Electrical industry of burma/myanmar

Additional references
Project summary: Dawei seaport
See above: ‘Villagers petition against dam construction on Anyaphaya creek’ (IRROL: 15/03/12)

‘Residents protest Kawthaung coal-fired power plant’ (Mizzima: 05/03/12)

See below: ‘4000-megawatt power plant planned for Dawei deep-sea port’ (NLM: 03/11/10)

‘Thai company pursuing big hydropower project in Taninthayi’ (MT: 21/05/07)

William Boot, IRROL, 09/04,12. Condensed. http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/2209

Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding says it will decide by June on an alternative fuel for an electricity station at Dawei needed to power any development there. Ratchaburi which describes itself as Thailand’s biggest privately owned electricity company, in fact 45pc owned by the state through shares held by Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, or EGAT. Ratchaburi’s chief operating executive Peerawat Pumthong said the Dawei developers are now considering a power plant which would be only 10pc of the size of the original plan rejected by Burma’s ministry of energy on environmental grounds. However, industry analysts question whether a 400-megawatt power plant would be big enough to fuel a port development of the size envisaged by ITD. Peerawat gave no reason for the long delay in making a power plant investment decision on Dawei.

Reuters, 21/03/12. Excerpt. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/21/ratchaburiidUSL3E8EL4IE20120321

Thailand's Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Pcl has not abandoned plans to build a power plant in Dawei in Myanmar and will decide on the fuel type in two or three months, according to Chief Operating Officer Peerawat Pumthong . "We are still going ahead with the Dawei project. Right now, we are studying which type of investment and fuel would be used for building a power plant there." Ratchaburi is the largest private power producer in Thailand.

Daniel Ten Kate, Bloomberg, 29/02/12. Edited and condensed. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-01/myanmar-open-to-coal-fired-power-for-internal-use-ptt-says.html

Myanmar is open to using coal-fired power for a planned $8.6 billion industrial zone in Dawei as long as the electricity is used for domestic needs only, according to Pailin Chuchottaworn, chief executive officer of PTT Pcl, Thailand's state-owned energy company. PTT had planned to invest in a coal plant in Dawei that would export power to Thailand before Myanmar’s government scrapped the 4,000-megawatt project earlier this year, Pailin said. The plant was in original plans by Italian-Thai Development Pcl (ITD) for a deep-sea port and business park in the Indian Ocean town. Myanmar’s government is “against the idea of exporting coal-based power to Thailand but they will allow coal-based power for internal use,” Pailin said in an interview.

Reuters, 05/02/12. Edited and condensed.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/05/myanmar-dawei-idINDEE81403F20120205

Myanmar Energy Minister Than Htay told Reuters last week that the Kyaukphyu special economic zone (SEZ) projects would be developed more quickly than Italian-Thai’s Dawei Dawei Project. Kyaukphyu is where the China-Myanmar pipeline starts and a deep-sea port is nearly finished. "It is faster than the Dawei zone," he said of Kyaukphyu. "Now we are considering supplying the electricity at Kyaukphyu area." Securing a stable source of electricity has been at the heart of Dawei's problems since the government abruptly halted construction of a 4,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant in the area on January 10, citing environmental concerns. Somchet Thinaphong, managing director of Dawei Development Co Ltd, controlled by Italian-Thai, told Reuters on January 23 that its power plant partner, Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Pcl , would decide on a fuel type within three months, including the possible use of natural gas funnelled to the site via a 50 kms (31 mile) pipeline from fields within Myanmar. But Than Htay ruled out using natural gas to fuel Dawei. "Up to now the electric power supply for that project is not sure," he said of Dawei. In a country beset by chronic electrical outages, powering even a home can be difficult, let alone an industrial zone. Blackouts are common across the country, even at Yangon's international airport. That puts pressure on Ratchaburi, whose involvement is limited to a feasibility study as "a preliminary step", it said in a November 16 statement. Than Htay stressed other ministries would decide Dawei's future, not his. But he offered his personal view of what the government will do: "My guess is sell out, according to the contract made by the previous government." Italian-Thai , which signed a 60-year concession to develop Dawei 14 months ago, has brushed aside those comments. Somchet of Dawei Development Co insists the project will go ahead. "It's at the point of no return. They can say whatever they want but the final decision will depend on the special committee chaired by Myanmar's president," Somchet told Reuters on January 27. He has a powerful local partner. A quarter of Dawei Development is held by Max Myanmar Group, owned by Burmese tycoon Zaw Zaw, one of Myanmar's most influential businessmen.

