Kandal power plant ‘set for November’

A 400MW heavy fuel oil power facility in Kandal province’s eastern Lvea Em district will be fully operational in November, Ministry of Mines and Energy senior official Victor Jona said on Wednesday.

Breaking ground in October last year, the $380 million facility is comprised of two main plants and is located on 43ha in Koh Reah commune’s Koh Reah Krom village.

One plant will be powered by a 200MW generator from Helsinki-listed Wartsila Oyj Abp and built by China Gezhouba Group Corp subsidiary CGGC-UN Power Co Ltd.

The other plant will be fitted with a 200MW generator from Germany’s MAN Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of automotive giant Volkswagen AG, and developed by China National Heavy Machinery Corp.

A substation will a lso be built to connect t he faci lit y to t he nationa l grid v ia a 230kV high-voltage transmission line.

Jona, director-general of the ministry’s General Department of Energy, told The Post that construction of the facility is more than 90 per cent complete.

“We are in the process of building and testing the station before connecting it to the national grid. Our substation, however, is 100 per cent complete,” he said.

He said the facility would only generate electricity when demand is high and that the Kingdom would not face electricity shortages during the upcoming dry season.

“Today we have no shortage of electricity and our energy demands are steadily declining due to Covid-19,” Jona said.

Speaking at a seminar in June, Electricity Authority of Cambodia executive director Teng Sokomal said there is no significant increase in electricity demand this year as the pandemic had caused some garment factories and hospitality industries to suspend operations.

He forecast that demand for electricity this year will decline by 20 per cent, compared to an increase of around 30 per cent last year.

“Normally, year-on-year energy growth and demand are on the rise, but not this year as Covid-19 has whittled away at factories’ production capacities,” he said.

Jona has said the Kingdom needs an average of more than 2,000MW of electricity a year, but demand could drop to 1,800MW this year.