The Property Management Office, Chulalongkorn University (PMCU) in collaboration with the Metropolitan Electricity Authority and telecommunication partners, such as True Internet Corporation Co., Ltd., carried out a project to bury power and communication cables underground by starting a pilot operation to make Siam Square a truly cableless area within the year 2020. Thereafter, the project intends to continue expanding the cableless area to the Suanluang-Samyan area, which is an area under the SAMYAN SMART CITY project.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Wisanu Subsompon, Vice President for Property and Physical Management, Chulalongkorn University, spoke about the policy that is open to allied professionals to participate in the development of the Chula Smart City to jointly study and develop a smart city model in areas under the supervision of Chulalongkorn University, and develop urban communities with facilities that ensure a better quality of life. Recently, the scenery, beauty, and tidiness have much been improved with regards to the power and communication cables
For the beautiful scenery and safety, the Office has organized the communication lines by burying them underground. The telecommunication infrastructure has been established by installing a Fiber Optic Cable (FOC) network underground to replace all original communication lines by telecommunication specialists, such as True Internet Corporation Co., Ltd.
Piloting the underground communication cables in the Siam Square area covering an area of 63 rai (approx. 100,800 sq. meters) which consists of commercial office buildings, tall buildings, and several other shops. Siam Square is considered an important tourist landmark in the heart of the city. It is a shopping center and a well-known source of fashion stores that has been popular with both Thai and foreign tourists. In the future, the area will be developed into a walking street to support the full shopping experience as well.
A competition, “Designing patterns on fiber optic cable manhole covers of Siam Square”, was also organized to enable Chula students to be a part of creating a unique identity for Siam Square. The winner of the award was Ms. Chanya Tangjitwinai, a student from the Faculty of Architecture. The award-winning manhole covers were then actually produced and used in 11 Siam Square areas as well.
Continuing efforts to improve and develop the power distribution system by applying technology and innovation to support the Samyan Smart City project, covering both educational and commercial areas, totaling 1,153 rai (approx. 1.8 million sq. meters), which is surrounded by Rama 4 Road, Rama 1 Road, Bantadthong Road, Henri Dunant Road, involved developing various projects, which include;
- Improving the electrical distribution system by burying the system underground to accommodate the increasing demand for electricity, to ensure that it is sufficient, stable, safe, and to improve the scenery and environment in the Chulalongkorn area within the year 2019, and cover the whole area of Chulalongkorn University by 2021.
- Develop a solar power generation system to promote the production of electricity from renewable energy in which the Chulalongkorn area has the potential to install solar rooftops that can generate about 20 megawatts.
- Install a 1.2 megawatt-hour energy storage system at the Pathumwan substation within the year 2020.
- Develop an intelligent meter system (AMI) by the year 2021, which is capable of collecting data on electricity usage, which is the heart of connecting and managing energy in the Smart City area.
- Develop a smart grid system by 2021 to control and fix power failures automatically, for example, the power quality, such as ensuring that the voltage is within the established service standards and that electricity users can manage their own current electricity usage.
The development of the SAMYAN SMART CITY area project has an idea of developing the Chulalongkorn area into becoming a smart city prototype based on the vision to develop this area into an innovative district that creates value for the community and society, combining quality of life and businesses and aiming for the highest benefits for sustainable well-being…
