The university’s New Era Battery and Energy Factory delivers advanced energy storage technology to local authorities to optimise energy efficiency, reduce municipal costs, and enhance public welfare.
Khon Kaen University (KKU), through its New Era Battery and Energy Factory (KKUVOLT), is extending clean energy innovation into the public sector by sharing its expertise in Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). The initiative aims to help local government organisations establish efficient energy management, reduce operational power costs, and improve residents’ quality of life sustainably.
On 7 July 2026, Prof. Thidarut Boonmars, D.V.M., Ph.D., Vice President for Enterprise and Societal Sustainability, attended the 2026 Annual Khon Kaen Local Government Executives Meeting alongside executives and personnel from KKUVOLT. The event, held at the Yod Khwan Mueang Sala Auditorium of the Sila Town Municipality in Khon Kaen Province, served as a platform for exchanging knowledge and discussing strategies to apply clean energy technologies to regional development.
During the meeting, Prof. Boonmars delivered a lecture titled “Driving Public Clean Energy with Batteries”. The presentation detailed how BESS can be integrated with solar energy systems to maximise power management efficiency, lower electrical utility costs, and reinforce energy security for both local communities and municipal administrations.
The lecture highlighted practical implementations of battery systems within local infrastructure, including community water production facilities, municipality and sub-district administrative office buildings, sub-district health-promoting hospitals, child development centres, public schools, and street lighting networks. These applications provide crucial backup power during outages, ensuring the continuity of essential public services while minimising long-term energy expenditures for local governments.
The forum also gave local government executives an opportunity to exchange views on selecting and installing solar-plus-storage configurations, budgeting for energy costs, and expanding clean energy frameworks to effectively raise the standard of public utilities.
This knowledge transfer underscores KKU’s role in translating laboratory research into real-world impact through partnerships with state agencies and local administrative bodies. By accelerating the transition to clean energy, the university helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and secure long-term national energy stability. KKU firmly believes that empowering local communities with clean energy technologies is a vital mechanism for improving public service delivery, lowering administrative overheads, and fostering self-reliant, sustainable communities.
This project directly aligns with KKU’s core mission of generating socially driven knowledge and innovation while supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Specifically, it advances SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) by promoting renewable technologies, SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) through the diffusion of domestically developed innovations, SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) by upgrading local public utilities, SDG 13 (Climate Action) through reducing fossil fuel dependence, and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) by demonstrating a successful model of collaboration between academic institutions and local administrations to build a sustainable energy future.
