Key Factors of Community Based Biomass Power Plant Establishment Krittaphas Mongkoldhumrongkul 1, a and Prapita Thanarak 1, b* 1 School of Renewable Energy Technology, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, 65000, Thailand a mkkrittaphas@gmail.com, b prapitat@nu.ac.th Keywords: Community based biomass power plant; CBP; Key factors; Establishment Abstract. Biomass plays an important role in reducing fossil energy. It can be utilized in different ways and one of its usages is to produce electricity. However, to benefit from the gains of using biomass power generation, there are several obstacles to overcome for its competent utilization. The performance of community based biomass power plants (CBP) was studied to access the feasibility and sustainability aspects that caused energy security. The objective of this study was to identify the key factors affecting to CBP establishment. The authors designed the tests to make a comprehensive study considering all the factors published in the Science Direct Database during January 2004 to September 2014. The data was obtained using multi-stage sampling from 1,151 people dwelling in the local community. A questionnaire was used as a tool for collecting the data. The output factors were confirmed by undertaking the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis. The results show a significant influence on 1) technology of biomass gasification power plant; 2) biomass residues; 3) community; and 4) government, policy and investment at p < 0.05. These findings therefore identified the key factors affecting establishment for biomass electricity generation in Thailand. This in turn has helped bring about the causal model for establishing biomass power plant based on sustainability. Introduction Biomass is a promising renewable energy source. It not only has considerable potential as a fuel source, which mitigates the dependence on fossil energy, but it also provides economic value, job opportunities and sustainable energy for communities by generating electricity [1-3]. However, the management of biomass power plant (BPP) remains highly problematic. The BPP operation faced numerous complications, for instance, the quality of raw material (such as moisture content and heat value), conversion efficiency, transportation cost, and the logistics system [3, 4]. Restrictions may occur from dependence on the available biomass residues in the region and the advantages inherent to these sources [5]. The study of key factors played a part in the performance of the project assessment for the feasibility and sustainability aspects that caused energy security. In addition, the assessment should be specific in each regional area. This study was emphasized on identifying the key factors associated with CBP establishment. Methodology The procedure was divided into 2 parts. There were the acquisition and then the confirmation of key factors. Acquiring the Key Factors. The authors composed the citation data of CBP related publications from the Science Direct Database based on all the publication titles during January 2004 to September 2014. There were considered together with prior models, The community power plant framework [6] and Beacon Project in Khon Kaen province, Thailand; namely, GIZ Business Model [7]. The authors collected the publications by the simple query, “community based biomass power plant” and “factor management model”. Bibliographic citations of 13,518 papers published were collected. The compiled research which comprised of a number of non-related topics was irrelevant. Applied Mechanics and Materials Submitted: 2015-09-30 ISSN: 1662-7482, Vol. 839, pp 75-80 Revised: 2016-01-07 doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.839.75 Accepted: 2016-02-08 © 2016 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland Online: 2016-06-03 All rights reserved. No part of contents of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of Trans Tech Publications, www.ttp.net. (ID: 49.231.30.10-24/03/16,09:31:37)