Bangkok Post, 23/01/12. Edited and condensed.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/276355/dawei-developer-seeks-more-funding-partners

Italian Thai Development Plc (ITD), Thailand's largest construction company by market value, needs as much as US$8 billion (252 billion baht) over the next three years to develop infrastructure such as roads, railways, a port, a telecom network and utilities for its massive port and industrial complex in Dawei, on the southwestern coast of Myanmar, said Somchet Thinaphong, managing director of ITD’s Dawei Development Co (DDC). Local investor Max Myanmar has agreed to acquire 25% of DDC, which ITD had set up to manage the Dawei project. The Thai contractor has said it will maintain at least a 51% stake in DDC, while other partners are welcome. Apart from infrastructure, the Dawei Special Economic Zone will comprise an integrated steel mill, power plants, a petrochemical complex and a fertiliser plant. Separate entities will be set up to invest in each of these projects. As for Dawei's planned coal-fired power plants, which reportedly have been halted after an outcry over the project's environmental impact, Somchet insisted that the company has yet to be notified about the issue by Myanmar's government.

Myanmar Times, 16/01/12 (Issue 610). Edited and condensed. http://www.mmtimes.com/2012/business/610/biz61004.html

Italian-Thai Development, Thailand’s biggest construction company, may change the fuel supply for a power plant in a planned US$8.6 billion special economic zone in Myanmar after the government scrapped its original plan to use coal. The company has yet to receive a formal notice from Myanmar, after media reports last week said the government rejected plans for a 4000 megawatt coal-fired power plant, said Somchet Thinaphong, managing director of the Dawei Development Co, an Ital-Thai unit. The company’s agreement with Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding to build the plant remains unaffected, he said. The government’s decision “only means we have to renegotiate the source of fuel”, Somchet said in an interview in Bangkok on January 10. “With Ratchaburi, the intention was to use coal. If we change the source of supply, Ratchaburi has to sit down and recalculate.” Myanmar’s decision is “nothing dramatic”, Somchet said, adding that the company would explore using natural gas instead. He said it remained unclear how changing the fuel supply for the power plant would affect cost projections or deadlines for the Dawei development. PTT, Thailand’s biggest energy company, is studying whether to invest in a power plant in the Dawei project, chief executive officer Pailin Chuchottarworn told reporters in Bangkok on January 10. A gas-fired power plant may be problematic since no pipelines currently run near the project, he said. “We have to look for signs from the government there,” Pailin said.

Associated Press, 09/01/12. Edited and condensed.

http://www.burmanet.org/news/2012/01/09/associated-press-myanmar-cancels-planned-coal-power-plant/

The decision by the Myanmar government to cancel plans for construction of the 4000MW coal-fired power plant at the Dawei project, if confirmed, would have both economic and political significance. It follows by four months the cancellation of another major foreign investment power project, the Myitsone hydroelectric dam project on the Irrawaddy River in northern Myanmar undertaken by a Chinese company to export electricity to China. In both cases, the government apparently has been willing to risk antagonizing important foreign investors while currying support domestically. The decision to stop the Myitsone dam project, said to have been in response to domestic concern over adverse social and environmental consequences, was seen as an important indicator of the new military-backed but elected government’s progress toward democratic reforms. Khin Maung Soe’s comments were reported by the Eleven Media Group and confirmed by several reporters who attended the briefing, but have not otherwise been announced. Members of the Thai business community in Myanmar, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information, said they have not been informed of the decision, and the news circulated in Thailand after business hours. “This is the second major decision made by the new government in favor of people’s aspirations. We welcome and support the president for the bold decision,” said Lay Lwin, a member of the Dawei Development Association, an environmental group seeking to raise awareness of the ecological impact of the mega-project. Environmentalists in both Myanmar and Thailand expressed strong concern over the Dawei power plant, which was planned to be built near the country’s pristine Maungmagan beach on the Indian Ocean. Lay Lwin’s group sent an open letter to President Thein Sein in December calling for the government to stop the project because it could have disastrous environmental consequences.

