Presentation short abstract

Renewable-energy expansion in Thailand reshapes land ownership. Wind firms lease forest-reform plots via state-enabled loopholes, while solar projects rely on brokers assembling farmland for developers. These processes consolidate elite power and deepen rural land insecurity.

Presentation long abstract

The expansion of renewable energy, framed as a green transition, is reshaping land ownership across Asia and the Pacific. Thailand has seen rapid growth in wind and solar development over the past two decades, bringing private energy companies into rural territories as new land-claiming actors. This paper examines how land arrangements for renewable energy projects are negotiated and with what consequences. It argues that decarbonization initiatives have consolidated the power of state authorities and private land brokers rather than democratizing energy access.

Wind energy sites are predominantly located in forest patches and deforested areas originally allocated to poor farmers under land-reform schemes. Investors gain access to these plots through leasing, despite their formal designation for social welfare and conservation. Regulatory distortions by state agencies facilitate these deals and, in some forest sites, energy corporations have become additional actors in long-standing land conflicts between local villagers and the Forestry Department.

Solar projects, by contrast, require only open land with sufficient sunlight. Brokers purchase land from rural farmers, assemble it into large parcels, and resell it to solar developers. Rather than offering post-political solutions to climate change, renewable-energy land access relies on middlemen and state mediation, producing new layers of insecurity and economic vulnerability for rural farmers.