of Innovations ....................................................... 34
5.1.1 Characteristics of the Innovation being Diffused.................................................... 34
5.1.2 The Roles of the Users ............................................................................................ 35
5.1.3 Training ................................................................................................................... 37
5.1.4 Supporting Functions and Collaboration of Different Agencies in the Project ...... 39
5.2 Impact and Transferability ............................................................................................. 42
5.2.1 Level of Satisfaction................................................................................................ 43
5.2.2 Possibility for Using This Project as a Model......................................................... 44
6. Problems Encountered in the Field Work ............................................................................ 47
7. Final Reflections and Policy Recommendations.................................................................. 48
7.1 Final Reflections on the Diffusion of Innovations ......................................................... 48
7.2 Policy Recommendations............................................................................................... 50
8. References ............................................................................................................................ 54
Appendix 1 Interview Guide .................................................................................................... 57
1.1 Interview Guide for Officers from Eight Government Agencies................................... 57
1.2 Interview Guide for ONIE Teachers .............................................................................. 59
1.3 Interview Guide for Local People from Banhuaygiangnoi Village ............................... 61
Appendix 2 List of the Interviewees ........................................................................................ 62
Appendix 3 List of Abbreviation ............................................................................................. 64
Figures and Tables

Figure 1 Diffusion of innovation process ............................................................................... 10

Figure 2 Map of Thailand ....................................................................................................... 22
Figure 3 PV system equipment diagram ................................................................................. 31

Table 1 Tasks of related agencies .......................................................................................... 26

Table 2 Suggested electricity utilities for one PV system ..................................................... 32
Table 3 Roles of government agencies .................................................................................. 39
 1

1. Introduction

This introductory chapter starts with the discussion on the relevance of the chosen topic to
European Studies of Society, Science and Technology (ESST) International Master
Programme and also the relevance of the topic to Thailand based on the rationale concerning
energy issue. Furthermore, the general research aim and specific objectives are stated. This
chapter ends with the explanation of the structure of the thesis.

1.1 Relevance of the Topic to ESST

Public policies concerning innovation and energy undoubtedly require firm determination and
special strategies on the government side especially in developing countries. Successful
utilization of solar energy must receive full support from the government as well as proper
and devoted policy. Innovation policy is crucial. Focusing on innovation while there are still
more acute problems - such as poverty, limited access to water and food or high mortality rate
- may be accused as luxurious. However, innovations can help solving and reducing some of
those acute problems that developing countries are facing. Moreover, innovation is essential
for growth and building industrial competitiveness and hence for catching-up (Chaminade et
al., 2009). In this thesis, we are concerned with how innovation can solve electricity scarcity
problems which is one of the most urgent and earnest needs in developing countries
particularly in rural areas.

We employ innovation system framework and focus on one of its vital function –
diffusion of innovation. To be more specific, this thesis aims to analyze the diffusion of
photovoltaic (PV) technology to rural areas in Thailand. This technology is considered to be
innovation for the poor because it targets the rural and poor communities. This thesis is
relevant to ESST as it addresses the theory of innovation system and the diffusion of
innovation.
2

1.2 Relevance of the Topic for Thailand

Energy is of utmost importance to the society as illustrated by Smil's (1994) statement saying
“ENERGY IS THE ONLY universal currency: It must be transformed to get anything done.”
(p. 1). This can be taken to imply that energy is internationally wished to be acquired to
facilitate comfortable standard of living.

According to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s (2004) World

Energy Assessment as of 2004, two billion people lived their lives without energy which
limited their potential for the development of their economic and living standards. However,
the dilemma is that while energy is an inevitable part for development; its production and
usage contribute greatly to climate change. The challenge is how to provide enough energy
that can meet with the demand and simultaneously reduce the emission of greenhouses gases.
The problem of global warming must be taken seriously and urgently. If conventional practice
of burning fossil fuels is being continued, disastrous impact from global warming will be
unavoidable. There will be rise in sea level, extreme weather, deforestation, flood and
draught. Unfortunately, the poorest parts of the world will be those who suffer the most while
they are those who cause the problem least (World Energy Council [WEC], 2007a). In this
thesis, we discuss how energy can be used as a tool to improve living quality in the poorer
parts of the world.

The threat of energy shortage from using traditional and unrenewable energy source is
alarmingly real. The fact that conventional energy resources (fossil fuels including oil and
coal) will finally run out is undeniable (Shafiee et al., 2008). Within the coming two decades,
demand for fossil fuels is expected to exceed supply. Risks from this problem encompass
weather condition, economic hardship and political crisis (Thirugnanasambandam et al.,
2010). One of the solutions is to reduce using fossil fuels and increase using renewable
energies instead. As of no less importance, installation of human consciousness in energy
efficiency consumption should be rigorously educated. The challenge lies on the political
side. Governments around the world, especially those which are highly developed down to
developing, must emphasize to awaken users’ awareness and behavioural pattern in order to
solve the rising energy demand and climate change issues.

Undoubtedly, renewable energy has high potential to meet with rising energy demand
in the near future. However, relying on only one sort of energy can be a risky guarantee to
 3

replace the whole energy supply system. It is necessary to properly appropriate the energy
choices. According to World Energy Council (WEC) (2007b), the ranking of renewable
energy alternatives should be considered by using 3A’s Principle:
• availability for continuous supply;
• accessibility to affordable energy;
• acceptability especially in terms of environment.

Solar energy is the most available energy source in the world. The sun emission
capacity is 3.8 x 1023 kW. Out of this amount, only 1.08 x 1014 kW reach the earth surface. If
a tiny fraction, say 0.1% with 10% conversion efficiency, could be transformed into energy,
the whole international community would have become enormously energy rich by an amount
of 11,000x104 GW which is 4 times of the world total 3,000 GW energy generating capacity.
Currently, 80% of world energy use depends on fossil fuels. The estimate energy share in
2100 is that oil, gas, coal and nuclear power will constitute less than 15% of world energy
consumption while solar energy will supply up to 70% (WEC, 2007a). It should also be noted
that solar radiation on the earth annually is more than 7,500 times of total energy consumption
which is 450 EJ. Annual radiation is much more than the estimated non-renewable energy
resources (Thirugnanasambandam et al., 2010).

In the case of Thailand, it is envisaged that solar energy is of the greatest potential.
Availability and acceptability are of little concerns. The average daily solar intensity in
Thailand is 18 MJ/m2 which is rather high (The Thailand research fund, 2007). It is perfectly
green and not a risky technology; therefore, people tend to accept it. However, the problem
falls on accessibility. At the moment, the price for producing electricity with solar cell is quite
high. Although it has been falling very rapidly; for example, the price has fallen threefold
within the past decade. There have still been constant attempts to produce solar cells with
higher performance at lower price (The Thailand research fund, 2007). With its proper
implementation, solar energy is one of the most favourable energy sources that can potentially
lead to sustainable rural development. With successful cases in Thailand, the policy and
methodology will have high potential to be adopted in other developing countries where the
WEC 3A’s principle is met. Solar energy is a great promising candidate for Thailand and is
used as a renewable energy choice in this thesis. This thesis aims at understanding the
mechanisms for the diffusion of innovation (PV system) to rural communities. It focuses on
the analysis of a small-scale project for installation of solar cells in remote areas of Thailand
where they did not have access to electricity. Chapter 4 describes the project in detail.
4

According to European Union energy cooperation, energy policy is focused around

three main pillars; guarantee energy security, minimize environmental impact for ecological
sustainability and improve competitiveness. Can renewable energy provide answers to all
these challenges? It is quite obvious that only one kind of renewable energy cannot solve all
these issues simultaneously. For example, North Africa region is suitable for using solar
power while this technology is not as applicable in Northern Europe. However, our point of
departure is that with all the currently available technologies and proper public policy
implementation, renewable energy is a good candidate and can most probable cover all these
challenges and respond to future demand. Anyhow, we need to better understand if and how
these technologies can be diffused to rural areas, what are the mechanisms enabling or
constraining the diffusion of innovation and the adoption by rural households. This was set to
be challenged by the endeavor of this thesis. Furthermore, the thesis also corresponds to
Thailand national policy under the category energy security and climate change issue
(National Science Technology and Innovation Policy Office, 2009).

1.3 Aim and Objectives

The aim of this thesis is to identify successful factors in the diffusion of innovation to final
users in the rural areas of Thailand. More specifically it is to:
• identify the factors behind success or failure of a diffusion of PV system project;
• discuss whether the experiences acquired from this project can be applied to other
cases that use PV systems in rural areas.

1.4 Structure of the Thesis

This thesis is organized as follows. Chapter two discusses theories employed in this thesis.
We begin with the discussion on innovation and innovation system in developing countries.
Then the theory of diffusion of innovations is elaborated, including a discussion on the
absorptive capacity. This chapter ends with the summary of theoretical framework and
hypotheses. In chapter three, research methodology is explained in detail. Description of the
case is elaborated under chapter four which is further separated into four sections namely:
origin of the project, tasks of each agency, sub-case: Banhuaygiangnoi learning center and PV
system. Chapter five is devoted for empirical analysis and discussion which is further
 5

separated to the identification of successful factors in the diffusion of innovation and the
impact of PV system and possibility to transfer experiences from this project. The next
chapter lists the problems that researcher encountered in the field work. Finally, this thesis
ends with final reflections on the diffusion of innovation and policy recommendations.
6

2. Theoretical Framework

The objective of this thesis is to identify factors that affect the process of innovation diffusion
in a developing country. Consequently, the concept of innovation in the context of developing
countries must be first understood. Moreover, the function of innovation system - more
precisely how innovation can be diffused among different individuals in the system - needs to
be thoroughly visualizable. The importance of institutions as well as linkages are taken into
consideration in this thesis. Diffusion of innovation is discussed here as it is the function of
the project under study. The concept of absorptive capacity is also relevant as one of the main
studies in this thesis is based on users and their absorptive capacity.

2.1 Innovation and Innovation Systems in Developing Countries

Innovation in developing countries does not usually mean something new to the world. It
often implies the absorption of innovation that exists somewhere else in the world and
adapted to the local needs (incremental innovation) (Lundvall et al., 2009). In this thesis, the
innovation is diffused to the rural areas. Thus it is relevant to study innovation for the poor.
Innovation for the poor means new products and services that are intended to serve the need
of low-income communities. It can be re-designed to suit the specific target (Ramani et al.,
2009).

According to Edquist (1997), system of innovation is “all important economic, social,

political, organizational, institutional, and other factors that influence the development,
diffusion, and use of innovations” (p. 14). A system is comprised of components, which are
organization (player of the game) together with institution (rule of the game), and their
relations. Moreover, the system must have a concrete function to fulfil its purpose and must
also have definite boundary (Edquist, 2005). In this thesis, the function of the system is the
diffusion of innovation among different actors of the system and more specifically between
government agencies and users. This will be explained more in chapter 4. The boundary
encompasses all those involved in the project and end users. Innovation system framework is
used to analyse the components and their relations with eventual identification of reasons
 7

behind success or failure of this PV installation project, particularly related to the institutional
framework.

This thesis focuses on the importance of institutions. To avoid conceptual vagueness

about the definition of institution, distinction of organization and institution needs to be
clearly made. Both terms are often used as synonyms. Some economists do not have clear
separation between these two words. Several institutionalists have studied and defined the
term institution. The general concept refers to behavioral patterns and ground rules that have
effect on economic phenomena. In this thesis, the definitions of institution and organization
given by Edquist et al. (1997) are chosen. They define institution as “sets of common habits,
routines, established practices, rules, or laws that regulate the relations and interactions
between individuals and groups” (p. 46). This definition covers the classical concept given by
other famous institutionalists and is also related to interactive learning of which the term
institution and innovation are linked (Edquist et al., 1997). As for the definition of
organization, Edquist and Johnson’s (1997) analysis is based on North’s (1990) work. They
summarize organization as “Organizations are, according to North, partly formed by the
institutional framework and are, at the same time, vehicles for their change; the players follow
the rules but they also influence them.” (Edquist et al., 1997, p. 47).

