Thailand
Cambodia needs $9 billion investment in power sector
Cambodia will need investment of around $9 billion through to 2040 to develop new power plants and expand the national grids, the Master Power Development Plan 2022-2040 said.
Of the amount, over $2.5 billion is the investment that has been approved between 2022 and 2025.
Another $6.5 billion will be for renewable energy investment -hydropower dams (not project directly on the Mekong River), solar power projects, battery energy storage systems, natural gas-fired power plants, and biomass power plants, it added.
The Cambodian government has forecasted that the Kingdom’s electricity demand will increase to 24 billion kilowatt hours by 2025, to 36 billion kilowatt hours by 2030, to 50 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) by 2035 and 66 billion kWh in 2040.
Currently, the total power generation capacity increased from 3,990 MW by the end of 2021 to 4,495 MW by the end of 2022, while the amount of energy consumed from the power source increased from 13,097 million kWh in 2021 to 15,455 million kWh in 2022.
Over the past decade, electricity demand has increased significantly, from 508 MW in 2012 to 2026 MW in 2021, with an average growth rate of 19 percent per year.
Meanwhile, due to the rapid expansion of Cambodia’s electricity infrastructure, the scope of electricity supply in Cambodia increased from 34 percent of the total number of villages at the end of 2010 to 98.27 percent of the total number of villages.
According to the plan, Cambodia will not add new coal-fired power plants to its master power development plan, except for the coal projects that were approved by the year 2019, encouraging investment in clean energy to respond to climate change.
Renewable energy has now made up over 62 percent of the country’s installed electricity capacity.
Renewable energy comes from sources such as hydropower, solar energy and biomass energy. Most renewable energy in Cambodia comes from hydropower dams.
Prime Minister Hun Sen recently stated that the Cambodian government prioritizes renewable energy investment, adding that hydropower, solar power and wind power, are still one of the best options for generating electricity in Cambodia.
“With a high percentage of renewable energy, Cambodia is considered one of the countries that pollute less in the environment,” he said.
Electricity is not only a necessity of daily consumption, but also a major industrial demand for the country’s fast-growing economy, he said.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501263879/cambodia-needs-9-billion-investment-in-power-sector/