Cambodia’s National Solar Park supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will enable the country’s state-run national power utility Electricite du Cambodge (EDC) to charge local power consumers with the lowest tariff in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, said a release by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME).
MME’s release pointed out that the comparison of to-be-charged power utility tariff was made during a meeting held on Tuesday between MME’s Minister Keo Rattanak and Winfried F. Wicklein, ADB’s Director General for Southeast Asia, which was also attended by other senior officials of the government and ADB including Dith Tina, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), Hang Chuon Naron, Minister of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS), Thor Chetha, Minister of Water Resources and Meteorology (MOWRM) and ADB Country Director for Cambodia Jyotsana Varma.
“The solar power project is the most cost-efficient in the region and a good model for other countries,” said Wicklein. The top-level working lunch was also attended by senior officials from other government ministries-institutions such as the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and the Ministry of Environment (MoE) at Rosewood Hotel Phnom Penh.
The National Solar Park project that has been completed in phase 1 was estimated at $26.71 million including $7.64 million financed by ADB as loans, $11 million co-financed under the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF), $5.07 million financed by the government itself and $3 million by grant financing.
Phase I of the tender, for the first 60 MW, was organised in 2019 and awarded to the firm Prime Road Alternative. The process resulted in a record-low price for utility-scale, grid-connected solar PV in Southeast Asia, at $0.039 per kilowatt-hours (kWh). The remaining 40 MW was tendered in 2020 and awarded to Trina Solar Co. Ltd. This led to another record-low procurement price for the region at $0.026 per kWh.
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Author: Kang Sothear
Source: Khmer Times
October 12, 2023
