Kalasin Province is an agriculture-oriented province in Northeastern Thailand with a strong emphasis on rainfed rice farming, sugarcane cultivation, cassava production, and livestock rearing, particularly cattle and buffalo.
The province’s rural economy generates significant quantities of agricultural biomass residues, including rice straw, sugarcane leaves, cassava by-products, and animal manure.
Kalasin faces structural challenges common to many agrarian provinces, including seasonal residue burning, soil nutrient depletion, and limited value addition at the farm level.
These challenges contribute to PM₂.₅ air pollution, greenhouse-gas emissions, and income instability among farming households—highlighting the need for locally grounded, circular-economy solutions.
At the same time, Kalasin possesses strong potential to develop community-based biomass value chains, supported by active village networks, agricultural cooperatives, and public-sector institutions.
By organizing biomass collection at the village level and upgrading residues into organic compost, biogas substrates, and renewable energy feedstock, the province can convert agricultural by-products into stable economic and environmental assets.
The Kalasin Biopow Initiatives framework is designed to prioritize inclusive participation and rural value creation, focusing on decentralized biomass aggregation, sub-district composting facilities, and biogas systems linked to livestock and crop residues.
This approach strengthens soil health, reduces dependence on chemical fertilizers, and creates new income streams for smallholder farmers while delivering measurable reductions in air pollution and emissions.
Through coordinated collaboration between provincial authorities, farmer organizations, and private-sector partners, Kalasin can position itself as a model province for community-driven biomass utilization and low-carbon rural development.
Such a model aligns closely with Thailand’s Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy Model, national clean-air policies, and long-term climate commitments, demonstrating how localized solutions can contribute meaningfully to national and global sustainability goals.
This project represents a province-wide, integrated biomass utilization platform designed to address three structural challenges simultaneously:
open-field burning and PM2.5 pollution,
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from unmanaged agricultural residues, and
low and volatile farm incomes.
Using officially compiled agricultural data from the Provincial Agricultural Office, the platform aggregates 1,455,719 tonnes per year of surplus rice straw and sugarcane leaves and converts them into renewable electricity, organic compost fertilizer, and stable community income, while establishing a scalable foundation for carbon finance and digital MRV integration.
At full implementation, the Kalasin platform supports 143.94 MW of distributed biomass power capacity, combined with four strategically located organic composting plants and a decentralized biomass warehouse network, ensuring that farmers do not transport biomass over excessive distances.
Based on conservative international benchmarks for avoided open burning and fossil-fuel displacement, the project delivers the following annual impacts:
Biomass utilized: 1,455,719 tons/year
Renewable power capacity: 143.94 MW
Estimated GHG reduction: ~2.18 million tCO₂e/year
(Assumption: ~1.5 tCO₂e avoided per ton of agricultural residue diverted from open burning and fossil electricity)
Estimated PM2.5 reduction: ~3,640 tons/year
(Assumption: ~2.5 kg PM2.5 avoided per ton of residue not openly burned)
These impacts are measurable, auditable, and suitable for future linkage to carbon crediting mechanisms (T-VER / voluntary markets) and results-based climate finance.
Biomass availability: 282,563 tons/year
Power generation capacity: 17.67 MW
Community income generation: THB 84.85 million/year
Estimated GHG reduction: ~424,000 tCO₂e/year
Estimated PM2.5 reduction: ~706 tonnes/year
Circular infrastructure:
1 × Organic Compost Plant (200,000 t/year input capacity)
Supporting biomass warehouses within a 50-km radius
This cluster serves as a demonstration zone for combining power generation with soil restoration and regenerative agriculture.
Biomass availability: 835,535 tons/year
Power generation capacity: 52.22 MW
Community income generation: THB 250.66 million/year
Estimated GHG reduction: ~1.25 million tCO₂e/year
Estimated PM2.5 reduction: ~2,089 tons/year
Circular infrastructure:
1 × Large-scale Organic Compost Plant (500,000 t/year input capacity)
Dense network of satellite biomass warehouses
This is the largest and most impactful cluster, anchoring grid-connected renewable electricity while supplying organic fertilizer to intensive agricultural zones.
Biomass availability: 914,569 tons/year
Power generation capacity: 57.16 MW
Community income generation: THB 274.37 million/year
Estimated GHG reduction: ~1.37 million tCO₂e/year
Estimated PM2.5 reduction: ~2,286 tonnes/year
Circular infrastructure:
1 × Organic Compost Plant (200,000 t/year input capacity)
Distributed warehouses to minimize transport distance
This cluster is positioned as a hybrid energy–soil platform, enabling long-term yield stability for farmers while maximizing emission reductions.
Biomass availability: 270,251 tons/year
Power generation capacity: 16.89 MW
Community income generation: THB 81.00 million/year
Estimated GHG reduction: ~405,000 tCO₂e/year
Estimated PM2.5 reduction: ~676 tons/year
Circular infrastructure:
1 × Organic Compost Plant (500,000 t/year input capacity, designed for future feedstock expansion)
Strategic warehouse placement every 50 km
This cluster is designed for future scalability, supporting both agricultural growth and additional biomass streams.
Rather than relying on centralized long-haul transport, the platform adopts a decentralized biomass warehouse model:
One biomass warehouse approximately every 50 km radius from each composting or power facility
Reduced farmer transport costs and time
Lower diesel emissions and logistics risk
Improved feedstock reliability and year-round plant utilization
This structure directly enhances bankability, operational resilience, and community acceptance.
For infrastructure investors, DFIs, and climate-focused capital providers, the Kalasin platform offers:
Multi-asset revenue streams: electricity sales, compost products, logistics services, and carbon value
Strong ESG alignment: air-quality improvement, rural income uplift, and climate mitigation
Replicable provincial template: scalable across multiple Thai provinces
Future-ready architecture: compatible with Digital MRV, carbon registries, and results-based finance
This is not a single power project, but a province-scale circular bioeconomy platform with long-term infrastructure characteristics and measurable climate impact.