Page 6 - AsiaElec Week 10 2023

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Malaysian backed transmission

line to benefit Cambodia

CAMBODIA LEADER Energy, a Malaysian firm, is 400 MW of solar power installed. In combi-
working to support Cambodia’s transition nation, these renewable sources now make
WHAT: to cleaner energy by installing a new trans- up more than 40% of the total power gener-
Malaysian firm to aid in mission line that will serves as a backbone of ation” he added.
Cambodian transition to Cambodia’s energy structure in the years to Looking to the future, Cambodia’s most
green energy. come. current so-called energy masterplan was
Cambodia has already achieved significant launched last year. Looking to
WHY: progress in bringing electricity to over 98% In simple terms, its main goal is to have
Some parts of of its villages, but still faces the challenge of over 1 GW of solar capacity installed by the the future,
underdeveloped electrifying the remaining villages, num- end of the decade.
Cambodia still lack bering 245, and transitioning to renewable By 2040, this figure is projected to be in Cambodia’s
access to electrical energy sources. excess of 3 GW of installed solar, thereby
power. The 25-year build-own-transfer power making up more than 50% of the nation’s most current
transmission agreement with the Electricite projected energy mix by that time. so-called energy
WHAT NEXT: du Cambodge (EDC) and the acquisition of The Malaysian firm’s role in this master-
1 GW of solar by 2030, the 230-KV Kampong Cham to Kratie Trans- plan is seen as crucial. masterplan was
3GW by the end of the mission System will combine to form a cru- Leader Energy recently agreed oper-
following decade. cial part of Cambodia’s future transmission ations over the 230-kV transmission launched last
infrastructure. system linking Kampong Cham with
In the process it will transmit electricity Kratie. year.
from the Lower Se San 2 hydropower plant Leader were presented with Cambodia’s
(HPP) in Stung Treng in north-east Cambo- first ever build-operate-transfer transmission
dia to Kratie, supporting the country’s tran- system in 2010, and have been overseeing
sition to cleaner, more sustainable energy operations of the transmission system from
sources in the process. the capital Phnom Penh to Kampong Cham
Talking of the project, Leader Energy’s for the past decade.
CEO Gan Boon Hean said: “in 2010, only The latest award is an extension of the
about 30% of consumers had access to elec- previous project, which will only add to the
tricity, with the vast majority of power gener- existing infrastructure in more rural areas of
ated by non-renewable resources, such as oil, the country and help the nation as a whole
and only slightly more than 3% of the gen- move towards increased levels of energy
eration coming from hydro. But since then, security.
the country has made remarkable progress.” In the process the system will now be able
The situation just over a decade later was to power capacity generated from important
significantly different. hydropower resources near the Se San HPP,
“In 2022, Cambodia has over 30%, or in addition to helping move power across the
more than 1,300 MW of power generation border from Laos to the north and on to the
coming from hydro. It also has more than Cambodian capital.™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 10 08 •March•2023