In innovation studies, firms, universities and research centers are regarded as

organizations as they are crucial parts that drive the process of technical change. There are
two rationales behind this distinction. The first one is that the two components of a system,
namely institution and organization, have different roles in innovation process. The second
rationale lies on their relations which are very complex but highly significant. It is worth
noting that organizations are formal structures that have specific purposes and are created
consciously. On the contrary, institutions can be developed spontaneously and usually not
characterized by any specific purpose (Edquist et al., 1997).

There are many ways to classify different types of institutions. The relevant
categorizations of institutions suitable for this thesis are of two kinds. The first one is to
distinguish between formal and informal institutions. The examples of formal institutions are
written laws and governmental regulations while examples of informal institutions are
common laws and working norms. The impacts of these institutions are different in each
country. Informal ones are less visible and need to be observed through daily behaviour. The
second categorization distinguishes between hard and soft institutions. Hard institution is
8

more compulsory while the soft one is rather suggestive. The definitions of soft and hard
institutions depend on the context. In one situation, soft institution might be considered as
hard institution (Edquist et al., 1997).

Interaction and communication in the economy are affected by institutional settings.

Innovation is an interactive learning process. Thus, it is undeniable that institution plays a
great role in innovation. The functions of institutions in innovation process exist at various
levels. Edquist et al. (1997) list three basic functions of institution. The first function is to
reduce uncertainty and provide information. The second one is to manage conflicts and
control cooperation. The last function is to provide incentives. Examples of its functions at
different levels are such as (a) relations within a firm among research and development
section and marketing section which control cooperation that influences firm’s innovation
activity and (b) patent law that is enforced by government agency on firms can regulate
uncertainty about technology appropriation possibilities. From the above discussion, it is
obvious that institution is important for innovation process and that the connections between
institutions and innovations are ubiquitous (Edquist et al., 1997).

In the context of innovation systems, it is also important to consider linkages which

connect various components. The relevant type of linkage for this thesis is interaction linkage
between different actors (Galli et al., 1997). We separate it to formal and informal linkages.
By saying formal, we mean that it is an established function such as official command and
while saying informal, we mean that it is an unofficial link between actors such as personal
relationship.

One of the vital functions of innovation system is the diffusion of innovation among
actors in a system. This topic will be discussed in the following section.

2.2 Diffusion of Innovations and the Roles of the Users

Rogers (1995) gave concise definition of diffusion of innovations in the following sentence:
“Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels
over time among the members of a social system.” (p. 5). There are four main elements in the
process of innovation diffusion namely (a) innovation; (b) communication channel; (c) time;
(d) social system (Rogers, 1995). The definition of innovation was already explained in the
previous section. The remaining three elements are elaborated in this section. Communication
 9

in this sense is when a message about innovation is exchanged in order to reach mutual
understanding. Communication channel is thus a mean that the message is spread which can
be mass media channel or interpersonal channel. Mass media (such as via television or
newspaper) is usually the fastest and most efficient mean that can reach wide range of people
to inform them about the existence of that innovation. In contrast, it is more effective to
persuade someone through an interpersonal channel especially if it happens between those
with similar background. Diffusion is a social process. From previous studies, ones do not
base their evaluation of an innovation on scientific results. However, ones usually have
subjective evaluation that is influenced by their peers. Time is a part of the process and can be
further explained into three sub-processes. The first part is an innovation-decision process
which is the stage that one passes the first knowledge of an innovation to either adoption or
rejection. The second one is the relative earliness or lateness that an innovation is adopted by
other individuals. The last stage is the rate of adoption which is measured by the numbers of
people that adopt an innovation in the certain time frame. The last element in the process is a
social system. It is a set of connected units that are connected to one another to achieve a
common goal. The members may range from an individual to an organization. The system is
bound by the fact that members cooperate to reach a mutual goal (Rogers, 1995).

The role of users in the diffusion of innovation process is crucial as users are involved
in every element. First of all, considering the innovation itself, understanding users’ needs is a
vital determinant of its success. Users’ involvement in innovation process leads to the creation
of more precious innovation and better adoption of innovation. Thus including users in the
early stage and also keep their active roles are necessary for such innovation to be successful
(Tidd et al., 2005). Secondly, communication channel can be linked to the concept about
cognitive distance and users’ absorptive capacity. These topics will be further explained in the
following section. Thirdly, the element time is truly related and highly dependent upon users.
All three sub-processes as mentioned above rely heavily on end users. The first sub-process or
the decision making process is when users judge the innovation. Then it comes to the time
when innovation is adopted by other members which can be affected by communication
channels. The last sub-process is measured directly by counting the number of users that
choose to adopt the innovation (Rogers, 1995). Lastly, users are obviously the parts of the last
element - social system. Without users, the system would not be complete as the function of
innovation system will not be fulfilled.
10

In this thesis we put our focus on the first element - innovation. We want to introduce
the concept about the diffusion of innovation in the following figure. This is the normal
process that innovation or any other things have to be transferred.

Figure 1 Diffusion of innovation process

Innovation
Source Receiver
Channel

Source = Government agency

Receiver = User
Innovation = PV system
Channel = Royal PV project

From the diagram, the source of innovation in this thesis is a government agency that
produces PV system (innovation). The receivers are users in the remote areas in Thailand. The
innovation is transferred via a royal PV project. More detail about the project will be
explained in chapter 4.

The diffusion of innovation to rural areas additionally requires the diffusion for the
poor. In order to take into account diffusion for the poor, we need to consider the following
conditions:
• It must serve the real need of the community.
• It must be compatible to the need in terms of cost, availability and existing production
method and technology.
• Its value must be positively perceived by users. Many innovations with good intention
to target the poor seem to fail because its value is not seen by users such as the
introduction of clean water.
• Complementary resources are needed for the innovation to function sustainably. Thus,
change within the community may be necessary to enable the innovation to function.
• It must have market potential that does not exceed affordable range for the poor
(Ramani et al., 2009).
 11

2.3 Absorptive Capacity

External sources of knowledge are crucial for innovation process. Thus the ability to employ
external knowledge is a very important component. This ability, in turn, is based primarily on
prior knowledge or absorptive capacity. The concept of absorptive capacity is first introduced
by Cohen et al. (1990). They define this term in the following sentence: “prior related
knowledge confers an ability to recognize the value of new information, assimilate it, and
apply it” (p. 128). The concept has been applied by various scholars mainly at firm and
organization level. This implies that all diffusions of innovation almost always require some
form of training. In this thesis, it is directed at individual level by focusing on users. In order
to have effective knowledge transfer, sufficient absorptive capacity of the users and optimum
cognitive distance between the receivers and the source need to be in place. Nooteboom
(1999) described about cognitive distance between individuals who have different
experiences. Since knowledge is path-dependent, absorptive capacity of each individual
depends on their past experiences. Thus there is cognitive distance between the two
individuals. For the diffusion of innovation to occur, cognitive distance must exist between
the receiver and the source. If the cognitive distance is too small or does not exist, there
would be no diffusion. On the other hand, if the distance is too large, the diffusion would be
difficult to occur (Nooteboom, 2004). For example, innovation diffusion from a technical
expert to low-educated users leads to less effective diffusion because they have different
technical knowledge or in another word their cognitive distance is large. In contrast,
innovation diffusion cannot happen if two individuals are truly identical as there will not be
any new information to be exchanged between them. Thus, there must be suitable degree of
difference between the two. Ideally the highest diffusion efficiency is attained if the variable
is noting else but the innovation itself. However, such circumstance does not normally exist.
It is not possible to have two individuals who are identical in all respects except the
knowledge on innovation because their knowledge is affected by experience, education and
social background (Rogers, 1995). Therefore, even with high degree of difference, users need
to have sufficient absorptive capacity to appreciate and utilize the innovation.

2.4 Summary and Hypotheses

This chapter’s prime focus is on innovation. It starts with the definition of innovation in the
context of developing countries and the explanation of innovation system. A very relevant
12

basis for this thesis is the importance of institutions in the system of innovation studies of
which we categorize it into four kinds: formal, informal, hard and soft institution. Linkages
between various components in the system should also be in existence to facilitate the
function of the system. Then the theory about diffusion of innovation is discussed which is
primarily based on Rogers’s (1995) study. According to Rogers (1995), four elements in
diffusion process are innovation, communication channel, time and social system. The roles
of users are discussed based on these elements as they are involved in every element. It is also
relevant to analyze the conditions for diffusion of innovation for the poor which are listed by
Ramani et al. (2009). In this thesis, the receivers of the innovation are users. Thus, user’s
absorptive capacity needs to be taken into account.

Based on the theories discussed above, the hypothesis of this research is that the
diffusion of PV systems to rural areas is successful due to the following factors:
1. The existence of necessary institutions and linkages leads to high collaboration of all
agencies involved.
2. Conditions for successful diffusion of innovation for the poor are met.
3. Users have sufficient absorptive capacity for the utilization of solar energy
technology.

The above factors are derived from previous failures done by other government
agencies. All mistakes or improper practices are precious lessons for the success of this
project. The fruitful outcome could lead to the development of other successful solar cell
electrification in Thailand.
 13

3. Methodology

This thesis uses retrospective study as a research approach. The thesis focuses on one large
project initiated by Her Royal Highness (H.R.H.) Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn which
aims to install PV technology in different rural areas in Thailand. This overall project is
considered to be the thesis case. Then one specific project in the village of Banhuaygiangnoi
is chosen to be our sub-case. Both the whole project and the specific project are studied
retrospectively. There is no single particular method for data collection that has advantages
over the others (Yin, 1994). The most suitable sources of data collection for this endeavour
are considered to be desk research and interview as they can complement each another. To
have balance credibility from all actors, the same data collection methods are employed for
every actor. Documents are used for triangulation to validate the information and to cross-
check the conformation of the information received from various respondents.

3.1 Case

Case study is the exploration of (a) case(s) by using multiple sources of information
(Creswell, 1998). It is a useful method to study human affairs but not suitable for
generalization. Generalization must be universal despite time and space (Gomm et al., 2000).
The aim of this research is not to generalize its result but to find useful policy
recommendation for the implementation of PV system in the rural areas. Case study views the
unit of analysis as a whole (Gomm et al., 2000). Identifying the case and its components are
crucial for this study. A case can be a group of people, organizations or a community (Flick,
2009).

The aim of choosing a case is not to study only the specific characteristics of that case.
In contrast, it is often aimed at using the case under focus as an example for other related
situations. Selecting a case that can lead to a more general conclusion is therefore important.
The advantageous part of doing a case study is because it can capture the process and details
in a very exact and comprehensive way. Appropriate sampling method for this design is
purposive (Flick, 2009).
14

In this thesis, the PV installation project in the rural area in Thailand is chosen to be
the case. The reasons that this case is chosen are twofold: (a) it is different from other PV
projects because it is collaboration among several government agencies; (b) the researcher has
access to the information due to the academic relationship with agencies involved.

The project involves the installation of PV technology in thirty-six villages in rural

Thailand. The dissemination of the PV technology is done through learning centers located in
each village as will be described in the next chapter. The learning centers are used as local
schools. Social activities are also gathered there.

After acquiring information about the project from several main actors, the study on a
sub-case is carried for in-depth analysis. One learning center out of thirty-six is analysed and
defined as sub-case. In this case, we choose to focus on the village of Banhuaygiangnoi, in the
northern part of Thailand.

3.2 Research Approach: Retrospective Study

As mentioned earlier, the research approach chosen to undertake in this thesis is retrospective
study. Retrospective study looks at a subject retrospectively from the time of the research.
The selection of the informants for this study needs to be carefully screened so that their
meaningful perspectives can be investigated and captured. The initial stage starts with the
identification of relevant interviewees, comparison and justification of their answers with
eventual support by appropriate documents. Current perspectives which are based on the
evaluation and perception of previous experiences are crucial for this type of study. The
challenge of this method is that the current situation influences the assessment of the past
events (Flick, 2009). Since this study is carried out on an ongoing project, the assessment and
answers of the respondents are based on their knowledge at the time of the interview. Some
information may change within the time of the research especially if new situations emerge.
Therefore, interviews on some key persons might have to be undertaken more than once to
capture certain specific points.
 15

3.3 Data Collection Methods

Data related to the case (the project) as well as the sub-case (the specific diffusion of PV
technology in the village of Banhuaygiangnoi) are collected through desk research and
interviews.