Mizzima News, 09/01/12. Condensed.

http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/6379-coal-power-plant-in-dawei-cancelled.html

The No. 2 Electrical Power Ministry Minister Zaw Min said on Monday that a 4,000-megawatt coal-fired power plant project to built in the Dawei special economic zone in southern Burma will be cancelled. The minister made the announcement during a press conference at the Electric Power distribution centre in Ahlone, Rangoon Region on Monday. “In fact, we took this decision after reading articles in the media, and we decided to stop this mega-project which would generate a huge amount of power. But we are still considering whether we should continue a small power plant project of 400 megawatts or not,” the minister said. The 400-MW power plant project would generate power to be used in the preliminary projects to be built in the Dawei special economic zone. A senior official at the Yangon city electricity supply board told Agence France Presse the decision was made after "listening to the people's voice.” The director general of the Thai construction company's Dawei development arm said his group was not aware of the decision, AFP said, and environmental activists were "exaggerating" the risks of the plant.

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FIRST GENERATOR AT KYEE-OHN KYEE-WA DAM GOES INTO OPERATION

NLM, 15/01/12. Edited. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs12/NLM2012-01-15.pdf

During a visit by A&IM Myint Hlaing to the Kyee-ohn Kyee-wa multi-purpose dam project site in Pwintbyu township, he was briefed by D-G Kyaw Myint Hlaing of the Irrigation Dept on progress in completing the project. The first 37-megawatt generator at the dam is ready for operation and installation of the second generator is expected to be finished in February under the supervision of the Hydropower Generation Enterprise of EPM-1.
In response the A&I Minister Myint Hlaing said the project which was started in the time of the Tatmadaw government was now nearing completionthanks to the experts and technicians of A&I Ministry and the Ministry of Electric Power. Electricity to be generated from the project will be supplied to Rakhine State through the national power grid.
The first generator was then activated by D-G Kyaw Myint Hlaing of the Irrigation Department who pressed a button to start it operating.
The A&I Minister later presented a basket of fruits to the technicians of China Guangdong Company and inspected the turbines, generators, computer control room and the dam. The multi-purpose dam project started in 2002-2003 and will be completed in FY 2011-2012. The two 37-megawatt generators will generate 370 million kilowatt hours of electricity and irrigate 96000 acres of farmlands. [A photo of the main embankment of the dam is included in the print edition of NLM]
Compiler’s note: For information on plans to connect Rakhine State to the national electricity grid in central Myanmar, see some of the items in the additional references below. There is no evidence to indicate that this project, to be financed by India, is underway at the present time. This grid connection with Rakhine State is usually referred to as a means of getting electricity generated at the yet-to-be completed Thahtay hydropower project in Rakhine State to the national power grid.
Topographic map reference: Burma 1:250,000: Series U542, U.S. Army Map: NF 46-15: Myohaung

Kyee-ohn kyee-wa dam is near Wunlo village [20° 20' N, 94° 25' E], grid square reference: 11\7, 23\6

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/burma/txu-oclc-6924198-nf46-15.jpg
Additional references
Project data: Kyee-ohn Kyee-wa

See below: ‘Buywa and Upper Buywa power projects take shape’ (NLM: 18/12/07)

‘Sedoktara multi-purpose dam and power station opened’ (NLM: 30/12/04)

‘Kyee-ohn Kyee-wa multi-purpose dam on Mon creek underway’ (NLM: 01/0703)

NLM, 31/03/12. Edited and condensed. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs13/NLM2012-03-31.pdf

