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Deploy test site / deploy (push) Successful in 54s
Solar (user, 17 Oct 2026: "use as much roof space as possible") - PV on every roof and canopy: ~640 kWp on the Payap scenario plot (factory roof ~523, canopies ~54, flat office roof ~65 kWp around the AC units); ~300 kWp on the Mueang Chi hall. Calculator: pvKWp 640, new pvSelf 85 % (zero export, hourly sketch), PV cost per kWp times the array, office-roof PV in the iso view, roofs drawn full. - 12.8M to 16.6M THB at 20 to 26 THB/W; CSV baseline 34.37M to 56.34M; launch plant ~168M / 231M / 294M THB with contingency; Plan B ~216M (label ~215M), ~39M above Plan A; Plan A unchanged (it leases the array), its solar lever ~17.5M. PV payback ~4.2 to 5.9 years. - Permits (rooftop solar no factory licence since 28 Dec 2024, ERC exemption under 1,000 kVA, PEA zero export) and PPA discounts sourced in sustainability.md. BOI correction - Announcement 3/2568 (in force 1 July 2025) ended BOI promotion for solar installations; only the battery may qualify (12M THB per MW cap). Removed the "BOI solar measure" from boi.md, total-investment, revenue-model, sustainability, site-candidates and both plan versions; Plan B's case for owning the array is the PPA bill it avoids (~0.07M USD a year). Open source (user, 17 Oct 2026) - digital-factory.md "Open source throughout, and working with other plants": everything we run and build is open source on NixOS, our code published (licence to decide), vendor firmware the stated exception; later the stack and factory-automation services for other pressing plants, not in the revenue. - Business plan section 5.6 plus an executive-summary bullet, reading guide and not-modelled mentions; draft 0.3 rebuilt (A 60, B 61 pages), renders re-made with the roofs full.
147 lines
8.0 KiB
Markdown
147 lines
8.0 KiB
Markdown
# BOI Investment Promotion
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The project will apply for promotion by the Thailand Board of Investment.
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Research snapshot from July 2026, based on the BOI Investment Promotion
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Guide 2025/2026 and advisory sources; BOI revises its measures roughly
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annually, so every scheme cited here must be reconfirmed at filing time.
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The exact activity sub-code needs confirmation by a BOI-registered
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consultant before the application.
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## The strategic picture
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Vinyl pressing is, in BOI terms, basic plastic consumer-goods manufacturing
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(Category 6, chemicals/paper/plastics), which lands in **incentive Group B**:
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no corporate income tax holiday on the core pressing activity, but the full
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non-tax package and machinery duty exemption. The tax value is engineered on
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top through the upgrade measures, where this project happens to be strong:
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- **Solar: no longer promoted; the battery may be.** The alternative-energy
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measure (Announcement 2/2568, April 2025, under the Smart and Sustainable
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Industry framework) granted a CIT exemption on the solar investment,
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capped at THB 12M/30M/40M per MW. **Announcement 3/2568** (5 June 2025,
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in force 1 July 2025) ended promotion for installing solar power
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generation under that measure for applications from 1 July 2025; what
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remains is machinery modified to use other renewable energy, and battery
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storage (BESS) with its inverters, the eligible investment capped at
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THB 12M per MW
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([B Global Law](https://bgloballaw.com/2026/01/18/boi-announcement-no-3-2568-amendment-to-renewable-energy-efficiency-enhancement-measures),
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[Smarter Energy Solution](https://smarterenergysolution.com/blog/boi-solar-thailand-2026),
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checked October 2026). So owning the ~640 kWp array earns no BOI
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benefit; its case is the bill (see [sustainability](sustainability.md)).
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Whether the 271 kWh battery qualifies is for the BOI consultant. A PPA
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developer selling solar power (200 kW or more per distribution point)
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can still be promoted under activity 7.1.2 (8-year CIT exemption); that
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benefit is the developer's, and how much of it reaches the PPA price is
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a negotiation
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([CapSolar](https://capsolar.co.th/en/knowledge/boi-solar-incentives-2026)).
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- **Automation and metrology**: the Smart and Sustainable Industry upgrade
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measure (Announcement 15/2565, refreshed July 2025) rewards automation,
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smart machinery, and energy efficiency, typically 3 years of CIT
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exemption capped around 50% of the qualifying upgrade investment. The
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automated presses, inline optical inspection, and stamper metrology are
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the natural fit.
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- **R&D merit**: investing at least 1% of revenue in Thai R&D adds 1 to 3
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CIT-exemption years and can lift the exemption cap. In-house mastering,
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galvanics process development, and recycled-PVC work could be framed as
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qualifying development.
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So the application is pitched on automation and technology content (and
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the battery, if it qualifies), not on "we press plastic discs."
