In Thailand, the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) announced plans to spend 2bn baht ($58,038,320) to deploy smart grid projects in five Thai cities.

The smart grid projects to be implemented in Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Nakhon Ratchasima and Hat Yai are serving to accelerate the Thailand 4.0 initiative and smart city development in the country.PEA governor Sermsuk Klaikaew was reported saying, "We are embracing ICT including Internet of Things, cloud computing and data analytics to transform ourselves into PEA 4.0"The implementation of the smart grid projects are expected to be complete within the next two years, beggining with Pattaya in the next three months, added the Klaikaew.He went on to say that the authority's 20-year smart grid project for 2015-2035 will require an initial investments of more than 10 billion baht ($290,191,600).

PEA connected home model

According to the Bangkok Post, Thailand's Provincial Electricity Authority has built a connected home model leveraging the "latest smart home technology" to demonstrate energy-saving homes, which allows customers to sell surplus electricity back to the authority.The Authority has also partnered with Germany-based event organiser, Messe Frankfurt and 'The Exhibiz' to organise the "Thailand Lighting Fair 2017" from November 16-18 2017.The fair at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (Bitec) will showcase the latest technology for lighting, energy management and safety for smart homes, as well as intelligent buildings and smart cities under the Smart City Safety concept. The exhibition is expected to gather technology suppliers from around the globe with 700 exhibition booths and 15,000 visitors from 40 countries.The senior programme director of the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Passakon Prathombutr, a member of  the Ministry of Science and Technology said the agency is also in the process of developing image processing and sensing systems for the smart city project.The NSTDA said it would submit a plan soon for the development of smart cities in the Eastern Economic Corridor to the Digital Economy and Society Ministry. Thailand okays $5.6bn budget to enhance grid system PEA also views the deployment of smart meters as a key element in building energy management systems that allow users to monitor their energy usage in real time.