3.3.1 Desk Research

Desk research (sometimes referred to as document analysis or content analysis) is a process

that locates and analyses information that already exists on written documents (Pershing,
2007). The aim of using this method is to capture facts. Documents are usually analyzed when
researchers already have hypotheses, questions or ideas in mind. This data collection method
is very suitable for getting retrospective information. It can be used at any stage of the
research especially at the beginning of the research to familiarize researchers with the topic
(Caulley, 1983). The information that is usually sought after in this method is generally
composed of purposes, rationales, history, results, accomplishments and problems (Caulley,
1983; Pershing, 2007). This method can help reducing time and cost greatly as it does not
involve new data collection. It can serve as both a single data collection method and also a
precursor to combine additional data by using other methodologies (Pershing, 2007). The
definition of document in this thesis does not follow Caulley’s (1983) meaning as he uses it as
a synonym with the word “source”. In his definition, documents encompass both written and
non-written information (Caulley, 1983). However, in this thesis, documents refer only to
written sources which can be official as well as unofficial documents, internal reports or other
written papers. They are obtained both by direct request and by downloading relevant
information from reliable websites. The focus is to (a) study general information of the
project; (b) find out factors that contribute to success or failure of the project especially at an
organizational level.

3.3.2 Interview

Acquiring information through conversation is an ancient form of gathering data. This is in

accordance with Kvale (1996) who points out that “If conversations did not exist, there would
hardly be any shared knowledge about the social scene.” (p. 8). Using interview as a source
for data collection has received great attention by scholars from various fields. Employing
interview in a methodology often aims at qualitative finding rather than quantified data. The
16

objective is to find meaningful information for later interpretation as it can reflect perceptions
of the people. Conducting an interview is regarded as a simple data gathering method. One
can even conduct an interview without any advance preparation (Kvale, 1996). The focus of
the interview is to (a) gather information on the project; (b) find out factors that contribute to
success or failure of the project especially at an individual level; (c) study the impact and
transferability of the project. In this study, semi-standardized interview is chosen. Interview
guides are developed in advance in three main formats according to the informants. One
format of the interview guide is for officers from eight government agencies involved in the
case. The second format aims at field teachers who are the subjects of sub-case study. The last
one is for local people from Banhuaygiangnoi village who are also the subjects of the sub-
case. For the interviews with field teachers and local people, a field trip to the area is
necessary. The main point for the latter two interview guides is on user participation which is
an important factor affecting success or failure of the project.

Purposeful sampling to interview people from every agency and also different people
at different management level is carried out. When interviewing people from the same
agency, information received from people at the management level is sometimes not in line
with those at the operation level. This is advantageous as it enables the researcher to receive
wider perspectives and allows a more critical perspective on the successful factors as well as
on the barriers for the effective implementation of the project in other rural areas.

Prior to the interviews, formal introduction of the research and its aims are presented
to give informants basic ideas about this thesis. Moreover, background information is
collected by asking the informants to fill in a background information sheet. The researcher
also has a short casual talk with the informants to familiarize with them and to make the
interviewees feel at ease. Semi-standardized interviews are conducted face to face. Proper use
of the guide helps in comparability of the data from various respondents. Immediately after
the interview, postscript, impression and detailed situation of the interview are written. The
background of respondents may also affect the way they think. As a result, biographical data
about the respondents are also collected (Flick, 2009). Contradictory information among
respondents definitely requires a larger number of interviewees as compared to good
conformity of information.

The total number of interviewees is twenty of which twelve are officers from eight
agencies, three are teachers who work under Office of the Non-formal and Informal
 17

Education and five are local people from Banhuaygiangnoi village. Short details of each
individual are listed below:

• one officer from Office of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's
Projects (OPSP);
• four officers from National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA)
who have distinctively different roles in the project
• one officer from central Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC)
• one officer from central Office of the Non-formal and Informal Education (ONIE)
• two officers from Vocational Education Commission (VEC) (one officer from central
VEC and one officer from district college )
• one officer from The Institute for the Promotion of Teaching of Science and
Technology (IPST)
• one officer from Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency
(DEDE)
• one officer from CES Solar Cells Testing Center (CSSC)
• three teachers working under ONIE (one supervising teacher from district office in
Maehongson Province and two teachers stationed at Banhuaygiangnoi learning
center)1
• five local people from Banhuaygiangnoi village (one village chief, two students from
adult class and two students from youth class)

Additional information is collected after the interviews via telephone. Questions used
at this stage are of two natures. The first one is to confirm unclear information given by the
interviewees during the first interview and to allow the respondents to clarify some
information. The second one is to focus on particular points that emerge after the first
interview.

1
Supervising teachers refer to the teachers that come from district offices. Their main tasks are to supervise and
give guidance to the teachers stationed at learning centers. Teachers stationed at the learning centers are those
who conduct teaching and other activities at the learning centers. They also live there during their teaching
period. In this thesis, all three teachers are regarded as field teachers because their jobs involve working in the
field, not only passing orders from the office.
18

3.4 Sampling

Sampling decisions are made in several stages of the research. First of all, when collecting
data, one needs to choose a case or an interviewee that one would get fruitful information
from (Flick, 2009). This is done by choosing key persons from each government agency.
Later, material sampling is done to choose which interviews and which documents are the
focal points of the study. Lastly, when the outcomes are presented, the choice of choosing the
findings must be made (Flick, 2009). In this thesis, purposive sampling of respondents is
chosen for the interviews. In order to select good informants, the decision is based on
choosing meaningful interviewees who have sufficient knowledge and experiences about the
topic under study (Flick, 2009). Information from the interviewees can lead to better
identification of proper written documents. Such practice could be relevant and contribute to
the research fruitfully.

The selection of Banhuaygiangnoi learning center as a sub-case is done under

convenient nature. Due to limited resource and time, this case is chosen as it is more
accessible than other places. Some places can be accessed only on foot while this place can be
accessed by a four-wheel drive car on very bad conditioned road. Moreover, with limited
funding, it is convenient for the researcher to follow the research team from NSTDA who
already set up a plan to visit the site. The sampling choice for interviewees related to this case
is of purposive nature.

3.5 Data Analysis

Qualitative content analysis is the procedure chosen for the analysis of data from both
interviews and document collection. This procedure is a classical method for analyzing
textual data regardless of their sources (Flick, 2009).

For numerical data, the analysis is done qualitatively which means that we do not use
any quantitative method for the analysis. This thesis uses numbers on the scale of 1-10 to
capture the interviewees’ perception on specific points. We are aware that this value is
insignificant in statistical terms as the sampling group is too small. The number is used only
to quantitatively assess the respondents’ attitude but it is not used for statistical purpose.
 19

Therefore, the scores are treated individually and cannot provide comparison conclusion
across the group.

One of the challenges in the analysis and interpretation of the data is to specify ex-ante
what is considered to be a success or failure of the PV installation project. Herein, success
refers to sustainable management which implies that:
1. PV system responds to the users’ real needs and not just as free gift of no practical
value.
2. Users have sufficient knowledge of the system concerning the installation, utilization,
maintenance and data sheet recording.
3. Basic solar energy technology is incorporated in study plans for students taught by
field teachers.
4. Service supports are prompt to be offered when needed.
5. The collaboration among government agencies is accomplished.
6. The project follows the principle of sufficiency economy.

It is worth mentioning here that the philosophy of sufficiency economy was presented
by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand in 1997. Sufficiency economy means
having enough to live a reasonably comfortable life without excessive luxury. It has to suit
individual financial situation. Sufficiency economy is consisted of three main pillars:
moderation to follow the middle path, not too little and not too much; reasonableness to
evaluate reasons for action and understand the consequences; self-immunity to have self-
resilience, can withstand shocks, adjust to change and cope with unpredictable and
uncontrollable events. The special character of sufficiency economy is that it is very practical.
It can be applied to all levels ranging from individual, community to nation. This principle
also exists in the model of rural development. The principle has been adopted widely in
Thailand and has created debates throughout the nation as some economists preliminary
thought that it was against traditional economics theory. Anyhow, it is now being discussed
by international organizations such as the UNDP (UNDP, 2007). In order for our thesis to
have practical impact on policy planning, sufficiency economy may be considered.
Installation of PV system to serve electricity demand needs to be sufficient. It cannot be
excessive as it will be too costly and unaffordable by the government. Applying this concept
to Thailand context could draw great interest from the public as it is well known and
nationally used.
20

3.6 Limitations, Reliability and Validity

The limitation of retrospective study is that interviewees’ opinion and information from the
documents are based on the time of the research. Therefore, such information could change
significantly and affect the analysis if some situations that affect previous analysis occur.

As for case study, it is not possible to study every learning center with limited time
and resources. However, the information received from this case could give fruitful policy
recommendation to a certain extent. It should also be noted that generalization is the common
pitfall for doing case study which the researcher is fully aware of. In order to achieve a
beneficial policy implementation and to prevent the problem of generalization, a series of case
studies may be further conducted to complement the results.

Concerning data collection, the use of document analysis and interview raises the
questions of validity and reliability. Information from documents sometimes contains
ambiguous meaning that is difficult to interpret which may be caused by unclear definition.
Using information from the interviews can help clarify and solve this problem greatly. On the
other hand, the answers from interviewees are subject to a high degree of subjectivity (Flick,
2009). Therefore, validity of the information might be questionable. This problem receives
great attention in this thesis and we try to minimize it by careful selection of the sampling
group. Then another problem of choosing the most appropriate sampling group may emerge.
Choosing a sampling group is very crucial and is a very difficult stage. Decision on which
persons from which groups of cases to be interviewed is done with great caution (Flick,
2009).

The issue of reliability is also an important point to be considered. Official documents

and reports are created for specific purposes. Thus, they might contain hidden agenda and do
not present only facts. However, this can be reduced by using documents from only reliable
sources and use documents from more than one source (triangulating the information).
Answers of the respondents are also treated with great cautions by considering the tones and
the situation of the interviews into account. The reflexivity of the answers may also be
another problem as respondents might say what they think the researchers want to hear (Yin,
1994). Definitely, questions with hinted clues must be avoided as far as possible. Documents
are used to triangulate the results from interviews.
 21

4. Description of the Case

This thesis analyses the diffusion of PV technologies to rural areas. More precisely, it focuses
on a small-scale project in the northern mountainous area in Thailand. As mentioned earlier,
one of the crucial factors that could lead to the utilization of renewable energy is
governmental policy. Therefore, proper management of PV system installation is very
important if the government wants to have successful rural electrification. Consequently, the
ongoing pilot PV project in remote mountainous areas in Thailand with no access to
electricity is an interesting choice to investigate thoroughly. The full name of the project is
The pilot project management for photovoltaic system in Thai Phukao learning center of the
Sirindhorn royal project (Tangamatakul et al., n.d.). This research studies the overall picture
of the whole project and also a sub-project which are identified as a case and sub-case
respectively.

4.1 Origin of the Project

This project is done under H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s initiation. She wishes
that every learning center on the mountain should have access to electricity so that the quality
of teaching and learning would be at par to those in towns. The princess personally visits
some PV installed villages. She fully conceives and acknowledges that people in some PV
villages do not neither know what PV is nor how to maintain it. Even worse, some use them
to hang their cloths. Therefore, the systems are broken and do not receive any attention. She
wishes to see a sustainable project in which PV technology could be diffused to remote areas
and be actively used and maintained by the inhabitants throughout time. Prof. Pairash
Thajchayapong (a senior advisor from NSTDA) suggests that NSTDA has research on PV
system which could be used in the remote areas. However, if the system is just installed
without having collaboration among agencies and without educating users, it would not have
been sustainable. As a result, this project is done by the cooperation of eight government
agencies which are:
• Office of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's Projects (OPST);
• National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA);
• Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC);
• Office of the Non-formal and Informal Education (ONIE);
22

• Vocational Education Commission (VEC);

• The Institute for the Promotion of Teaching of Science and Technology (IPST);
• Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency (DEDE);
• CES Solar Cells Testing Center (CSSC).

