SCG partners up with the Netherlands Embassy and Shma to showcase the “Innovative Floating Park,” a floating solar farm that adds green spaces and generate clean power, in Bangkok Design Week 2019

          Chemicals Business, SCG has collaborated with the Embassy of the Netherlands in Thailand and the landscape architecture firm Shma to showcase the "Innovative Floating Park" Thailand's first-ever prototype of a floating solar farm with an integrated garden. Combining SCG's floating solar farm with a floating garden, the innovation is set to become an urban solution that will serve as another source of alternative energy, create more green spaces, and help restore the ecosystem of the river. The Innovative Floating Park is now exhibited in the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok Design Week 2019.
          Dr. Suracha Udomsak, R&D Director and Emerging Business Director of Chemicals Business, SCG, said that the "Innovative Floating Park" will not only revitalize the Chao Phraya River and add green spaces to the river frontage but also promote the consumption of alternative energy generated by floating solar farms and help maximize the use of the surface area of the river. This is considered the first time in Thailand that the two ideas have been integrated, resulting in an innovation that can be applied to many other water sources.
          "Chemicals Business, SCG has developed a floating solar farm as a one-stop solution. We recognize that Thailand enjoys an abundance of solar energy and an enormous total water surface area. The floating solar farm, therefore, meets both the demand for alternative energy and the need to make the most of the surface area of our water sources. It has been designed for quick and easy installation and allows for various configurations to accommodate different installation site conditions. In addition, drawing on its expertise in polymers, SCG has selected a special plastic resin that contains UV stabilizers as the material of the pontoon, which gives it resistance to sunlight and ultraviolet rays and prevents the pontoon from becoming brittle in the sun. The pontoon has also been certified to meet international standards for non-toxicity to the environment," added Dr. Suracha.
          Mr. Yossapon Boonsom, Director of Shma, the landscape architecture firm behind the landscape design of the Innovative Floating Park, said that initially, Shma was looking to build a floating park to create a green space and revitalize the ecosystem along the Chao Phraya River. It was the collaboration with Chemicals Business, SCG and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Thailand that gave them new ideas and led to the development of the Innovative Floating Park.
          "We've built on the current design by adding plants that help improve water quality and provide shelter for aquatic animals in the Chao Phraya River. We believe that this is as an urban solution that will draw people back to the river. In the future, we will further develop this floating solar farm by integrating recreational elements, such as benches and walkways, resulting in an innovative river restoration solution that can generate clean power, revitalize the river's ecosystems, improve the water quality, and provide a recreational space for urbanites," added Yossapon.
          Thomas van Leeuwen, Deputy Ambassador and Head of the Political and Economic Department at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Thailand, stated that the embassy has been in partnership with SCG in the field of research and development, and the Innovative Floating Park, featured in Bangkok Design Week 2019, is an experimental project that the embassy is supporting. The project combines different techniques to promote harmonious coexistence between people and the river as well as restore its ecosystem and make the river cleaner and more sustainable. 
          The Innovative Floating Park will be exhibited in Bangkok Design Week 2019 at the pier outside the CAT Building in Bangrak daily from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. until February 3, 2019. Bangkok Design Week 2019 is hosted in the Grand Postal Building, Bangrak, and the Charoenkrung District, with no entry fees.