I. First progress report (April 11, 2008):
Activities undertaken:
1. Capacity-building activities launched for project members, including study tour re: biogas production
2. One 100-m^3 biogas pit constructed

Results of activities:
1. Project members have increased technical capacity and are eager to begin using biogas; they even funded part of the pit construction to expedite project progress

Project expense: THB 83,645 out of first disbursement of THB 41,220.55

Issues with project implementation:
? Grantee had difficulty identifying skilled contractor; this was solved by requesting help from the Tarntia Tambol Administrative Organization.

II. Second progress report (Julyl 10, 2008):
Activities undertaken:
Keeping on construction of one biogas pit of 100 cu. m and its accessories

Results of activities:
The construction was estimated at over 90 % completed. Remaining activities were filling the facility with earth and connecting piping systems to 30 households.

Project expense: THB:103,151 out of two disbursements of THB: 78,522.55

Project communication:
On January 21, 2008, a commissioner from the Ministry of Energy and the chief of Sukhothai Provincial Energy Office visited the project. A photo and caption were printed in local newspaper dated 1-15 June 2008.

Experience and lessons learnt:
The project did not mention any substantial issues of implementation but mentioned a support from the Tarntai Tambol Administrative Organization that advanced some fund to the project when the received disbursement was not enough for upfront investment ( on construction material).

III.Monitoring visit from NC and one NSC(September 30, 2008):
On September 30, 2008, the National Coordinator visited the project to assess the project during the final quarter of its two-year duration. Findings and observations are as follows:

Baan (village) Yarngane, Tambol Tarntia, the target location is a farming community in an upper part of the country?s central plain. With existing irrigation system from the Yom River, majority of community practice three crops (paddy) a year, with other supplementary item such as horticulture, tobacco and husbandry. The 300 households or so are grid connected, have supply of commercial canned gas and depend upon conventional type of gasoline and diesel-driven transportation. The husbandry group has 15 households as its members.

Amid the village paddy field, about 100-meter away from the first house, the construction of the biogas facility was seen completed and operational. It was located next to a pig pen of the group. Group leaders of five demonstrated increased technical capacity taking turns explaining how the system worked, what project members had to do in maintenance , emerging technical problems and their approach to solve them. The construction was finished two months back and under trial run ever since. Biogas from the facility was being distributed to users through PVC piping system. At an estimate, the first house to enjoy the biogas is situated about one hundred meter away from the pit, the final house six hundred meters. During this nearly two-month use of biogas, it was confirmed, every connected house ( about 15 ) had not used any canned gas, while before the project intervention, one can per two months per household was a general rate of consumption. The current price is Baht: 310/can of 15 kilograms.

In spite of this initial technical success and evinced reduction of pollution from the pig pen, institutional/management issues were discussed during the visit. The first issue involved the effective management of the system which requires more participation and contribution from current users. The second concerned an extension of biogas services to non-group members in the villages.

Capacity of the group was partly attributed to the support from the Tarntia Tambol Administrative Organization, who had been working closely with community since the inception of the project. As the matter of fact, Tarntia village is one of the 80 selected through out the country (averagely, one village from one province) to participate in a national scheme (the Royal Golden Jubilee) on energy efficiency a few years ago. The scheme had promoted the construction of charcoal burning kiln, organized the ?Energy Day?, gave training on molding high efficiency stoves, and lately approved budget for biodiesel production. Through this connection, biogas production of this SGP project helped support this national scheme.

Despite of demonstrated capacity, project leaders expressed interest to learn more about the biogas. The National Coordinator gave required information about back SGP biogas projects to share experience. For additional monitoring and evaluation process, the project would join the mid-course evaluation workshop with other 13 projects of the same grant cycle, which was schedule sometime in December 2008, after which the completion reports would be compiled and submitted to the national coordinator.

IV. Mid-course evaluation workdhop (March 20-21, 2009)
Findings and observation:
Together with representatives from other projects of the same grant cycle (from THA/06/13 to THA/06/28), and SGP country team, the project participate in the workshop to update progress , share experience and initiate a network. It was agreed that each project would keep on contacting one another and sharing experience. Contacting addresses were distributed with one project as the coordinating centre for future activities. An NSC member who represented the National Environment Fund was also committed to help in keeping the network.

V. Completion report (July 2, 2009):

Date of Participatory Evaluation( January 10, 2009)

Number of Beneficiaries/ Participating personnel:
Women: 85
Men: 62
Children: 43

Number of persons trained/ attending seminars, joining study tours:
Women: 20
Men: 15

Expense:

Amount received from SGP (3 disbursements): Baht: 118,388.84
Total amount spent out of SGP budget: Baht: 171,584
Balance: Baht: (- 53,195.16 )
Amount authorized for the final payment: US$: 395.86

Activities undertaken:
1. Conducting meetings among target populations and their neighbours to confirm the planned project approach
2. Coordinating with related government agencies to mobilize resources and technical assistance
3. Launching capacity building for target populations
4. Construction biogas pits and line pipe

Results of activities:
1. Increased capacity and awareness of target communities on biogas technology witnessed through personal investment and active participation in project activities
2. Initiated support scheme of related government agencies to further renewable energy ( biodiesel)
3. Reduction of consumption of energy: canned gas by 70 % and electricity by 50 %
4. Cleaner environment without irritating odors from pig farms and better air for breathing

Project Communication:
The project did not report any thing other than what were reported in the previous period.

Experience , Lessons Learnt , Problems and Issues:
1. Due to increasing price of construction materials, budget for construction was not enough. This was solved by the financial support from Tarntia Tambol Organization
2. After properly function of biogas, project committee proposed THB:20/month to be collected by a gas user. Later, the committee re-estimated that the figure was too low thus proposed a new figure of THB:50/month. Some members disagreed. To address the issue, the committee would lower to THB: 1/day.

Plans and Activities for Sustainability:
The project planned
- to construct a natural drying bed to turn ineffective manure into fertilizer for use
- to expand the pig farm for more manure to meet additional demand from community members

Latest status as of October 2010:
The biogas system of the project is still supply biogas to community members continuously. The Sukhothai Provincial Energy Office provided additional support in laying down the main gas pipe so that the biogas could reach more members in the village.