Feature: Provincial school in N. Thailand set to become lead example in power monitoring

By Jane Lin

CHIANG MAI, Thailand, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Wachirawit Secondary School, 12 km north of Chiang Mai City, is set to become the province's first pilot school in energy conservation using the Real Time Power Monitoring System, implemented by Energy Policy and Planning Office (EPPO).

Funded by EPPO in 2016, Wachirawit School installed a software system called "ERDI," in which researcher and developer Yottana Khunatorn refers to it as "Easy Smart Meter," whereby ERDI meter provides real-time building energy consumption report through LED TV or smart devices.

Yottana, who has been working on alternative energy at Chiang Mai University told Xinhua that ERDI is able to track and analyze energy consumption of the school.

"Ever since we have installed the necessary equipment into the Real Time Power Monitoring System, Wachirawit School had saved 23 percent of electrical usage," said Yottana, "and that amounts to 400,000 baht (12,474 U.S. dollars) of electricity saved in a year."

Patcharavalai, a grade school teacher at Wachirawit School said one of the school's policies is to provide affordable tuition fee to all students so that children from all walks of life will be able to acquire knowledge and a brighter future.

"Wachirawit school is a private school," said Patcharavalai, "We can accommodate up to 700 students, all the way from primary to secondary education. We have been distraught by the ever-increasing prices of electricity in the school; therefore we reached out to the Ministry of Energy two years ago and was granted 1 million baht (31,190 U.S. dollars) by EPPO to invest in Real Time Power Monitoring System."

"Today we are able to access electronic devices without having to worry about surging electrical prices," said Patcharavalai, who has been teaching at Wachirawit School for more than a decade.

EPPO is considering installing Real Time Power Monitoring Systems into 10 more schools scattered in Chiang Mai, in order to being relief to schools in rural areas distraught by high energy costs. Enditem