Each organization performs the tasks that they are best at (Institute of Solar Energy
Technology Development [SOLARTEC], 2010a). The roles of each of them will be described
in the next section.

During November 2007 and December 2009, the systems were installed in thirty-six
learning centers in Tak, Chiangmai and Maehongson which are provinces in the northern part
of Thailand (SOLARTEC, 2010a). The location of these provinces in relations to Bangkok is
shown in figure 2.

Figure 2 Map of Thailand

 23

This project has the potential three benefits:

1. Thirty-six learning centers in the remote areas have access to electricity.
2. This project is intended to be a model case for other PV installation projects which is
the reason why there are so many agencies involved.
3. NSTDA has a chance to test their solar modules.

4.2 Tasks of Each Agency

Several government agencies participate in this project. It starts with the determination of the
areas where electrification is in need by OPSP. Then NSTDA provides the system and works
in conjunction with IPST to educate users so that they are able to install, utilize, perform basic
maintenance and record a data sheet of the system. NSTDA also analyzes the performance of
the PV systems. ONIE and OBEC are the receivers of the PV systems. VEC acts as a service
center for maintenance and fixing problems. Without incorporating knowledge about solar
energy and the system in classrooms, this project would not be sustainable as users would not
neither know what it is nor how to take care of it. Therefore, IPST’s responsibilities include
educational media preparation and training session arrangement for teachers so that they can
educate their students. DEDE and CSSC are consultants. The memorandum of understanding
was signed by representatives from eight agencies on 5th February 2008 (National Science and
Technology Development Agency [NSTDA], 2008). Detailed duties of each agency are listed
below.

Office of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's Projects (OPSP)
OPSP’s main work is only in the initial stages of the project. The task of OPSP is to survey
areas for the installation of PV system in three provinces which are Tak, Chiangmai and
Maehongson. It is also the duty of this agency to investigate and identify places that lack
electricity and need electrification (NSTDA, 2008). According to Mr. Phanom Duangthong
from OPSP, this agency also helps in coordinating central and local offices with the users as it
has informal relationship with people in the areas.

National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA)

Even though this project is in collaboration among eight agencies, NSTDA acts as the main
player. It is a coordinating body and also the agency that originates this project. The tasks of
NSTDA are:
24

• To survey the area for installation.

• To develop a model PV system by designing, pilot scale trial and testing performance
the system.
• To prepare all parts of PV systems by manufacturing PV modules and purchase
inverters, chargers, batteries, and equipment for system structure.
• To deliver the equipment from NSTDA to two receiving centers in the northern part
of Thailand and coordinate equipment delivery.
• To prepare installation manual and demonstrate installation method.
• To prepare user manual and demonstrate operation method.
• To prepare document for transfer ownership of equipment to OBEC and ONIE.
• To endorse the document of ownership transfer.
• To prepare maintenance manual and demonstrate maintenance method.
• To analyze system performance and solar module efficiency.
• To evaluate system efficiency and impact of the system.
• To prepare concluding reports of the outcome of the project and submit to related
agencies.

NSTDA is involved in this project in almost every stage (NSTDA, 2008). Mr. Chatree
Tangamatakul (a researcher from NSTDA) is the project coordinator. He is very familiar with
everyone in the project.

Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC)

The role of OBEC can be separated into three levels; central office, district office and learning
centers. An officer from central office, which is located in Bangkok, is the coordinator among
other agencies and OBEC’s district offices. Central office is also the authority which endorses
the document that certifies the ownership transfer of the equipment. District offices
coordinate between central office and learning centers. Most tasks fall on the learning centers
as this project wants the users to be responsible for the system and eventually become owners.
Therefore, teachers at the learning centers who work under OBEC have the following tasks:
• To survey the area for installation.
• To deliver the equipment from two receiving centers to schools and coordinate
equipment delivery.
• To prepare area for installation, install and utilize the system.
• To clean and do basic maintenance as well as purchasing spare parts.
 25

• To attend training sessions and educate students about solar energy and PV system.
• To observe and record the performance of the system every week and submit the
reports once a month to NSTDA (NSTDA, 2008).

Office of the Non-formal and Informal Education (ONIE)

The role of ONIE can be separated into four levels; central office, provincial office, district
office and learning center. An officer from central office, which is located in Bangkok, is the
coordinator among other agencies and ONIE’s provincial offices. Central office is also the
authority which endorses the document that certifies the ownership transfer of the equipment.
The provincial office’s role is to coordinate between the central office and the district offices.
The district offices deliver instructions to the learning centers. Both district offices and
learning centers are considered to be the operation offices. Most practical and daily operation
tasks fall on the learning centers. Teachers at the learning centers who work under ONIE have
similar tasks with OBEC which were elaborated under the previous heading. In this thesis,
people from all levels of ONIE are interviewed except those at provincial level which is
considered to be less relevant to study compared to the other three levels as it does not have
much involvement in this project. Its duties cover only the formal coordination tasks. In fact
the district officers know more than provincial officers as the district offices are operational
units.

Vocational Education Commission( VEC)

VEC is a service body for learning centers. The management level is separated into two
levels; central office and district colleges. VEC has the following tasks:
• To perform regular maintenance procedure every six months.
• To fix the system whenever it is broken.
• To attend training sessions (NSTDA, 2008).

All three tasks are performed by district colleges while the central office works as a
coordinator between other agencies and VEC’s district colleges. According to Mr.
Chaimongkon Senasu (an engineer from VEC), apart from the tasks listed in the
memorandum of understanding, central office of VEC also organizes internal training
sessions to share experiences among district colleges. This is a very good initiative of VEC as
practical knowledge about the system is best learnt by exchanging information among other
field workers.
26

The Institute for the Promotion of Teaching of Science and Technology (IPST)
IPST is responsible for preparing educational media about solar energy technology and
arranging training sessions for OBEC, ONIE and VEC (NSTDA, 2008).

Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency (DEDE)

DEDE has experience in PV installation in remote areas; therefore, DEDE gives guidance and
consultation for development of the system (NSTDA, 2008). According to Mrs. Kulwaree
Buranasajjawaraporn (the head of innovation group from DEDE), DEDE also provides
inverters used in this project by asking a private company for donation of the inverters.

CES Solar Cells Testing Center (CSSC)

CSSC has expertise in solar cell system; therefore, it acts as a consultant like DEDE but has
different specialization (NSTDA, 2008). According to Mr. Chamnan Limsakul (the head of
photovoltaic module testing from CSSC), CSSC also helps IPST with training sessions
because IPST does not have specialized knowledge about PV system.

Table 1 summarizes the tasks assigned to each agency which are agreed and signed by
the management level officers of each agency.

Table 1 Tasks of related agencies

Agency
Task
OPSP NSTDA OBEC ONIE VEC IPST DEDE CSSC
Area survey prior to installation
Determination of areas' needs X

Area survey for installation X X X X

Development of model PV system
System design X

System pilot scale trial X

Performance test of the pilot
X
system
PV system parts preparation
Manufacture of solar
X
modules
Equipment purchase X
 27

Agency
Task
OPSP NSTDA OBEC ONIE VEC IPST DEDE CSSC
Equipment delivery
Equipment delivery from
X
NSTDA to receiving centers
Equipment delivery from
receiving centers to learning X X
centers
Delivery coordination X X X X
Installation and use
Installation manual
X
preparation
Installation method
X
demonstration
User manual preparation X
System operation
X
demonstration
Area preparation for
X X
installation
System installation X X

System utilization X X
Transfer of equipment ownership
Document preparation X
Endorsement of transfer
X X X
document
Maintenance
Maintenance manual
X
preparation
Maintenance method
X
demonstration
Cleaning and basic
X X
maintenance
Six months regular X
maintenance procedure
Spare parts purchasing X X

System fixing X
28

Agency
Task
OPSP NSTDA OBEC ONIE VEC IPST DEDE CSSC
Education process
Educational media
X
preparation
Training session
X
arrangement
Training session attendance X X X

Class conduction X X
Data collection and system performance analysis
System performance X X
observation and record
System performance monthly X X
report submission
System performance analysis X
Solar module efficiency
X
analysis
System performance evaluation
System efficiency evaluation X

System impact evaluation X

Guidance and consultation X X

for development
Concluding report preparation
Report preparation and
X
submission

OBEC, ONIE, IPST and VEC are agencies operated under the Ministry of Education.
OBEC and ONIE have the same roles but they are responsible for different learning centers.
There is also one more agency that has the same responsibility with OBEC and ONIE which
is Border Patrol Police Bureau but it is not a part of the memorandum of understanding. In
this project, there are thirty-six learning centers involved of which twenty-three centers are
responsible by ONIE, twelve by OBEC and one by Border Patrol Police Bureau (NSTDA,
2008). Banhuaygiangnoi learning center – operated under ONIE – is chosen as a sub-case in
this thesis.
 29

When agencies are separated according to their tasks as givers and takers, OBEC and
ONIE are the takers while all other agencies are the givers. However, good collaboration
among all the agencies is necessary for this project to be successful.

4.3 Sub-Case: Banhuaygiangnoi Learning Center

Banhuaygiangnoi is a village, located in the Maehongson province. The hill tribe people in
the village are Pwo Karen, speaking Pwo Karen language.2 According to Mrs. Boonrat Krisri,
a volunteered teacher stationed at this learning center, there are twenty families which have a
population of only seventy people. On 16th May 2007, the Banhuaygiangnoi learning center -
a royal project under H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s initiation – was created to
start educational programmes.3 The center is operated under ONIE. There are two teachers -
Mrs. Boonrat Krisri and Miss Jureerut Kumpa - stationed at the center. This center is
supervised by Mr. Rue-Det Wongsa who is a supervising teacher working under district
ONIE. In this thesis, these three teachers are considered to be users rather than government
officers. This is because their roles are the users of the project not the ones involved in the
overall picture of the project. Currently, the center offers two educational programmes. The
first one is for children at the age between 3-16 years. There are seventeen students in this
class which runs from 8:30-16:30. These students receive Thai language courses and general
practical education. In this thesis, this class is referred to as youth class. In January 2008, a
PV system was installed at Banhuaygiangnoi learning center (SOLARTEC, 2010a). This
results in having one more educational programme aiming at Thai language learning for
adults in the village. Without electrification, the classes for adults could not have been
conducted as adults need to work during the day. There are currently five students at the age
between 18-45 years old in Thai language class which are conducted between 18:00-22:00. In
this thesis, this class is referred to as the adult class. The center is run from Monday to
Saturday for twenty-two days. Then it is closed for eight days so that the teachers can come
down from the mountain back to town. During this time, the teachers have more or less
holiday and do some necessary works such as going to the main office in Maesariang District
or attending trainings.

2,3
From Leaflet for children and youth in remote areas project under H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s
initiation: Sobmei, Maehongson.
3 From Leaflet for children and youth in remote areas project under H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s initiation: Sobmei, Maehongson.
30

A four-day-site visit to Banhuaygiangnoi village in Maehongson province was carried

out in April 2010.4 The analysis concerning users is substantially based on the investigation of
this sub-case.

4.4 PV System

The innovation to be diffused in this project is a PV system. This section explains solar
energy technology and PV system in detail.

Solar energy can be categorized into two main types according to its main application:
1. Photovoltaic (PV) system which is the use of solar energy to generate electricity.
2. Solar thermal energy which uses solar energy for heating (Ministry of Energy, n.d.).

The PV system considered in this thesis can be further categorized into three groups:

1. PV stand alone system This system is designed to be used in remote area where there
is no national grid available. During daytime, solar energy is collected and
transformed into electricity. The excess of electricity is stored by using batteries for
use at night time (Ministry of Energy, n.d.). The system employed in this project is of
this type. It fits well with all criteria as the installation sites are located in remote areas
which have no access to national electricity grid.

2. PV grid connected system This system is connected to the national grid. During the
day, electricity is generated via PV system. The excess amount is transferred to the
national grid for general use at any grid-connected location. At night, when the PV
system cannot generate electricity, the national grid distributes electricity to the users
(Ministry of Energy, n.d.). In this thesis, the focused areas are very remote and do not
have access to national grid.

