Cambodia Electricity Sector

Overview

The Kingdom of Cambodia, a member country of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), with an area of 181,035 square Kilometers, is situated in the Lower Mekong region. Its neighboring countries are Thailand in the West, Vietnam in the East and Laos in the North. In Cambodia 80.5% of population live in rural areas where the rate of electrification is low. The rural electrification strategy sets the goal: by year 2020 all villages have access to electricity of at least one of different forms, including access to mini-grid and off-grid electricity. Today however, only 20% of households have access to electricity, while the Phnom Penh capital zone, in particular, shares 80% or more of national total electricity consumption. Potential of hydropower1 in Cambodia is high (more than 10,000 Megawatts) and has more certainty of development compared to other energy resources like petroleum and gas whose development is in the initial stages at present.

Development of Electricity Sector

During the 1970s, the electricity sector in the Kingdom of Cambodia was seriously damaged due to the civil war from 1970 to 1979. During that time, there was only one transmission line in the Kingdom of Cambodia connecting the Kirirom I Hydropower Station to Phnom Penh capital town with a voltage rating of 115 kV and length of 120 km which ceased to

operate since 1973 when most electricity related facilities including generation, transmission and distribution facilities were nearly destroyed. Thanks to the effort of Cambodian government, the electricity sector was rehabilitated since 1995; till present however, there is no national electricity network yet and all electricity supply is based on 24 small isolated electricity systems. In Cambodia, Electricity sector is growing rapidly from 2003 to 2008 with average annual growth rate of 21.5% for electricity supply and 22.3% for electricity demand.

And according to the forecast prepared by the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy in 2007, the electricity capacity and demand projection in Cambodia in 2024 will be 3,045.33 MW (more than 8 times higher than 2009) and 16,244.61 GWh (nearly 8 times higher than 2009), respectively.

For the time however, electric energy production is still quite low to generate sufficient energy for consumers, and more than 80% of electricity supply is based on the power plants using heavy fuel & diesel oil and the energy imported from neighbors (Thailand and Vietnam), while only 3% is generated by using hydropower plants in Cambodia (See figure 02). In 1994 actually, the Royal Government of Cambodia formulated an electricity sector development policy which had four objectives below:

 Providing an adequate supply of electricity throughout Cambodia at reasonable and affordable price.

 Ensuring a reliable, secure electricity supply at prices, which facilitate investment in Cambodia and development of the national economy

 Encouraging exploration and environmentally and socially acceptable development of energy resources needed for supplying to all sectors of the Cambodian economy, and

 Promoting an efficient use of electric energy and minimizing detrimental environmental effects resulting from electricity supply and use.

Nonetheless, in order to meet the growing demand for electricity over the next 20 years, Cambodia needs to develop an adequate and reliable source of electricity while reducing its dependence upon imported fuel oil. With this regard, the priority will be hydropower, which is the major natural resources for power generation available in Cambodia, with potential of 10,000 MW or more. It is large enough compared with the next 13 years domestic electricity demand of around 3,045.33 MW in 2024 (see figure 03 to compare).

Thus, Cambodia will become a net energy exporter to neighboring countries instead of importer.

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