The official opening of Kyeeohn Kyeewa multi-purpose dam and hydropower plant took place in Pwintbyu township on 30/03/12 in the presence of a crowd of over 4,000. The newly-opened facility is located on Mone Creek near Wunlo Village 15 miles downstream from Mone Creek dam and five miles upstream from the Mezali diversion Weir in Pwintbyu township. Water stored in the two dams will irrigate 96,000 acres of farmland for monsoon paddy cultivation through the Mezali diversion weir system which is already operational. In addition, more than 74,000 acres of land can be irrigated for summer paddy cultivation and for regional greening. Kyeeohn Kyeewa dam is a zone dam type and can store 463,000 acre feet. Still water storage of the dam is 35,350 acre feet and area is 10,860 acres. It is 3280 feet long and 164 feet high. Construction of the dam whose conduit is of ogee type started in FY 2002- 2003 and was completed in FY 2011-2012. The hydropower plant at the dam has an installed capacity of 74 megawatts. It was formally opened by Union Ministers Myint Hlaing and Zaw Min. Vice-President Dr Sai Mauk Kham formally unveiled the signboard and pressed the button to put No.2 generator into operation. Hydropower Generation Enterprise MD Khin Maung Win reported on the volume of electricity generation and operational condition and Dr Sai Mauk presented baskets of fruits to the Chinese technicians who participated in the installation of the generating equipment. Myanmar now has 18 hydropower plants, the Tikyit coal-fired plant and 15 gas-fired plants in operation. Total installed capacity has reached 3,434 megawatts. Kunchaung hydropower project with installed capacity of 60 megawatts will soon go online. [Compiler’s note: At the official opening of the Shwegyin hydropower project in November 2011, it was announced that the total installed capacity of the generating plants supplying power to the national grid (including 17 hydropower plants, the Tikyit coal-fired power plant and 15 natural gas-powered plants) amounted to 3360 megawatts. The addition of the 74-MW Kyeeohn Kyeewa plant would bring the total installed capactity to 3,434 megawatts. For a discussion of these totals, please refer to

NLM, 16/01/12. Edited. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs12/NLM2012-01-16.pdf

A&IM Myint Hlaing inspects installation of a rotor in the turbine for the second 37-megawatt generator at the hydropower plant of Kyee-ohn Kyee-wa multi-purpose dam Project in Pwintbyu township on 15/01/12. The project includes installation of two 37-megawatt generators. The second generator will go into operation in March to generate electricity to the national grid and then to Rakhine State.

NLM, 20/09/11. Edited. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs12/NLM2011-09-20.pdf

At the session of the Amyotha Hluttaw (Nationalities Chamber) of the Union Parliament on 19/09/11, U Kyaw Kyaw of Rakhine State constituency-2 asked whether the ministry had plans to extend the national grid network to Rakhine State, given the developments relating to exploration for off-shore oil and gas and at Kyaukpyu. In his reply EPM-2 Khin Maung Soe said that a consortium led by Daewoo International had carried out the off-shore oil and natural gas exploration in Rakhine State and that companies from the Republic of Korea, Singapore, China and India had been carrying out off-shore oil and natural gas exploration and inland exploration near Sittway. If these companies found natural gas, there would be opportunities to produce electricity in Rakhine State. Presently, hydropower projects including Thahtaychaung, An, Laymyo and Saidin were being implemented in the state, and these projects would be able to generate sufficient power both for Rakhine State and for export to the national grid. There were plans to construct a network of 230-KV transmission lines and main sub-power stations. These included power supply from the Thahtaychaung hydropower station to Taungup, Mai, Kyaukpyu and An, and from Laymyo and Saidin hydropower stations to Kyauktaw, Sittway, MraukU, Minbya, Pauktaw, Myaypon, Kansauk, Ponnagyun, Buthidaung and Maungdaw and to transport the power surplus to the national grid. Plans to construct a natural gas-fired power station would be laid down only when the conditions required it.

NLM, 21/08/11. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs11/NLM2011-08-21.pdf

EPM-2 Khin Maung Soe holds discussions with a delegation led by Anil Mehra of the Power Grid Corp of India Ltd on the implementation of a project with the assistance of a loan from India.

Agreement signed during visit of General Than Shwe to India, 29/07/10.

http://www.burmanet.org/news/2010/07/29/mea-government-of-india-joint-statement-during-the-visit-of-chairman-state-peace-and-development-council-of-myanmar/

Myanmar expressed its appreciation for the line of credit of US$ 64 million by India for transmission lines to be provided executed through India’s M/s. PGCIL [Power Grid Corp of India Ltd].

