Cambodia Stops Licensing Coal-Fired Power Plant Development Projects

• 1 November 2021
• Local News
• 1730 Views

The Ministry of Mines and Energy has confirmed that new coal-fired power plant development projects will no longer be allowed as the government is committed to contributing to climate change mitigation.

The remarks were made by HE Suy Sem, Minister of Mines and Energy, in a meeting with HE Tina Redshaw, British Ambassador to Cambodia last week.

In the meeting, HE Suy Sem highlighted Cambodia’s key position in the energy sector related to global climate issues, including increasing renewable energy usage and other energy sources that are not harmful to the environment.

“[Government] will not approve new coal-fired power plant project besides projects approved in 2019. We will instead switch to low-carbon energy sources such as LNG or hydrogen instead,” he said.

He stressed that the Cambodian government also continues to encourage investment in clean energy and responds to climate change.

To date, Cambodia has a total of 600 mW of coal-fired power plants and some projects with a total capacity of more than 1,500 mW are under construction, including the two 700 mW power plants in Sihanoukville and Koh Kong provinces.

• Energy and Environment