Fuelling on dirty energy for economic growth
Cambodia’s construction and industry boom has forced it to move fast to meet energy demands, even if that scuppers climate mitigation efforts
EARLY Februar y this year, Cambodia approved two coal-fired power plants in Oddar Meanchey and Koh Kong provinces. The overall $1.7 billion project, including a transmission line, will generate 965MW of electricity by 2024.
With more in the pipeline amid industria lisation and elect rification, the ongoing plan has cast a pall on climate mitigation ef forts, forcing a counteractive situation in the Kingdom.
This is a step back for Cambodia, with regards to agreed conventions and protocols on climate change mitigation, said Swedish climatebased NGO Forum Syd.
“Nor is it a lig ned wit h t he Nationa l St rateg ic Pla n on Green Grow t h [2013-2030]. It could lead to demotivating development par t ners t hat i nvest a lot of resources i nto climate mit igat ion work,” it sa id.
Decades of greenhouse gas emissions from coal-powered plants have contributed to the downwardeffect on the globa l env ironment.
As a result, severa l developed nations, including China, have begun the process of decommissioning coalburning power plants, widely k nown as dirt y energ y.
In Southeast Asia, it is just t he opposite.
Driven by exceptiona l year-on-year gross domestic product (GDP) grow th and urbanisation caused by industria lisation, construction, and increased foreign investments, t he appetite for more energ y has been nothing but voracious.
Five years ago, Japanese firm Chugoku Electric Power Co Inc made a base case projection of 8.8 per cent compound annual grow th rate in electricit y demand until 2030 for Cambodia.
Energ y demand is forecast to rise to 7,700 Gigawatt per hour (GWh) by 2020 and to 18,000GW h by 2030 or a greater than t hreefold increase relative to demand in 2015.
“This translates to peak demand forecasts of 1,412MW in 2020 and 3,256MW in 2030 versus about 1,000MW in 2016.
“Of the current peak demand, some 70 per cent is used in Phnom Penh,” Chugoku’s data showed, as shared by Asian Development Bank (ADB) in its December 2018 Cambodia Energy Sector Assessment, Strategy and Road Map report.
Energ y demand in Southeast Asia makes up five per cent of t he globa l data, a figure t hat has been rising steadily, revea led t he Internationa l Energ y Agency’s 2019 outlook.
Electricity consumption growth in the region has been among the world’s fastest at six per cent per year since 2000, with demand largely met by an increase in coalfired power generation, followed by natural gas and hydropower.
In Cambodia, elect ricit y demand rose 18 per cent year-on-year bet ween 2010 and 2016, while power generation grew 19 per cent in t hat period.
Due to expected grow th in demand, a joint ministeria l report Cambodia Basic Energ y Plan in May 2019 recommended that the power generation mix should comprise
Selected energy policies in Southeast Asian countries
coal (35 per cent), hydro (55 per cent) and renewable energ y (10 per cent) in 2030.
The plan which addresses energ y securit y issues noted that Cambodia had high import dependency on coal, oil and electricit y imports.
Rise i n energ y demand wil l see a g row t h in ca rbon diox ide emissions f rom fossi l f uel combustion which ex pected to r ise to 5.6 per cent per yea r f rom 1.96 million tonnes of ca rbon i n 2015 to 8.62 mil lion tonnes in 2040 under t he business as usua l scena r io, t he pla n sa id.
This has raised concerns among climate campaigners and UN Secretar y-Genera l Antonio Guterres who warned Asia to stop its coal (power) addiction as its env ironmental impact is exacerbating climate change, which inev itably puts emerging economies like Cambodia at risk.
The fact i s, Cambodia is shor t of energ y supply, which is one of t he reasons for its low level of i ndust r ia l development, a point which was duly noted i n it s Climate Change St rateg ic Pla n (2014-2030).
Until 2012, Cambodia still relied on oil and diesel generators to produce 90 per cent of elect ricit y but a ll t hat has changed.
According to t he reg ulator Electricit y Authorit y of Cambodia’s 2018 annual report, power generation by independent power producers and consolidated licensees consist of hydropower (57.9 per cent), coal (37.4 per cent), diesel (3.7 per cent), biomass (0.8 per cent) and sola r (0.2 per cent).
It current ly imports about 25 per cent of its elect r icit y from neighbouring count ries to plug t he shortfa ll.
Cambodia’s measures a nd policies a re sound, fol lowing it s rat ificat ion of UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) a nd t he Paris Climate Change Agreement.
It implemented t he Climate Change St rateg ic Pla n (2014-2023) a nd drew up t he Nationa l Adaptat ion Pla n which ca l ls for low-ca rbon pla nning and technolog ies to support susta inable development.
In 2015, a document submitted to the UN showed Cambodia’s intention to bring down emissions in the energ y sector by 16 per cent by 2030 compared to t he baseline emissions of 11,600 Gigagrams carbon diox ide (CO2) equiva lent.
It planned to do t his through various ways including the connection of renewable energ y generation such as solar energ y, hydropower, biomass and biogas, as well as decentra lised renewable to t he grid.
Missing from the equation was coal power. When asked to comment on the new coal power addition, the Ministr y of Environment declined to comment.
However, ministr y spokesman Victor Jona said since the securit y of power supply is crit ica l, it needed to diversif y its sources.
“[But] emissions from coalfired power plants must meet t he ministr y’s standards,” he said.
The Kingdom’s greenhouse gas emissions are extremely low compared to regiona l and globa l averages. In 2000, it emitted 47.6 million tonnes of carbon diox ide (CO2) equiva lent. But t he forestr y