Lower Sesan II plant set to launch
THE Hydropower Lower Sesan II power plant, which will be launched next week, is set to add another 20 per cent to t he Kingdom’s current tota l electricit y production, said a senior of ficia l of the Ministr y of Mines and Energ y.
The plant has a tota l electricit y generating capacit y of 400 megawatts, which will bring the tota l amount of hydropower produced by Cambodia to 1,328 megawatts.
The dam, which is located in Stung Treng prov ince, is constructed on 36,000ha with a height of 80m, of which 75m ser ves as water preser vation and the remaining five meters reser ved to avert t he risk of excess water.
The project is a joint investment by Chinese firm Hydrolancang Internationa l Energ y Co Ltd, which holds 51 per cent of its shares, Royal Group (39 per cent), while t he rest is held by a Vietnamese-owned company, EV N, with a tota l investment of more than $ 800 million.
The seventh hydropower dam
Ministr y spokesman Victor Jona said t hat af ter tria l launches, t he power plant will officia lly be launched next week.
“The launch of [the Hydropower Lower Sesan II power plant] is ver y important in promoting energ y securit y and making supply more stable,” he said.
The launch of the Sesan II will bring the tota l number of hydropower dams in Cambodia to seven.
However, Jona said although Cam- bodia is able to produce much of its own electricit y, it still needs to buy 15 per cent of its electric power from neighbouring countries.
“Ever y year, electricit y consumption in Cambodia increases bet ween 13 and 15 per cent.”
Jona said t he ministr y is current ly studying t he possibilit y of building many hydropower dams in the southwest and northeast quadrants of the Kingdom. But such construction will not be seen soon, as it re- quires detailed studies on t he env ironmental and socia l impact.
“The government’s strateg y is to find low-cost energ y sources to contribute to economic grow th and give a ll people and enterprises low-cost elect ricit y,” he said.
Currently, about 45 per cent of t he electricit y consumed in Cambodia is from hydroelectric sources, about 35 per cent from coal-fired power plants, about five per cent from petroleum, biomass energ y plants and solar power, while 15 per cent comes neighbouring countries.
During Prime Minister Hun Sen’s v isit to Laos last week, Cambodia signed to buy 230kV and 500kV of power from the Lao Hatch Station to Stung Treng station in Cambodia.
A ministr y report published late last year showed that based on a preliminar y assessment, Cambodia could potentia lly extract about 10,000 megawatts from hydropower dams.