Power Grid Corp of India Ltd, Annual Report of the Board of Directors: 09/09/09.

http://deadpresident.blogspot.com/2009/10/annual-report-power-grid-2008-2009.html

Powergrid has been identified as the implementing agency for a 230-kV transmission project in Myanmar to be funded by the Gov’t. of India through a soft loan. The project involves construction of a transmission network of 230-kV transmission lines approximately 300 miles long, 50 miles of 66-kV transmission lines besides construction of 3 nos. new 230/66/11-kV new substations, one no. 230-kV substation extension and one no. 66/1- kV new substation.

MT, 12/07/04. [Issue 224 of the Myanmar Times is no longer available on-line.]

A loan worth US$ 20 million from the China Guangdong New Technology (I&E) Zhuhai Corp will fund the purchase of machinery for the Kyee-ohn Kyee-wa hydro-power project. The loan agreement was signed at the Irrigation Department on July 7th. The department’s D-G, U Kyaw San Win, said the loan, repayable in seven years, would be used to buy turbines, switching equipment, sluice gates and other machinery from the corporation. U Kyaw San Win said the corporation would supply the machinery within three months and be responsible for its installation, which is expected to begin in November and take 20 months to complete. The ID has begun engineering work at the project site. Three turbines capable of producing 60 MW will be installed. The director of the procurement branch of the dept, U Myo Nyunt, said China Guangdong New Technology was one of four companies which tendered to supply the machinery. He said 15 international companies were invited to tender for the project: six each from China and Japan and one each from India, Germany and South Korea.

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POWER RATES TO DOUBLE IN BID TO CUT BUDGET DEFICIT

Win Ko Ko Latt, Myanmar Times, 19/12/11 (Issue 606). Edited and abridged.

http://www.mmtimes.com/2011/news/606/news3160602.html
Electricity prices are set to double from January 1, 2012 for both homes and businesses as part of the Union Government’s attempts to reduce its massive budget deficit, an official said last week. The price of a unit, or one kilowatt hour, of electricity will increase from K25 to K50 for households and from K50 to K100 for businesses, Deputy Minister for EPM-2 Aung Than Oo told journalists in Nay Pyi Taw on December 10.
The increases will allow the government to invest more in the country’s electricity infrastructure, he said. “Although we plan to raise … unit prices it won’t be enough for us to make a profit. It may just cover the ministry’s costs,” he said. “Currently we lose about K30 a unit and this [fiscal] year we expect to lose K250 billion (about US$300 million), even while many towns and villages are going without electricity.”
U Aung Than Oo said Myanmar’s electricity prices were the lowest among 15 Asian countries. After the increases come into effect, only India and Bangladesh will have lower prices for state electricity than Myanmar. However, many areas of the country that are not served by the national grid pay much higher prices ­– usually about K500 a unit – for electricity supplied by diesel-powered generators.
The deputy minister said the price increase would allow the government to invest more in infrastructure, bringing more homes and businesses onto the national grid and improving supply to existing customers.

The state supplies electricity to just 220 of 396 towns and 7000 of 64,000 villages, representing only 26 percent of all households, according to ministry figures.

“In the most recent Hluttaw session, many representatives asked about provision of electricity. However, we can’t implement their suggestions because of budget constraints. Every year we are losing money,” he said. “We believe that if we raise electricity charges, it will allow us to invest more. “The ministry needs an adequate budget to supply to areas off the national grid. We cannot expand supply if we are just going to make losses every year.”
In a policy change from the previous government, President U Thein Sein has instructed unprofitable departments to find ways to reduce their losses, as the funds used to plug budget holes will in future be redirected to public services, such as health and education. Under the State Peace and Development Council, budget deficits were a recurring problem, with the difference covered by the inflationary practice of borrowing from the Central Bank of Myanmar.
Economist U Khin Mg Nyo said there were three techniques for departments to balance their books: raising prices, reducing costs and in particular waste, and stopping production of unpopular products. “I don’t want to comment specifically on the electricity price increase except that it needs to be accompanied by an improvement in service. I am sure that people will be satisfied if services are good after raising charges,” said U Khin Mg Nyo.
U Aung Than Oo said that many loss-making factories and the fuel supply industry had already been privatised and it was likely that the electric power sector would be privatised in the future. However, he did not say which parts of the sector would be privatised first or when the privatisation would begin. “We will only privatise the [electric power sector] if it is beneficial for the people,” he said.