3. PV hybrid system This system is designed to be used in connection with other

electricity generating sources such as wind or hydro power (Ministry of Energy, n.d.).
The hybrid system is irrelevant to this thesis as there is no any other power supply
apart from PV system in the areas considered in this study.

4
The trip is organized by NSTDA. They go there to install a new automatic data logger for sending online
information via telephone signal.
 31

The PV system used in this project is designed and produced by NSTDA. Despite the
fact that PV systems have been previously developed and utilized elsewhere in the world,
when it is utilized in local context in Thailand, it can be considered as an innovation diffused
to a different location. This PV system has a maximum electric power of 480 watts which can
produce up to 1,500 watts.hour per day. The main equipment of one system is:
• twelve PV modules 40 watts;
• one inverter 500 watts;
• one charge controller;
• four batteries 12 volts 130 amps.hour;
• three breakers;
• one ammeter 20 amps;
• one voltmeter 30 volts (SOLARTEC, 2010b).

Figure 3 shows the simplified diagram of PV system main equipment.

Figure 3 PV system equipment diagram (Adapted from SOLARTEC, n.d.)

Apart from this equipment, NSTDA also provides necessary materials for the
supporting structures. It takes about twenty-six months to complete the installation in thirty-
six centers (see section 4.1). The delay in the installation is due to the following factors:
• The modules are broken during delivery because they are made of transparent
conductive oxide glass which is very fragile. Some areas are very difficult to access
and people have to physically carry them and travel on foot. By the time they arrive at
their destination, they find that the modules are broken. Then they need to re-order
from NSTDA which takes some time for NSTDA to prepare a new module and
deliver it from central Thailand to the northern part of Thailand.
32

• Due to difficulties in accessing the area, during rainy seasons, roads are muddy and
vey slippery. Consequently, the installation cannot be done during this season which
lasts about three months.
• According to Mr. Tangamatakul from NSTDA, the installation process takes two
days and it requires help from other teachers from nearby centers. However, field
teachers who are the main responsible persons at the learning centers are occupied
with their routine duties. Thus, the installation of PV system has to be postponed until
the teachers from that learning center and also from the nearby centers are available.
• This project aims at sustainable management which means that users need to be
trained to install the system by themselves. Therefore, before users can do anything,
they have to be trained by IPST or by someone else that have attended training
session organized by IPST.

This PV system converts solar energy during the day to electrical energy and stores it
in a battery for using it at night time. It can produce electricity to be stored in the battery
which is enough for about two-day-utilization without solar recharging during heavy rainy
seasons (SOLARTEC, 2010b). The system is designed to provide enough electricity for all
electrical utilities listed in table 2.

Table 2 Suggested electricity utilities for one PV system

Electric
Electrical utilities Set hour/day watts.hour/day
power (watts)
Light bulb 11 5 4 220

Light bulb 11 1 12 132

Television with satellite
160 1 3 480
receiving disk
VCD player 12 1 1 12

Radio communication 50 1 10 500

Audio amplifier 150 1 1 150

Total 427 - - 1,494

(SOLARTEC, 2010a)
 33

According to Mr. Jaran Sritharathikhun (an NSTDA researcher working with PV

systems), the life time of a PV module is about 20-25 years and the life time of a battery is
about 2-3 years. Thus, the estimated life time of the whole system is 20-25 years if the
batteries are changed regularly. Other equipment is changed only when needed. However, this
number is approximate and might be longer or shorter depending on maintenance. Users must
do basic maintenance to ensure the maximum efficiency of the system and to prolong the
lifetime of the system, especially of the batteries.
34

5. Empirical Analysis and Discussion

In this chapter, successful factors in the diffusion of PV systems to rural areas (the first
research aim as written under section 1.3) are discussed in section 5.1. Moreover, the impact
and transferability of PV installation project (the second research aim as written under section
1.3) is also studied and elaborated in section 5.2.

5.1 Successful Factors in the Diffusion of Innovations

As indicated in the introduction, the aim of this thesis is to identify the success factors of the
diffusion of solar technologies (PV systems) to rural areas (see section 1.3). In Thailand, there
are many PV stand alone projects installed by several government agencies such as Provincial
Electricity Authority and Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency.
However, these projects are not managed with sustainability as their main objective. They are
sponsored by the government on an annual basis, which means that at the end of the fiscal
year, the money runs out and there is no after-project-inspection. Education and service
support are also absent.

With this project, we want to identify the factors enabling a successful implementation
of a sustainable alternative energy system. Crucial factors for the diffusion of innovation are
identified in this section. They are grouped in the following categories: characteristics of the
innovation being diffused; the roles of the users; training; supporting functions and
collaboration of different agencies in the project. Each of them will be discussed in the
following subsections.

5.1.1 Characteristics of the Innovation being Diffused

The PV system that is installed in the learning centers can be considered as an innovation for
the poor as it brings electricity, which was in non-existence, to the poor areas. The diffusion
of this innovation would not be successful without understanding users’ needs. In order to
 35

investigate the users’ needs, direct opinion from the local people5 is the most important
criterion for evaluating the need of the community for electrification. All of the users
interviewed in this thesis - ranging from village chief, teachers to students - say that they need
electricity and that they want to have electricity via solar energy. This can be taken to imply
that the first condition of success (the systems respond to the real needs) is met.

With regards to the question on whether there is anything that could be improved in
this project. Mr. Wongsa, Mrs. Krisri and Miss Kumpa wish to have a system that could
produce more electricity. All three of them share the same reasoning that the amount of
electricity during summer is sufficient. However, during winter and especially rainy seasons,
they have to cut down considerable amount of electronic appliance usage. Mr. Jobeu
Pimanjumreon (a student from adult class) also has the same wish. However, his reason is
different. He wishes that the system could provide enough electricity for a refrigerator. It is
totally understandable that users want to have higher electricity capacity so that they could
live more comfortable lives.

5.1.2 The Roles of the Users

We find out that for a diffusion of innovation to the poor to be successful, users need to be
involved in the process. Their involvement is also connected to their motivation to adopt such
innovation. Moreover, users need to have sufficient absorptive capacity and the cognitive
distance between the source and the users may not be too large. These points will be
discussed in this subsection.

Users’ involvement
This project clearly includes users in the diffusion of innovation process. Without
collaboration from users, the diffusion of PV system to rural areas would not have been
achieved. In order for the users to cooperate, they need to be highly motivated to adopt such
innovation. This could be reflected through the users’ needs (see subsection 5.1.1) as they
would not have collaborated if they did not want to have electricity. From the beginning of
the project, it aims at sustainability with user participation. Therefore, users are involved from
the delivery stage to the maintenance stage. Unlike previous projects done by other
government agencies which install the system by technicians, this project let the local users

5
The teachers are not originally from Banhuaygiangnoi village; they come from the towns near by. In this
regards, they are considered as local people because they work in the village. Mrs. Krisri and Miss Kumpa even
live in the village for most of the time.
36

install the system by themselves. Such an endeavor reveals the authentic effort of the users
which reflects back to their real needs (see section 5.1.1).

It is worth noting that the PV modules used in this project are research products
developed by NSTDA. Their support is not only beneficial to this project but also to their own
interest in gaining an opportunity to test this product in real use. This shows that NSTDA tries
to include users in their research so that their innovation would be more precious and yield
better performance. They constantly try to improve the performance of the system. An
example is shown in the invention of data logger. One problem in this project is the delay of
performance report submission by field teachers which will be explained more under
subsection 5.1.4. NSTDA tries to fix this problem by introducing automatic data logger which
is still in the testing stage at the time of the thesis writing. By using a data logger, technical
information about PV system can be sent automatically via mobile telephone signal. The
limitation of this new technology is that only the places that have cell phone signal can use
data logger system. Unfortunately, most areas do not have such a necessary facility.
Therefore, the problem in extremely remote areas still remains to be solved by a more
appropriate solution.

Users’ absorptive capacity and cognitive distance

The innovation needs to be transferred from the source (government agency) to receivers
(users). Thus sufficient absorptive capacity of users is necessary. Obviously, users and
technical experts from NSTDA have high cognitive distance concerning their technical
background. This project let educational experts from IPST educate users instead of technical
experts. As a result, the cognitive distance between users and technicians is partially reduced.

Since this project aims at sustainability, users’ understanding of the system - regarding
installation, utilization, maintenance and filling data sheet - is definitely necessary. This
depends on both the quality of training sessions offered by IPST and also users’ absorptive
capacity which could be reflected from the complexity of the system in the users’
perspectives. Three teachers - Mr. Wongsa, Mrs. Krisri and Miss Kumpa - are the focal points
of this topic as they are the main responsible persons of PV system at Banhuaygiangnoi
learning center.

Concerning the quality of the training, Mr. Wongsa and Miss Kumpa attend two
training sessions which are organized by IPST in conjunction with NSTDA. They are asked to
 37

rate the quality of the training on the scale of 1-10 ranging from 1 “poor” to 10 “excellent”.
Mr. Wongsa gives the score of 9 while Miss Kumpa gives the score of 10. The second
question is for the respondents to rate the degree of adequacy of the knowledge they acquire
from the training sessions. Again it is rated on the scale of 1-10, ranging from 1 “not adequate
at all” to 10 “highly adequate”. Mr. Wongsa gives the score of 10 while Miss Kumpa gives
the score of 8. Miss Kumpa says that the training gives very good understanding but it is not
yet perfect and not comprehensive enough. This could be due to gender differences with
regards to skills in mechanical and electronic works. This view is also shared by Mr.
Duangthong from OPSP who has extensive experience in working with hill tribe people.

The topic about users’ absorptive capacity can be reflected through questions
concerning complexity of the system. All three teachers6 are asked to rate the complexity
concerning the installation, utilization, maintenance and data sheet recording7, again by rating
on the scale of 1-10 ranging from 1 “very difficult” to 10 “very easy”. Surprisingly, all of
them rank the complexity of every stage at a full scale point of 10. This shows that the users
(field teachers) have suitable absorptive capacity for this innovation and that the training
sessions and training media prepared by NSTDA and IPST are of fine quality and adequate
for practical use. This can be taken to imply that the second condition of success about users’
knowledge is met.

5.1.3 Training

From the finding of this thesis, satisfactory diffusion of innovation would be achieved only if
training is well performed and periodically arranged.

Assuming that users’ prior knowledge about solar energy is varied, it is IPST’s task to
adjust that base and conduct trainings that everyone can understand despite of their different
background. We believe that using educational experts from IPST to build up absorptive
capacity of each individual yields better result than if technical experts from NSTDA were
used. This is because the cognitive distance is reduced by using officers’ expertise in
knowledge transfer.

6
Miss Kumpa started working at Banhuaygiangnoi Learning Center after the installation of PV system so she
could not rate the complexity of the installation stage.
7
There are three templates of the data sheets. They are developed to simplify it as much as possible. The first
one is purely text (Tangamatakul, 2007). Charts and diagrams are added in the second version (Tangamatakul,
2009). Finally, pictures are added in the third one (Tangamatakul, 2010). At the time of this thesis, the last
version is used. Thus, this question is based on the complexity to fill the data sheet of the third version.
38

For the project to be sustainable, education is a fundamental part. IPST is responsible

for preparing educational media and syllabuses as well as organizing training sessions for
field teachers so that they can not only properly use the system but can also educate students
at the learning centers about solar energy technology. According to Mr. Ouppagarn
Jeeraphanthu (the head of technology project from IPST), all of these tasks are performed.
However, academic evaluation on teachers after training sessions is not carried out. This is
under H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s idea. She advises that field teachers should
be granted performance evaluation softly because they have much more duties compared to
teachers in town. They need only to have enough knowledge to educate students in their
classes. In depth knowledge concerning PV technology is not required. Field teachers attend
classes for the main purpose of raising their teaching potential not academic knowledge. Until
the time of this thesis writing, there is no report from field teachers concerning their teaching
sessions at all. Some classes might have been skipped without the knowledge of IPST.
However, according to Mr. Jeeraphanthu, since April 2010 field teachers were requested to
fill out class teaching form on monthly basis indicating which topics concerning solar energy
technology they conducted.

