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Myanmar will announce winner of power plant tender in the next few weeks

Posted on : 14 Oct, 2016

 

Issued last July, the tender was the government’s first since taking office and attracted interest globally. But of the six consortiums that put in a bid, only three were in compliance with the governments regulations stated a government official. Applications have come from within Myanmar, China, other Asian countries as well as the US. 

 

Demand for electricity in Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar has grown at a tremendous pace from 1050 mw in 2015 to 1250 mw in 2016 according to Yangon Electricity Supply Board. The country has struggled with numerous breakdowns and hopes are for the planned power plant to alleviate the problem.

 

As demand for electricity increases exponentially in Myanmar, environmental groups are calling for a holistic systems approach to building out. Myanmar’s hydro power industry is attracting investors and donors from across the globe including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and China.

Systems-scale planning, can help encapsulate sustainability, environment, economic and social concerns into projects’ design, implementation and impact, said Jeff Opperman, lead scientist at The Nature Conservancy’s Great Rivers Program. The approach looks at and guides design and implementation of projects based on a system — such as river basins or lakes — and not as individual projects that are not well-coordinated and which can lead to inefficiencies, conflicts, degradation and missed opportunities.

Myanmar is perhaps the most endowed country in terms of hydropower potential in all of Southeast Asia with 10 river basins that can generate more than 100 gigawatts of power to light up and electrify millions of households all over the nation. Yet in reality, only about a third of Myanmar’s more than 50 million citizens have access to electricity, and only 16 percent of the rural population are connected to the grid.

 

To learn more about the challenges and potential facing Myanmar’s power industry in its efforts to escalate growth and join the 21^st century, attend CMT’s 4^th Myanamar Power Summit, Nov 17^th – 18^th 2016 in Yangon.

 

Click here for more details.