Cambodia raises electricity output for domestic consumption hinh anh 1Illustrative image (Photo: https://solarpower.vn/)

Phnom Penh (VNA) - The first phase of a 380 million USD HFO power plant in Kandal province’s Lvea Em district will begin operations in April and produce 100MW of electricity, said the Cambodian Ministry of Mines and Energy.

The ministry’s spokesman Victor Jona told The Phnom Penh Post on March 3 that an additional 300MW will be produced during the second quarter or the early third quarter of this year.

With this additional energy, Cambodia will not suffer power shortages like last year, he said.

The power plant will start operating as planned in April this year, while the full process could start in June or July, he said.

“The situation of electricity supply from now onwards is good because we have 85 percent of water supply for hydropower while in the same period last year we only had 30 percent,” he said.

Jona said the demand for electricity is growing at an average of 16-18 percent annually, except from 2018 to last year, which saw a 25 percent growth.

Currently, Cambodia can generate about 70-80 percent of total electricity consumption, the spokesman said.

The director-general of Electricité du Cambodge (EdC), Keo Ratanak, said previously that Cambodia is working to generate more than 1,000MW of new energy by the end of this year.

In September last year, the Cambodian government also reached an agreement to acquire 2,400MW of electricity – 600MW from Laos-based power plant from TSBP-sekong Power and Mineral Company Ltd and 1,800MW from the Xekong Thermal Power Plant Company Ltd./.
VNA