In the case of Banhuaygiangnoi learning center, field teachers are supposed to educate
their students in youth class about solar energy technology. Mrs. Krisri says that she teaches
students basic knowledge about solar energy. In contrast, Miss Kumpa says that she does not
give them any education about solar energy. However, several contradicting answers are
acquired from the interview with Mr. Somdet Techanimit and Miss Longdee Suksingkorakul,
two students from the youth class. They both say that the teachers only teach them how to
clean the PV modules but nothing else. They help Mrs. Krisri and Miss Kumpa clean the PV
modules regularly. The analysis of this point is twofold. The first one is that Mrs. Krisri does
not educate her students. The second one is that Mrs. Krisri educates her students about solar
energy but the students do not understand so they cannot remember it which may be due to (a)
poor quality of teaching and (b) student’s insufficient absorptive capacity to grasp the
concept. Consequently, it can be implied that the third condition of success (incorporation of
solar energy in study plans) is not yet confirmed.

Mrs. Torsuwan from central OBEC says that ideally, students should be intensively
involved in the utilization and maintenance of PV system. However, this could not practically
be done because most learning centers are established for children and they are too young to
help their teachers apart from cleaning PV modules. One possible solution for this problem is
 39

that the people in the village may cooperate more in the chores of maintenance of the system.
Mr. Peungjee Tiptanatorn, chief of Banhuaygiangnoi village, says that he helps taking care of
batteries because the batteries require frequent care by filling water during monthly break
when field teachers go down from the mountain to town for one week. This is a good example
of how the local people could take part in the maintenance of the system. Knowledge
exchange between field teachers and villagers would help facilitating this situation.

5.1.4 Supporting Functions and Collaboration of Different Agencies in the Project

One of the main conclusions that can be derived from the previous analysis is that a portfolio
of supporting services is needed for the diffusion of innovation to be successful: the
development of an innovation that is easy to use and to maintain; proper and adequate
training; consultancy services etc. These supporting functions are, in this project, being
supplied by different government agencies (or organizations in the context of system of
innovation) as summarized in the next table.

Table 3 Roles of government agencies

Agency Role
OPSP Searcher of electrification needed areas
NSTDA Innovator
OBEC Receiver of PV system
ONIE Receiver of PV system
VEC Service center
IPST Education expert
DEDE Consultant
CSSC Consultant

Considering the large number of organizations involved in the project, the issue of
coordination among various agencies becomes a crucial one. To discuss collaboration among
agencies in this project, the information gathered through the interviews with officers from
eight government agencies is considered. The management of this project is initiated from the
central offices of the eight agencies. They are all located in Bangkok and nearby provinces
which control the operation of district offices.

The respondents are interviewed about the collaboration among eight government
agencies. The degree of collaboration among people in this project is rated by a scale of 1-10,
from 1 “no collaboration at all” to 10 “full collaboration”. The individual scores range from
5.5 to 10. This implies that all respondents think that the collaboration of this project is
40

satisfactory but not outstanding. The aspects which could have been improved in the view of
the respondents are:
1. Teachers at the learning centers are changed quite often. This causes the working
process to be interrupted and delayed as the preceding ones do not adequately transfer
information to the succeeding teachers.
2. Teachers at the learning centers do not send reports according to what was pre-
scheduled. This makes it complicated for NSTDA to analyze data of the system
without retardation.
3. VEC does not send personnel to the learning centers as often as they previously agreed
upon in the memorandum of understanding.

The first problem is related to the motivation of teachers to transfer knowledge to their
successive ones and the obligation to do so. One solution that we propose is to inform the
field teachers that it is obligatory to pass on their knowledge. This may be further emphasized
and supervised closely by district offices via formal linkage. Another solution is suggested by
Mrs. Sureerat Torsuwan from central OBEC. She suggests that IPST should organize more
frequent trainings so that those who had attended the training sessions could have brush up
and those who had never attended the session could receive adequate information.

The second problem is caused by the remoteness of the areas. Some learning centers
are very difficult to access. Teachers on the mountain have a chance to come down to town
only once a month which is also the time that they are expected to submit monthly report to
NSTDA. Mr. Chatree Tangamatakul, Mrs. Siranee Imsuwan and Mrs. Sureerat Torsuwan,
who are well acquainted with field teachers and understand the situation, give another good
reason that can explain this problem. They share the same view that teachers are overloaded
by work. Lifestyle on the mountain is totally different from the city. Teachers do not only
teach but are also responsible for doing other chores such as cooking and cleaning as well as
being the supervisors of the village. We ask Mrs. Krisri, a local teacher, about her role at the
learning center. She tells us that she is a teacher and janitor at the same time. Consequently,
Mr. Tangamatakul, Mrs. Imsuwan and Mrs. Torsuwan understand why the field teachers
cannot send the reports as previously agreed upon in the memorandum of understanding. This
may be at least partially solved by using personal relationship of higher ranking officers to
kindly ask the teachers to send reports on a more regular basis. Mrs. Imsuwan, an officer from
central ONIE, says that she chooses to use personal relationship with the teachers (informal
linkages) rather than using official command by talking to the boss of that teacher (formal
 41

linkages). Such practice is natural because personal relationship can facilitate cooperation
among people. It also helps saving lower ranking officers’ feelings and faces. In Mrs.
Imsuwan’s case, it is worth noting that informal relationship between officers contributes to a
fruitful result as expected.

The third problem is twofold. One reason is due to difficulty in accessing the areas
during rainy seasons. Officers from VEC cannot travel there as the roads are muddy and very
slippery. Worse still, this period is the time that they most need assistance from technicians as
equipment is very prone to damage by rain and high humidity. Another reason involves
financial matter. Mr. Senasu from central VEC complains that VEC needs more money in
order to perform its tasks at a higher efficiency. He mentions that the biggest part of the
expense is the cost for transportation from district colleges to learning centers. Unfortunately,
this budget was not adequately granted. Therefore, officers from the district colleges cannot
travel to the remote centers. According to the memorandum of understanding, VEC proposed
its budget at about 740,000 baht (22,425 USD) per year but only 150,000 baht (4,545 USD)
were granted. In April 2010, there was a meeting among management level officers which
proposed as a solution that VEC should receive the full budget as they had previously
requested. Therefore, they have proposed an extra 600,000 baht (18,180 USD) for this fiscal
year. After receiving this amount of money, better performance is highly expected. Once the
money is granted, governmental regulation (formal institution) to control proper use of money
is necessary so that the money will be used in the most appropriate way. At the time of this
thesis writing, it may be concluded that the fourth condition of success about service supports
has not yet been achieved.

From the overall collaboration in this project, it could be concluded that the fifth
condition of success is satisfactory but not fully met. Our impression about the collaboration
in this project is that people are willing to work and put a great effort into it because it is
conducted under H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s initiation. In the context of
Thailand, encouragement from the royal family members is of great importance especially for
projects concerning under-privileged citizens. Moreover, the management of this project is
novel and has not yet been proven for its success. All parties concerned must devote great
deal of attention to the project so that it would become successful. This emphasizes the
importance of H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s role even more. This is probably the
major informal institution which is contributing greatly to the wonderful progression of this
42

project. This institution is very specific to Thailand context as most Thais are extremely loyal
to the royal family.

As mentioned earlier in section 3.5, the king of Thailand proposed the philosophy of
sufficiency economy. The incorporation of this philosophy may further contribute to the
success of this project. Once electricity becomes available, users need to adapt their behavior
to the new circumstances. They must use only what is necessary. This is because innovation
needs to be adapted to the local context. Introduction of sufficiency economy to the users may
be beneficial and suitable because it would raise users’ awareness to use only the necessary
amount of electricity. This could be linked to the sixth condition of success regarding
sufficiency economy which has not yet been confirmed but still remain as a challenge.

In conclusion, the PV systems respond to the real needs of the community. They are
not given just as free gifts without practical value. Thus, the first condition of success is
fulfilled (see subsection 5.1.1). Considering users’ knowledge about the system, the second
condition of success is also confirmed (see subsection 5.1.2). However, the answers from the
respondents about the incorporation of solar energy technology to classrooms are
contradicting which means that the third condition of success is not yet conformed (see
subsection 5.1.3). From the finding, VEC does not offer service supports as previously
agreed; therefore, the fourth condition is not met (see subsection 5.1.4). The analysis on the
collaboration of this project shows that the collaboration among all the involved actors, or the
fifth condition, are satisfactory but not fully met because there are still some parts that could
be improved (see subsection 5.1.4). Lastly, this project has not yet incorporated the
philosophy of sufficiency economy. However, it still remains as a challenge (see subsection
5.1.4). We believe that by incorporating this principle, it may be beneficial for the project.

5.2 Impact and Transferability

In this section, the outcome of the project which is the level of satisfaction of both officers
and users is discussed. Moreover, impact on users’ lifestyle and living standard is also briefly
studied. Since this project is intended to be applied for other PV installation projects, the
possibility to use this project as a model case is also discussed here.
 43

5.2.1 Level of Satisfaction

This subsection discusses the level of satisfaction of (a) the performance of PV system and (b)
the overall perception of the project. Firstly, regarding the performance of the system,
respondents are asked to rate the performance of the system in relation to their initial
expectation on the scale of 1-10 ranging from 1 “the performance did not meet their
expectation at all” to 10 “the performance fully met their expectation”. Secondly, regarding
the project, respondents are asked to rate their satisfaction of the overall perception of this
project on the scale of 1-10 ranging from 1 “not satisfied at all” to 10 “highly satisfied”. The
analysis in this subsection is separated to officers and users.

Officers
The respondents for both questions are ten officers. The individual scores for the first
question range from 7-10 and so do the second question. It can be implied that each individual
officer is satisfied with both the system and the project to a certain extent.

Users
The respondents for the first question are comprised of three field teachers, four students and
one village chief. The respondents for the second question are three field teachers.8 The
individual scores for the first question range from 8-10. For the second question, all teachers
rate their level of satisfaction at 10. It can be implied that each individual user is satisfied with
the system to a certain extent while all the users (three teachers) are fully satisfied with the
whole project.

Moreover, the impact on users is also studied by interviewing the users9. All users
considered that electrification change their lives in various positive ways, not only for
education. The main social impact is that they receive more information from the media. In
addition, at the time the field work is carried out at Banhuaygiangnoi, the school does not
hold educational sessions as it is during the monthly break. We could observe that people
from the village come to chill out at the learning center to watch television together in the
evening. The fringe benefit of the system is that not only students but also villagers are
updated about current news and can learn more Thai language by watching television.

8
The students and the village chief cannot rate the overall perception of the project as they do not know about it.
They are only the users of the PV systems but they are not involved in the overall part of the project.
9
This group of users is comprised of three field teachers, four students and one village chief.
44

On the other side of the coin, receiving more information via media could also result
in a negative way. Mr. Wongsa (a supervising teacher) tells an interesting story. He says that
one of the excellent and hard-working students from one of the learning centers under his
supervision went down from the mountain to work in the city as a laborer. After coming back,
she changes to be a different person and does not seem to appreciate living on the mountain
the way she used to anymore. It is normal for new generation youngsters to want to have more
experience outside their original habitat. After having witnessed different activities of the
outside world, their needs change accordingly. Their home village becomes unfit for their
daily lives. Consequently, they may leave to live in town. This may become a big problem as
old people would be left alone and the village might eventually disappear. In this study, the
social impact of electrification is not investigated but it can be a potential interesting research
for relevant government agency so that social problems arising from technological
development in rural areas could be prevented.

5.2.2 Possibility for Using This Project as a Model

This subsection attempts to discuss the second research aim written under section 1.3
by looking at it from officers’ perspectives. Officers from eight government agencies are
asked whether they think that this project could be a model case for electrification by
distinguishing between the technology (stand alone PV system) and management
(collaboration among eight agencies). The questions also differentiate between remote and
urban areas.

Is this PV system suitable for electrification in other remote areas?

