Energy plan to focus on rural Cambodia

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2009041025333/Business/Energy-plan-to-focus-on-rural-Cambodia.html
Energy plan to focus on rural Cambodia
Written by Kay Kimsong
Friday, 10 April 2009

International partners look to national grid alternatives in bid to
bring energy to the countryside and boost business
THE Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, the World Bank and United
Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) are working
on a major initiative to boost rural renewable energy programs and
electrify rural areas, officials said this week.

The government hopes the project will help address chronic power
shortages that increase the cost of doing business in Cambodia and
make the country reliant on imported fossil fuels. The program is
funded by international grants to supply rural areas with solar
panels, biodigesters, mini-hydroplants and biogas generators.

"We are trying to use any domestic resource in [rural] communities to
produce energy or gas for cooking," said Victor Jona, deputy director
general of the ministry's General Department of Energy.

The absence of a nationwide power grid is leading policymakers to look
to decentralised power generation, such as small-scale electricity
production at the village level.

"If every family raises five or six cows, they will be able to produce
enough biogas to cook food," said Ith Praing, secretary of state for
the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy at a renewable energy
conference in Phnom Penh ending Tuesday.

The two-day workshop introduced new technologies for generating energy
from animal wastes and special stoves that use 20 percent less fuel
compared with normal stoves.


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We are trying to use any domestic resource in [rural] communities.

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Ith Praing said the project will allow the government to electrify up
to 70 percent of villages by 2030. Only 20 percent of villages have
access to electricity, he added.

Another issue is price - electricity costs about 600 riels (US$0.15)
per kilowatt-hour in urban areas, compared with 1,000 riels per unit
in rural areas.

Ith Praing said the policy would not only quicken the pace of
electrification, but would also help reduce the number of trees felled
for fuel.

"New technologies, such as one that allows farmers to convert animal
waste into electricity, would cost US$400 to $600, but could save
money in the long term," he said.

World Bank figures showed that 75 percent of diesel energy could be
replaced with biomass gasification. The program hopes to supply 12,000
solar power generators as well as 6,850 hydro generators.

The government said that only 35 percent of power is supplied outside
the capital.

Businesses and international organisations have identified electricity
shortage as a major impediment to commerce in Cambodia.

International Business Club Deputy Chairman John Brinsden told the
Post that a lack of access to cheap electricity is the No 1 complaint
for many companies in Cambodia.

The World Bank's most recent annual report on Cambodia released in
February said government efforts to electrify the country are still
falling short. "Supply amounts to some 350MW of installed generation
capacity, including 115MW of imported power," said the report.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY GEORGE MCLEOD
.

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