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## What Group B still delivers (the core value)
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- **Machinery import duty exemption**: significant with the entire equipment
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list imported (Germany, Sweden, USA, Japan). **Import VAT goes with it:**
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machinery or raw material imported with the duty exemption is exempt
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from VAT at import as well (Revenue Department answer on the
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[BOI OSOS FAQ](https://osos.boi.go.th/One-Stop/faq-group/205/FAQ-about-VAT--BOI),
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checked October 2026); otherwise a BOI company is treated like any other
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for VAT. What it is worth: the capex blocks in
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[total investment](finance/total-investment.md) are vendor prices
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without duty or VAT, so they already assume promotion. Without it, the
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~2.75M USD of imported machinery at the start fleet (presses, galvanics,
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Sibert, lathe system, metrology; block midpoints) would carry import duty,
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roughly 5 % (Thailand's MFN averages 4.1 % on HS 8477 plastics
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machinery, 0 to 10 % across HS 84; estimate until the HS codes are set),
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~0.14M USD, and 7 % import VAT, ~0.2M USD paid at the border and only
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recovered later as input tax, mostly as a refund claim because exports
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are zero-rated. The [press fleet calculator](fleet-calculator.html)
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shows both cases.
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- **100% foreign ownership** of the promoted manufacturing company,
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overriding Foreign Business Act restrictions for the promoted activity
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- **Land ownership** for the promoted operation despite foreign
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shareholding, plus a small allowance for office/residential use; note the
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privilege is tied to the promotion, which matters for the buy-vs-lease
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decision
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- **Visas and work permits** via the One Stop Service, without the usual
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four-Thai-employees-per-permit rule; relevant for foreign commissioning
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engineers and the technical consultant
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- **Raw material duty relief**: exemption for export production (1 to 5
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years, renewable) and up to 90% reduction for domestic-sale production
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## Requirements
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- Minimum investment THB 1,000,000 excluding land and working capital
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(comfortably cleared by the first pressing line alone)
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- Debt-to-equity ratio no higher than 3:1, maintained for the life of the
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privileges; plan the equity/loan mix for the machinery and solar capex
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accordingly
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- Modern machinery and process expected; ISO/environmental compliance for
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larger projects
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- BOI promotion does not replace the factory license (Ror.Ngor. 4),
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hazardous substance registration, or wastewater permitting; the galvanics
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effluent is the most likely regulatory friction point regardless of BOI
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status
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## Regional angle: Northern Thailand
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Chiang Mai, Lamphun, and Lampang sit in the **Northern Economic Corridor**,
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which BOI promotes as a creative-economy base; a vinyl/music manufacturing
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story fits that narrative. Locating in the **Northern Region Industrial
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Estate in Lamphun** simplifies factory licensing and land questions and
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provides shared central effluent treatment, which helps the galvanics
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permitting. Legacy "Zone 3" incentive tables still found online are
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outdated; the current area-based add-ons for Lamphun/Lampang must be
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confirmed with BOI directly.
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## Process and timeline
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1. File via the BOI e-Investment system, then present the project at an
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analyst meeting
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2. Decision: about 40 working days for projects under THB 200M (60 to 90
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working days for larger tiers); roughly 4 to 6 months end to end to the
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promotion certificate in practice
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3. Incorporate the company (if not yet done) and accept the certificate
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4. Import machinery within the duty-exemption window, commonly 30 months
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from certificate issuance (extendable); the Newbilt/Pheenix delivery
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schedule must fit inside it
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5. Reach full operation by the certificate deadline (typically about 36
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months), with progress reporting, annual reports, machinery lists, and
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the 3:1 debt-to-equity ratio maintained throughout
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## Sequencing consequence
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BOI approval comes **before** company incorporation is finalized and before
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any machinery purchase orders: duty exemption does not apply retroactively
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to equipment already imported, and the certificate defines the import
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window. The BOI application is therefore a dependency at the top of the
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project timeline, ahead of equipment contracts.
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## Open items
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- Confirm the exact activity sub-code and tier for vinyl/PVC consumer-goods
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pressing (Group B assumption is well supported but not code-verified)
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- Confirm the live version of the smart-and-sustainable measures at
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filing time, and whether the battery qualifies under the BESS part of
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the alternative-energy measure (THB 12M per MW cap); solar itself is out
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since 1 July 2025 (Announcement 3/2568)
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- Confirm current NEC/Lamphun area add-ons
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- Engage a BOI-registered consultant to structure the application so the
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automation and R&D measures (and the battery) stack on the base promotion
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- Check whether R&D contracted with Payap University and the joint student
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programmes ([Payap partnership](payap-partnership.md)) count toward the
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R&D merit or a skills-development measure
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- Keep any future label/content/retail arm in a separate entity: media and
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service activities carry different (and sometimes Thai-ownership)
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conditions, and mixing them muddies a clean manufacturing application
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