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🇹🇭 Thailand /Elections & Politics

Bangkok summit highlights Thailand's resilience challenge

From Bangkok Post · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Business and government leaders at the 2026 Bangkok Business Summit said Thailand must strengthen energy security, decarbonisation and investment conditions.
  • Speakers highlighted rising electricity demand from data centres, artificial intelligence and digital industries.
  • Thailand is considering small modular reactors and aims to develop its first 300-megawatt unit within the next decade, subject to regulation, public support and sufficient expertise.

Thailand's plan to become a regional digital and industrial hub faces a basic test: whether the country can secure enough reliable power while cutting emissions and attracting investment.

We will require new sources of reliable power, but the government is working across ministries to support data centres and related supply chains.

· Prasert SinsukprasertThailand's permanent secretary for energy described the challenge of meeting rising electricity demand.

That message emerged from the 2026 Bangkok Business Summit, where policymakers and business leaders urged Thailand to turn long-term ambitions into practical investments. The discussions focused on preparing industries, cities and energy systems for a lower-carbon economy while accelerating investment in artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure.

Permanent Secretary for Energy Prasert Sinsukprasert said electricity demand would rise as data centres and related supply chains expand. He said the government was working across ministries to secure new power sources while maintaining affordability and supply stability. He identified small modular reactors as one possible way to meet data-centre demand while providing continuous clean electricity.

The SMR would answer all the questions, 24/7 clean energy with a secure and stable supply of power.

· Prasert SinsukprasertHe presented small modular reactors as a potential source of continuous power for data centres.

Thailand plans to develop its first 300-megawatt small modular reactor within the next decade, subject to appropriate regulation, public support and sufficient human resources. Prasert said the eventual scale of the technology would depend largely on how quickly Thailand develops artificial intelligence and advanced technologies.

Do you build it yourself or do you depend on somebody else for this critical asset? The choice is very simple.

· Karan BajwaThe Google executive argued that Thailand should treat data centres as critical national infrastructure.

Karan Bajwa, vice president for Asia-Pacific at Google, said Thailand was well placed to capture investment because of its combination of land, power, policy and domestic consumption. He said data centres should increasingly be treated as critical national infrastructure rather than simply facilities serving technology companies. PTT chief executive Kongkrapan Intarajang said conventional fuels would remain necessary during the energy transition, but Thailand would need to pair them with decarbonisation efforts while expanding renewable energy, batteries and green fuels.

We still need all these conventional fuels, but of course, we have to couple them with the means to decarbonise.

· Kongkrapan IntarajangThe PTT chief executive described the role of conventional fuels during Thailand's energy transition.
About this summary

Originally published by Bangkok Post in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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