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Cambodia: Power trade talks with Thailand are planned
Cambodia is planning talks with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) to purchase 300MW of power, Ministry of Mines and Energy official Victor Jona said on Tuesday.
Jona, the director-general of the ministry’s General Department of Energy, told The Post that the talks could be held late this month or in early December.
Pending approval, he said, the additional 300MW of electricity is expected to be fully online by 2024.
“We are buying more electricity from Thailand to meet the [rising] demand,” Jona said.
Data from the Electricity Authority of Cambodia shows that the Kingdom currently imports 135.50MW from Thailand, 277MW from Vietnam and 30MW from Laos. Last year, the Kingdom’s total generation capacity was 2,208MW.
Jona said Cambodia needed to purchase between 20 and 25 per cent of its generation capacity from neighbouring countries.
Patana Sangsriroujana, deputy governor for policy and planning, told the Bangkok Post that Thai Minister of Energy Sontirat Sontijirawong had called on Egat to hold talks with Cambodia and Myanmar regarding future power trading.
“Sales to Cambodia will happen quicker than to Myanmar because some transmission lines have been developed in Cambodia,” Patana said.
He said the electricity trade to both countries should begin by 2023, the Bangkok Post reported. The energy ministers of the three countries needed to agree on a contract.
Early in September, a cabinet meeting decided that the Cambodian government will purchase 2,400MW of electricity from Laos.
A briefing document posted by government spokesman Phay Siphan on his Facebook page said investment in the two projects was worth $4.970 billion – including coal mine infrastructure, power plants, sub-stations and transmission lines to the Cambodian-Lao border.
Source: https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/power-trade-talks-thailand-are-planned