All the interviewees think that stand alone PV system is suitable for remote areas where there
is no electricity from the main grid. However, the size of the PV modules has to be adapted to
adequately meet the demand of the users. Some may need higher electricity power while
others may need less. Mrs. Buranasajjawaraporn and Mr. Tangamatakul point out that people
in areas where there is no electricity all eagerly wish to have electricity. They, however,
emphasize that users need to be trained on how to maintain the system to ensure sustainable
utilization of the system. Their perspectives correspond to the ideas described in section 2.2
that the community must need the innovation and that users must appreciate its value for an
effective diffusion of innovation to occur. Mr. Limsakul (an officer from CSSC) argues that
electrification via solar energy is suitable only for public places but not for private use in
remote areas because users’ ability to take care of the system is not met. Users would not be
 45

able to take care of the system solely by themselves as the technology is too complicated. He
suggests that other electrification methods such as via diesel engine electricity generator might
be a more suitable choice because its maintenance and reparation are simpler.

Is this PV system suitable for electrification in other urban areas?

Most officers answer that this PV system is not suitable for urban areas where electricity
supply is available. The reasons are miscellaneous but the main one is price. Moreover, Mr.
Senasu from VEC also points out that this system need more care from the users than using
main grid electricity supply. Therefore, it is up to the users whether they would put some
effort to learn about the technology and to do regular maintenance. An interesting point is that
everyone agrees that PV system could be a suitable choice when considering it as a renewable
energy alternative. However, not surprisingly, price is the main concern as the price per
electricity unit generated via PV system is still very high compared to electricity price
provided by traditional power plant.

Purchasing power and energy awareness are crucial factors considering implementing
PV system in urban areas. It would be impossible for the government to provide the
equipment to everyone. Therefore users must bear the investment cost which is about 90-150
baht (3-4.5 USD) per watt. This price depends on the scale of the system: the bigger, the
cheaper. Apart from that, they need to reserve almost 1,000 baht (30USD) per year for
maintenance. The estimated price per electricity unit produced by solar energy is 10 baht (0.3
USD). Currently, electricity provided by the Provincial Electricity Authority of Thailand is
about 3 baht (0.1 USD) for household use (Provincial Electricity Authority, 2000). The
suitable PV system for urban areas is PV grid connected system as national grid already
exists. This way, users can also earn some money by selling electricity unit at the price of 11
baht (0.3 USD) to the main grid when they have excess amount of electricity during day time.
The extra 8 baht (0.2 USD) are adders given by the Provincial Electricity Authority
(Provincial Electricity Authority, 2009). Estimated pay back point is 7-10 years. Therefore, if
users are concerned about energy shortage and environment impact and also have high
purchasing power, PV system could be a good choice for everyone even for those living in the
cities.
46

Can this management be applied for electrification via PV system in other remote areas?
All the interviewees answer that this style of management with good collaboration among all
concerning parties is suitable and could be used as a model case. Mr. Limsakul from CSSC
thinks that this management would not work for personal use but would be best for public
places such as community center. His reason lies on the budget as this type of management
which involves several agencies would be too expensive for each individual to afford.

Can this management be applied for electrification via PV system in other urban areas?
Various answers from the respondents are acquired. They can be grouped into two main
categories in the following:
1. A number of respondents think that this type of management is suitable even for urban
areas. The collaboration among eight government agencies needs to exist in order for
the system implementation to function properly and sustainably.
2. Some think that this style of management is not suitable. Mr. Jeeraphanthu from IPST
thinks that people involved in this project would not put as much effort into an urban
project as they do in this rural project. This is because electricity is already in
existence. Electricity from solar energy is only a choice not for need. In urban areas,
public places are regarded to be of less importance compared to the community in the
rural areas. If this system aims at private use in each household, this management
would not be necessary as users would pay more attention to the system because they
pay for it.

In sum, PV system is one of the best technical solutions for remote areas where they
do not have access to electricity. However, the community must take part in maintaining the
system. This management model is suitable to a certain extent. Anyhow, there is nothing that
has no flaws. In chapter 7, we discuss the problems and recommendations for improving
similar projects in the future. As for urban areas, PV system has less importance. Therefore,
the choice of utilizing it lies on user’s preferences. From the analysis of this section, it can be
implied that this project has potential to be used as a model case but only for certain areas
(rural areas) and under certain conditions.
 47

6. Problems Encountered in the Field Work

Being a researcher awarded a Royal Thai Government scholarship by the Ministry of Science
and Technology facilitates the access to different government agencies and the cooperation in
this research. Nevertheless, we experience the difficulty to get honest information from one of
the respondents. An operation officer from a district college under VEC who prefers to be
anonymous tells an interesting story during the interview. S/he is supposed to be responsible
for doing regular maintenance once in every six months. S/he shamefully admits that s/he has
never been to the area even once because s/he never receives any travelling budget. S/he
mentions that the money has already been transferred to the college but somehow s/he, as a
lower ranking operation officer, has never received that money. As a result, s/he has never
visited the areas. S/he suggests that better financial control should be policed. S/he once
mentions momentarily about internal misconduct within his/her sub-office but hesitates to
elaborate and switches to another conversation. It is later explained by Mr. Senasu from
central VEC that this officer has personal conflict with his/her boss. Worse still, a part of the
budget for this project is misallocated to a totally unrelated work. Mr. Senasu already
requested a report explaining this situation but has not yet received any feedback. We believe
that this problem needs to be further investigated.

Additionally, we encounter some minor difficulties during the interview with local
people from Banhuaygiangnoi village. Language is a negligible barrier as they can speak
basic Thai language. Anyhow, help from local teachers to translate some parts of the
interview and to reduce excitement of the villagers is needed as they are not used to speaking
to strangers. Furthermore, the local people have a hard time understanding some questions.
Without education, they cannot response to some questions which are quite complicated in
their point of view such as the questions that they are asked to rate their satisfaction on the
scale of 1-10. They have no difficulty in answering yes/no question. However, when it is
more complicated, they seem to be confused. All of the local people are illiterate or with very
little basic education. Furthermore they seem to regard most of the questions as irrelevant to
them. Therefore, most of the information regarding users is acquired from the teachers who
come from nearby towns which introduces a certain bias in the analysis.
48

7. Final Reflections and Policy Recommendations

This final chapter gives reflections on the diffusion of innovation theory based on empirical
analysis. Furthermore, research aims as mentioned in the introduction are answered and
policy recommendations are given.

7.1 Final Reflections on the Diffusion of Innovations

As previously discussed in section 2.2, for an innovation to be diffused we need to consider

four elements. The first element is the innovation itself. In this thesis, the PV system designed
and produced by NSTDA is taken to be the innovation. The second element is the existence of
a communication channel. The researcher found information about this project from mass
media via online newspaper which implies that the information about the innovation could be
found on existing publications. When considering users, informal channels could be an
important communication channel. For example, the teachers from Banhuaygiangnoi learning
center have very positive view and are very satisfied with this PV system. They may spread
the words to other teachers and urge them to use this innovation in other localities. Field
teachers from different learning centers usually have small cognitive distance because their
social and education background and also their duties are rather similar. This informal
communication channel might be an effective way to distribute news about this innovation.
Therefore, communication channels in this project are both via mass media and interpersonal
channels. Mass media channels are important in advertising the innovation so that audiences
know about the existence of such innovation. Anyhow, the evaluation is usually based on
interpersonal channel which can be communicated among users. Considering the third
element -time-, the diffusion of PV system already passed the first stage or innovation-
decision process because stakeholders already decided to adopt the PV systems. At the time
of this thesis, it is at the second stage. In the rural areas, the earliness or lateness of adoption is
complicated and they are difficult to be measured. Users may want to have PV system but
cannot afford one. Therefore, they need to wait until the systems are provided by the
government. The rate of adoption is not studied in this thesis. The last element, social system,
can be separated into two dimensions: one within the project and another outside. Within this
project, all agencies including users try to utilize electrification via PV system to the
 49

maximum benefit which would be the success of this project. When looking at a wider system
by incorporating those outside the projects, even the researcher can also be incorporated. The
researcher is not a member within the project. However, she acts as a researcher who studies
the project and gives policy recommendations for project improvement so that it might be
further used with higher efficiency in the future. Other people who are informed through
either mass media or interpersonal channels can also be accounted as the units of social
system outside this project.

The success of the diffusion of this innovation (PV system) fits well the conditions
supporting the diffusion of innovation for the poor as previously described in section 2.2. The
details are discussed as follows:

• PV system serves the need of the community.

• In terms of compatibility, first time investment cost cannot be considered in this case
as the system is provided by the government. Only maintenance cost can be
considered which, at the moment, still lies within an affordable range of the learning
centers. At the time of this thesis, production capacity of PV modules does not meet
industrial level as the production method and technology are in experimental lab scale.
Mr. Jaran Sritharathikhun (a researcher who worked with PV system from NSTDA)
points out that NSTDA is a research center. Therefore its focus is not on increasing
production capacity. He thinks that this should be done by industrial sector.
• Users appreciate the value of electrification which results in the feeling of preservation
and need to maintain the technology so that its performance would remain at the
maximum level for as long as possible.
• Complementary resources exist which are the outcome of high collaboration among
eight government agencies plus the users.
• Since this project is in pilot scale, market potential has not yet been investigated. It is a
free-giving project so this point needs to be further studied. Anyhow, since the project
aims at rural areas, the government has enough purchasing power to give away the
system. Therefore, in this case, market potential is under the responsibility of the
government which is obviously within an affordable range. It only depends on
whether the government is willing to allocate budget for the diffusion of innovation to
the rural areas or not.
50

7.2 Policy Recommendations

According to the definition of success (see section 3.5), this project may be considered as a
successful case to a certain extent. Each condition of success was discussed and analyzed
under section 5.1.

To answer the first research aim (as written under section 1.3), the factors behind the
success of this project are:
• the characteristics of this innovation that serves the real need of the community;
• the roles of the users through the entire project which also link back to their
absorptive capacity;
• proper training for the users;
• supporting functions derived from the collaboration among all actors involved and
also the role of H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

Also, this project meet the conditions for innovation diffusion for the poor. The
analysis in this thesis conforms to the hypothesis written in section 2.4. Nevertheless, there
are some parts of the project - namely communication, training and evaluation - which could
still be improved. Each of them is elaborated below.

Communication

Some problems concerning collaboration in this project (see subsection 5.1.4) may be solved
by having small group meetings which were lacking at the time of this research. This may be
organized among relevant people such as among ONIE, OBEC and IPST to discuss
educational programmes. This way, IPST would receive wider views from teachers from
ONIE and OBEC who have good practical experience.

Monthly report submission from field teachers could be sent to NSTDA via e-mails.
Many informants regard the retardation in monthly report submission as one of the major
factors that reduces the project efficiency. Some learning centers send their monthly reports
via post which is rather slow compared to sending via e-mail. Technology limitation is not the
problem as when they send the report, they have to come to town where internet facility is
available for free of charge from their OBEC and ONIE’s district offices. If NSTDA receives
 51

the report faster, it would help them in analyzing and guiding the users how to fix the problem
sooner. Still, field teachers’ time devotion for finishing up their report is of prime necessity.

Prof. Thajchayapong suggests that an executive from the Ministry of Education should
be established as a single point of contact because she has authority to pass orders to all four
offices (OBEC, ONIE, IPST and VEC)10. Currently, Mr. Tangamatakul from NSTDA acts as
the project coordinator. However, he does not have direct authority on these four agencies.
Moreover, in the long run it may not be NSTDA who performs these tasks as the owner of the
systems are learning centers operated under OBEC and ONIE. IPST and VEC would still
need to do their tasks even after the termination of the project. Consequently, in April 2010,
there was an attempt to appoint the deputy permanent secretary of the Ministry of Education
to be a project advisor. If this is achieved, better cooperation and higher efficiency could be
expected.

Again, the principle of sufficiency economy could be introduced and implemented in

this project. By using this principle, the project would automatically receive greater public
interest with lesser effort. This principle is very important for Thailand. Also, innovation
policy should be adapted to local context. Therefore, the philosophy of sufficiency economy
may be included in Thailand national innovation policy to draw public interest.

