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Parrothead

Helping others who are doing without.

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andy

Didn't know there was so many projects going on here.

 

New solar and wind power project unveiled

December 26, 2017

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Officials from the Ministry of Mines and Energy have announced a new project that will provide a boost to the local renewable energy sector by electrifying three key provinces with the use of small-scale solar and wind power devices.

The provinces of Pursat, Kandal and Mondulkiri will benefit from a new project that will further the government’s goal to provide access to electricity to every village in the country by the year 2020.

Victor Jona, the director-general of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, said the project is now in the preliminary stages. The first feasibility study was recently finished with positive results.

“We want to help people in remote areas gain access to electricity,” Mr Jona said, who also explained that, under the new project, households in the selected provinces will be equipped with small-sized solar panels and wind turbines.

Each solar panel and wind turbine will cost about $200 and can generate up to 60 watts per household, said Mr Jona, who added that the government will help farmers purchase the devices by subsidising half their cost.

“During the first study, it was shown that the project is feasible,” Mr Jona said. “Now we are moving on to phase two, which involves seeking funding from government and other developing partners to implement the project.”

Mr Jona said that 28 megawatts were generated nationwide from home solar electric systems and commercial solar plants in 2017, while only 300 watts were produced through wind turbines.

While more studies need to be conducted on using wind energy for commercial purposes, small wind turbines used in residential applications show as much potential as solar power, Mr Jona said.

In August, a $12.5-million, 10-megawatt solar farm in Svey Rieng province’s Bavet city – the country’s first solar power plant – came into service, selling energy to the national grid under a 20-year power purchase agreement.

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$400m solar project launched 

Global Purify Power (GPP), a joint venture behind $400 million worth of solar powered  projects, started groundbreaking work on Friday with more than $10 million worth of investment in Kampong Speu province.

It will be the first step for producing about 15 megawatts to supply the industrial zone.

The GPP is a joint venture involving Cambodian, Thai and Laos investors, and has had a licence from the government to produce solar power since December 2015.

The company plans to invest $400 million in solar projects to produce 225 megawatts or more for businesses, factories and other industrial zones in Kampong Speu, Kampong Chhnang and Takeo provinces.

Director-general of the Energy Ministry’s general department of energy Victor Jona, who presided over the groundbreaking ceremony, said on Friday that the company had just started its first investment, in Kampong Speu, since getting the licence.

“We support the project, especially as it complies with the government policy of using renewable energy such as solar power to supply in our country,” he said.

“Today [Friday] is the start of the company’s pilot project to construct a 15 megawatt solar power plant to supply clients at an industrial zone in Kampong Speu province.”

GPP is the second project of a solar power farm in Cambodia after the first one was launched recently in Svay Rieng province with 10 megawatts invested by Sunseap Asset (Cambodia), the local subsidiary of Singapore-based Sunseap International.

Sunseap invested $12.5 million into the project and plans to sell the power to Electricite du Cambodge (EDC) to supply to the national grid.

“In 2016, the Ministry of Mines and Energy, together with Electricite du Cambodge, had bid for a 10 megawatt project, which is being launched in Svay Rieng,” he said.

According to the Economic Research Institute for Asean and East Asia, in 2013 only 34 percent of Cambodian households had access to electricity, which is one of the lowest electrification rates in Asean.

The current cost of electricity is high, ranging from $0.15 per kilowatt hour in Phnom Penh to $1 per kilowatt hour in rural areas. Due to the high cost of electricity in rural areas, there is an opportunity for solar home-based systems.

However, Mr Jona, said that GPP would have difficulties with their investment because they would have to find customers themselves to supply other businesses, factories and industrial zones while the state-owned EDC already covered 70 percent of the power supply nationwide.

“GPP cannot sell to EDC because it already has contracts to buy electricity from hydro power and coal-powered plants,” he said.

The government has set a target for power coverage across the country. By 2020 the aim is to have power to all 14,168 villages in Cambodia.

As of the end of June, the government provided power to 79 percent of the villages, according to Mr Jona.

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Any news on these projects?

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andy

Small project in the city. What is holding the people who seem to afford the smaller projects seems to be the lack of selling back to the grid. Also the country's commitment and policy to hydro.

 

Solar power takes the spotlight

 

In a bid to further electrify the country and reach households in remote areas, Cambodia is encouraging local and international companies to undertake projects in the country’s fledgling sustainable energy sector, but a lack of options to sell excess energy to the national grid is keeping many projects from taking off.

