Thailand has announced plans to increase its solar generating capacity by 50% more than its previous target, reports claim.

The Government has approved new subsidy rates for rooftop and village-based solar projects, with the aim of adding 3GW of capacity by 2021.

The Ministry of Energy said it will work with a state-run credit provider, the Village Fund, to develop 800MW of community-owned PV plants by the end of 2014 and a total of 200MW of rooftop capacity will also be built by the end of this year.

The projects will sell their power to the Government under 25-year contracts, with community-owned projects to get paid as much as 9,750 baht per megawatt hour (£205.3/MWh) initially, followed by a reduction to 4,500 baht/MWh (£94.8/MWh) by the end of the agreement, according to reports.

According to official figures, natural gas-fired generation in Thailand consists of over 60% of the capacity mix, with coal and renewable energy making up most of the remaining capacity. The nation aims to add nearly 14GW of clean energy capacity by 2021.

A new 9.5MW solar farm was installed in Thailand earlier this year.