Training

Since the areas are very remote, transportation cost for VEC to do maintenance tasks is higher
than expected. In this project, VEC is the responsible actor concerning maintenance tasks as
stated in the memorandum of understanding. Anyhow, VEC has not yet accomplished its task
due to budget limitation. The concern is whether there would still be services offered after the
termination of the project. Ideally, there should be services offered (even though not for free
of charge) by VEC or any private sector so that the system would not be just a waste.
However, the main problem lies on cost. Our suggestion is to (a) educate teachers so that they
understand the system thoroughly in depth and (b) set up a contact center that can be reached
via telephone. Ideally, it may be best if the teachers can fix the equipment by themselves as
this would save much more cost compared to when people from outside have to go to fix
them. This aim might not be too ambitious as it is proved by Mr. Wongsa’s experience. Mr.
Wongsa’s responsibility is to supervise and visit learning centers in his district on a regular

10
OBEC, ONIE, IPST and VEC are operated under the Ministry of Education.
52

basis. He mentions that when there are problems that he cannot solve, he calls Mr.
Tangamatakul (a researcher from NSTDA and also act as the project coordinator) and asks for
guidance. Mr. Tangamatakul gives Mr. Wongsa proper suggestions via telephone
conversations to fix the PV system by himself without the need to contact VEC. This situation
shows that it might be possible for teachers to fix the system by themselves if (a) IPST
organizes a special training for supervising teachers so that they are able to fix the systems at
their responsible learning centers and (b) VEC set up a telephone contact center to guide the
teachers. This would reduce transportation cost greatly as supervising teachers need to visit
the learning centers regularly anyway.

It would also be recommendable to have an inspection whether field teachers

incorporate solar energy technology in their classrooms as the opinions of teachers and
students are contradictory (see subsection 5.1.3). It is emphasized in this project that
education is a key success for the project to be sustainable. District offices of OBEC and
ONIE may ensure that field teachers educate their students about solar energy technology
with willingful intention. Inspection may be done via supervising teachers.

Project evaluation

Another suggestion given by Prof. Thajchayapong was that this project should be inspected
and evaluated by a third party. If this process is performed by any stakeholder in the project, it
would not be fully reliable. Ideally, this could be done by outsourcing to a private agency.
However, the budget for this project would not be adequate. Department of Alternative
Energy Development and Efficiency (DEDE) and CES Solar Cells Testing Center (CSSC)
could be the most suitable choice as they have experience in this field. DEDE and CSSC’s
roles in this project are as consultant body; therefore, they are not regarded as stakeholders. In
our opinion, the inspection and evaluation could be carried out regularly and cover at least the
following details:
• achievement of assigned tasks;
• proper system utilization and maintenance;
• PV system utilization for educational purposes;
• performance of PV systems;
• quality and adequacy of training sessions;
• education about solar energy technology given to students by field teachers;
• proper financial use and control to prevent budget misallocation;
 53

• impact of electrification on the community (this may be done as a separate work as it

is not directly related to this project).

To answer the second research aim (as written under section 1.3), we believe that this
project could be used as a model case for electrification via PV system in rural areas. This
opinion is also shared by officers from eight government agencies. All of them think that this
project (both technology and management style) is suitable for application in other rural areas
and could be used as a model case at least in rural areas but some adjustments need to be done
if the project wants to be successful in the long run. It might be even more beneficial if the
suggestions above concerning communication, training and evaluation are implemented.

In this thesis, only one learning center is chosen for a (sub)case study due to limited
time and resources. Single case cannot be used for generalization. Future research could be
done by studying more cases using a larger number of learning centers from different areas as
each geographical location has its own characteristics. Once a number of cases are carried out,
more comprehensive policy recommendations may be given and may also have potential for
generalization.

Moreover, if the project aims at wider scale adaptation of solar energy in Thailand, the
government may need to better integrate users and industry as the study by Aguilera et al.
(1996) suggests. During 1988-1993, the Institute of Solar Energy at the Universidad
Politécnica de Madrid launched a PV electrification programme in the rural area of Bolivian
high plateau for 1,500 households by using individual Solar Home Systems. The focus of this
programme was on three prospects: domestic electrification, technology transfer and user
participation. Local factories were integrated in the programme to provide locally produced
equipment; some of them were specially developed by the Institute of Solar Energy in Spain.
Each user was asked to invest initial fee for eighty USD and monthly maintenance fee for one
USD. The community collected the money and then sent it to a responsible organization.
Users also need to comply with some requirements to facilitate the adoption of solar
technology installation such as building small areas for storing equipment (Aguilera et al.,
1996). This Bolivian electrification programme solved the problem when demand exceeded
supply.

All in all, it is the researcher’s wish that power from the sun light can help eradicating
poverty, global warming issue and energy shortage situation.
54

8. References

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 57

Appendix 1 Interview Guide

1.1 Interview Guide for Officers from Eight Government Agencies

Theme Question
What are the roles of your office in this project? Were they accomplished?

What are your involvements in the project?

At which stage did your office take part in the project?

At which stage did you, yourself, take part in the project?

Task Is there any task that you performed but actually it was not supposed to be yours?
If yes, please elaborate.
Is there any task that you think should be included in your office? If yes, please
elaborate.
Is there any task that you performed and overlapped with other offices? If yes,
please elaborate.
How was the project initiated?

Who was the originator of the project?

Who acted as the project coordinator?

Collaboratio
How was the collaboration among offices?
n among
Please rate the collaboration in this project on the scale of 1-10 ranging from 1
offices
“no collaboration at all” to 10 “full collaboration”.
Please rate how much you know about other offices, such as what are their roles,
who are the contact persons etc., on the scale of 1-10 ranging from 1 “not know
at all” to 10 “know everything”.
58

Theme Question
How long have you worked with PV system?

What are the advantages of this system?

PV system What are the disadvantages of this system?

(only for What are the prices per system and per electricity unit produced?
NSTDA How has the price per electricity unit changed versus time?
researchers
What are the conditions needed for this system to function properly?
who are
What are the unique characteristics of this system that make it different from other
familiar with
PV systems?
the system)
What are the barriers of the PV system implementation in Thailand? Can this
project overcome the barriers?
What is the aim of your future research plan?

How is the performance of the PV system?

Please rate your satisfaction of the performance of the system in relation to your
initial expectation on the scale of 1-10 ranging from 1 “the performance did not
meet expectation at all” to 10 “the performance fully met expectation”.
Please rate your satisfaction of the overall perception of this project on the scale
of 1-10 ranging from 1 “not satisfied at all” to 10 “highly satisfied”.
Is this PV system suitable for electrification in other remote areas?
Result
Can this management be applied for electrification via PV system in other remote
areas?
Is this PV system suitable for electrification in other urban areas?
Can this management be applied for electrification via PV system in other urban
areas?
Is there anything that you think could be improved in this project? If yes, please
elaborate.
What was the source of money used by your office during the whole project?
Financial
How was the money controlled?
support
Was there any incentive given by the government for this project?

Others Is there anything you would like to add? If yes, please elaborate.
 59

1.2 Interview Guide for ONIE Teachers

Theme Question
What are your roles?
How many students are there in this school and how old are they?
Learning What time do you teach?
center What electrical utilities are used in this school?
Apart from educational purposes, is the learning center used for other functions?
If yes, please elaborate.
How and by whom did you receive your education about the system?
How many times did you attend training sessions?
Were these four topics included in the training sessions; installation, utilization,
maintenance and data sheet recording?
Please rate the quality of the training on the scale of 1-10 ranging from 1 “poor”
to 10 “excellent”.
Please rate the degree of adequacy of the knowledge acquired from the training
Knowledge
sessions on the scale of 1-10 ranging from 1 “not adequate at all” to 10 “highly
adequate”.
How do you help maintaining the PV system?
Who is the main responsible person for this system in your school?
Have you educated your students about solar energy technology and PV system?
How often do you report the system performance and to whom?
Who do you report to when there is a problem?
60

Theme Question
How is the performance of the PV system?
Did you experience any difficulties regarding these four topics; installation,
utilization, maintenance and data sheet recording?
Please rate the complexity of this system concerning installation on the scale of
1-10 ranging from 1 “very difficult” to 10 “very easy”.
Please rate the complexity of this system concerning utilization on the scale of
1-10 ranging from 1 “very difficult” to 10 “very easy”.
Please rate the complexity of this system concerning maintenance on the scale of
1-10 ranging from 1 “very difficult” to 10 “very easy”.
Please rate the complexity of this system concerning data sheet recording on the
scale of 1-10 ranging from 1 “very difficult” to 10 “very easy”.
Result
Please rate your satisfaction of the performance of the system in relation to your
initial expectation on the scale of 1-10 ranging from 1 “the performance did not
meet expectation at all” to 10 “the performance fully met expectation”.
Please rate your satisfaction of the overall perception of this project on the scale
of 1-10 ranging from 1 “not satisfied at all” to 10 “highly satisfied”.
Do you need electrification?
Do you want to have electrification via solar energy?
How has PV system changed your life style regarding working, studying and
social aspects?
Is there anything that you think could be improved in this project? If yes, please
elaborate.
Concerning the system, what do you have to pay for, how much and to whom?
Financial
What was the source of the money?
support
How was the money controlled?
Others Is there anything you would like to add? If yes, please elaborate.
 61

1.3 Interview Guide for Local People from Banhuaygiangnoi Village

Theme Question
Learning What are your roles?
center What time do you study?
How do you help maintaining the PV system?
Who is the main responsible person for this system in your school?
Knowledge
Have you received any education about solar energy technology and PV system?
If yes, please elaborate.
How is the performance of the PV system?
Please rate your satisfaction of the performance of the system in relation to your
initial expectation on the scale of 1-10 ranging from 1 “the performance did not
meet expectation at all” to 10 “the performance fully met expectation”.
Do you need electrification?
Result
Do you want to have electrification via solar energy?
How has PV system changed your life style regarding working, studying and
social aspects?
Is there anything that you think could be improved in this project? If yes, please
elaborate.
Others Is there anything you would like to add? If yes, please elaborate.
62

Appendix 2 List of the Interviewees

Name Office Position

Royal administrative officer

Mr. Phanom Duangthong
Prof. Pairash Thajchayapong
OPSP
(Planning and operation)
Senior advisor of NSTDA &
NSTDA previous permanent secretary of
the Ministry of Science

Mr. Chatree Tangamatakul NSTDA Researcher

Mr. Jaran Sritharathikhun NSTDA Researcher

Miss Mali Chansunthorn NSTDA Project analyst

OBEC
Mrs. Sureerat Torsuwan Policy and plan analyst
(Central)
ONIE
Mrs. Siranee Imsuwan Educator
(Central)
ONIE
Mr. Rue-Det Wongsa Supervising teacher
(District)
ONIE
Mrs. Boonrat Krisri Volunteered teacher
(Learning center)
ONIE
Miss Jureerut Kumpa Volunteered teacher
(Learning center)
VEC
Mr. Chaimongkon Senasu Specialized engineer
(Central)
VEC
Anonymous Anonymous
(District college)
Mr. Ouppagarn Jeeraphanthu IPST Head of technology project

Mrs. Kulwaree Buranasajjawaraporn DEDE Head of innovation group

Head of photovoltaic module

Mr. Chamnan Limsakul CSSC
testing
Chief of Banhuaygiangnoi
Mr. Peungjee Tiptanatorn -
Sub-Village
Mr. Jobeu Pimanjumreon - Student in adult class
 63

Name Office Position

Miss Onnapa Adichat - Student in adult class

Mr. Somdet Techanimit - Student in youth class

Miss Longdee Suksingkorakul - Student in youth class

64

Appendix 3 List of Abbreviation

CSSC CES Solar Cells Testing Center

DEDE Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency
ESST European Studies of Society, Science and Technology
H.R.H. Her Royal Highness
IPST The Institute for the Promotion of Teaching of Science and Technology
NSTDA National Science and Technology Development Agency
OBEC Office of the Basic Education Commission
ONIE Office of the Non-formal and Informal Education
OPSP Office of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's Projects
PV Photovoltaic
SOLARTEC Institute of Solar Energy Technology Development
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
VEC Vocational Education Commission
WEC World Energy Council