A host of companies is showing interest in starting green energy projects in Cambodia and have been granted permission to do feasibility studies for solar power plants, said Ith Praing, secretary of state of the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME).

However, Mr Praing continued, those preliminary studies have so far failed to materialise in any sizeable investment.

Cambodia has immense potential when it comes to solar energy given the long hours of sunlight the country enjoys every day, Mr Praing explained during a regional conference on Energy Security in CLMV Countries that took place yesterday in Phnom Penh.

“Many companies have asked to conduct feasibility studies on solar energy development, and we have allowed some of those studies while we study how to connect projects to the national grid,” Mr Praing said.

“However, none of those studies have turned up positive results,” Mr Praing said, explaining that the country still lacks a feed-in tariff or not metering system that credit companies who add electricity to the grid from their solar panels.

A 10-megawatt solar power plant came online last August in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet city, the country’s first significantly-sized solar power project in the country.

A feasibility study for a new 100-megawatt project is now being carried out and will be finished by the end of 2017, Mr Praing said, adding that the project is run by the Asian Development Bank, Electricité Du Cambodge (EDC), and the Ministry of Mines and Energy, although he failed to disclose where the project will be located.

If preliminary studies yield satisfactory results, private companies will be invited to bid for the project, he added.

Han Phoumin, energy economist at the Economic Research Institute for Asean and East Asia (ERIA), urged the government to put in place a system that allows companies to sell the energy they produce to EDC, the only electric utility in Cambodia.

“It is important that the ministry allows companies to develop mini-grids like in Bavet for their own consumption,” Mr Phoumin said.

“Mini-grids can be connected to the national grid because solar energy is intermittent. When they generate power at a surplus, they need to be able to sell that electricity back to the grid.”

According to the Rural Electrification Development Program, the government’s goal is to have all villages in Cambodia electrified by the year 2020, and at least 70 percent of households nationwide connected to the grid by the year 2030.

According to MME, already 80 and 70 percent of each goal has been achieved respectively.

Total energy consumption in the kingdom now amounts to 2,000 megawatts per year, 60 percent of which is generated from the country’s six hydropower dams, while 20 percent is imported – 15 percent from Vietnam, 4.5 percent from Thailand, and 0.5 percent from Laos. The rest of the energy comes from biomass and coal-fired plants.

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dicey eye

Does the rainy season put the damper on viable solar power? 5 or 6 months with much rain and clouds must have an impact. No sun = no power, right?

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Parrothead
On 8/9/2018 at 8:23 AM, dicey eye said:

Does the rainy season put the damper on viable solar power? 5 or 6 months with much rain and clouds must have an impact. No sun = no power, right?

 

True, no sun, no power. But, when you design a solar array for a home, business, etc., you calculate for days of autonomy, or days without sun. Typically, most systems are designed for 3 days of autonomy. When I designed our first solar array, I designed it for up to 7 days of autonomy. Cost is considerably more, though, in doing so. 

 

Now, although batteries are still around $1.35 per AH, solar panels have dropped to as low as $.64¢ USD / watt. So, slowly but surely, systems are getting cheaper. 

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dicey eye
4 minutes ago, Parrothead said:

So, slowly but surely, systems are getting cheaper. 

Lucidly put.

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Parrothead

@dicey eye, nowadays, for less than several hundred dollars, you can set up a grid-tied system that will pump power back into the grid for you. It will not provide power for you when the grid is down. BUT, it will considerably reduce your power costs, which will save you money over time. If you design the system to generate just under your typical power consumption, you would end up with a very low power bill each month, indefinitely.

 

7 minutes ago, dicey eye said:

Lucidly put.

 

While batteries are still a bit costly, panels use to cost quite a bit more than they do today. I recall my first solar panel costing around $10 USD per watt. I could only afford one, back then. 

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Parrothead

Do an internet search on "Swanson Law" or "Swanson Effect". It may surprise you. 

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andy

you may like this -

 

Leading solar firm to increase investment in Cambodia

 

September 14, 2018 Khmer Times

 

With one of the world’s highest average peak sun hours, Cambodia is an attractive market for any company operating in the thriving global solar industry. Indeed, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of photovoltaic (PV) panels, is now seeking to increase its presence in the country.

 

https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50533304/leading-solar-firm-to-increase-investment-in-cambodia/

 

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Parrothead
18 hours ago, andy said:

Leading solar firm to increase investment in Cambodia

 

Okay. I get the whole "coal" thing. But, what the hell is wrong with hydroelectric power? The following quote is from the article you linked to, Andy:

 

Quote

He said that the country is now too dependent on coal and hydroelectric energy,

 

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andy

 Thinking of power! It does not work, we have just had a power cut of around one hour.

 

Government happy for Chinese dominance of Cambodia energy sector to continue

 January 15, 2017

 

When Vietnamese forces liberated Cambodia from the genocidal reign of Pol Pot in 1979 they found the country devoid of necessary infrastructure. Roads, bridges, water and sanitation services, and power generation and distribution networks had all but been totally destroyed. While some progress was made on restoring these services in the wake of the Khmer Rouge, it wasn’t until 1999 that real progress began, at least according to Cambodia Minister of Mines and Energy, Suy Sem.

In an interview with Xinhuanet, Mr Suy said 1999 and the declaration of the ‘win-win strategy’ by Prime Minister Hun Sen and the end to internal conflict marked a new era in the Cambodia energy sector. “Chinese investment in developing the sources of electrical energy is like the building of a new history for Cambodia”, Mr Suy said.

China is the largest investor in the Cambodia energy sector, ‘assisting’ Cambodia in the construction of six hydro-power dams since 2000 at a cost of some US$2.4 billion. It is also the dominant partner in the 70 per cent complete 400 megawatt (MW) Lower Sesan 2 hydro-power plant being constructed at a cost of $816 million due to come online in 2019.

Noting that over the past 14 years China’s contribution the Cambodia energy sector has increased 11 times – from 180 gigawatts (GW) in 2002 to 1,986GW in 2015 – Mr Suy said this has enabled electrification to 72 per cent of the kingdom’s villages. By 2020, he said, it is planned that every Cambodia village will have access to electricity.


https://aecnewstoday.com/2017/government-happy-for-chinese-dominance-of-cambodia-energy-sector-to-continue/#axzz5RMj7FI8E

Major Energy Challenges

  • high electricity prices - dependent on imported fossil fuels
  • low energy access
  • great dependence on traditional biomass for cooking
  • rising demand, persisting shortages
  • inefficiency in old generating equipment
  • in-competitive market structure
  • lacking marketable RE technologies/business models
  • RE usage negligible in energy mix
  • lacking financing, legal framework, policies and incentives for energy efficiency and renewable energy investment
  • lacking institutional and educational capacities
  • lacking public awareness for energy efficiency and renewable energies

 

https://energypedia.info/wiki/Cambodia_Energy_Situation

 

China completely finances nearly all of Cambodia’s hydropower projects

 

According to Suy Sem, minister of Cambodia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), with the exception of the US$781 million 400-MW Lower Sesan 2 project on the Se San River in northeastern Cambodia, Chinese companies have provided 100% of the financing for all hydropower projects in Cambodia.

According to Xinhua, Sem made the comments Oct. 10 at the World Energy Congress in Istanbul, Turkey.

The estimated cost for the plants is about $2.4 billion dollars and is also part of Sino-Cambodian cooperation in the energy sector under the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, he said.

Sem said six hydropower projects have been built in Cambodia and construction of the seventh, the Lower Sesan 2, is 70% complete.

The Lower Sesan 2, expected to be commissioned in 2017, is a joint venture between Chinese, Cambodian and Vietnamese companies. Chinese firm Lancang Hydropower International Energy holds 51% ownership, Cambodia’s Royal Group owns 39% and Vietnam’s EVN International owns 10%.

 

https://www.hydroworld.com/articles/2016/10/china-completely-finances-nearly-all-of-cambodia-s-hydropower-projects.html

 

 

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      I am glad I changed the setting on the controller to lead acid (flooded) batteries. (There are three settings, depending upon which type of battery you will be using for the array.) The installer didn't even bother to check it to make sure it was on the appropriate setting, when he connected it! 
       
      To top it all off, they didn't finish the install until that evening - long AFTER sun down. Soooo, we couldn't even check to see how well the panels were performing until the next morning. 
       
      So, folks, if you are looking for a solar array to be built on your property, definitely, do NOT EVER use Khmer Solar. I cannot believe a professional business could be so shotty. But, they are. 
       
      As far as I am concerned, the next install / upgrade we do concerning the solar array, will be done entirely by me and Chan's family. An extra $110 USD would buy us a lot of beer for the after install party.
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