Royal Group to Study Coal-fired Power Plant Expansion in Sihanoukville

• 13 June 2019
• Local News
• 2281 Views

Photo by Ministry of Mine and Energy

In response to the increasing electricity demand across the country, the government has permitted local conglomerate Royal Group of Neak Oknha Kith Meng to study the feasibility of expanding a coal-fired power plant in Sihanoukville from the current 245 to 700-megawatts.

The decision was made on 12 June when representatives of the company met with the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) at the ministry’s office.

Speaking with Construction & Property Magazine via phone, MME’s spokesman H.E Victor Jona said that because of the increasing demand for electricity, the government decided to allow the company to study the feasibility to expand investment of two units each of 350 megawatts totaling 700 megawatts.

“Due to the changes in size [we] need to review and revise to get good price for electricity and good environment, and there is a need for large units that need high technology,” he said.

According to H.E Jona, the project is only a provisional permission and requires further study before the implementation to put it in the national grid in 2025 or 2026 for each unit.

“After the study is completed in 2020, the group will need to submit documents to the negotiating table about the long-term issues, the electricity costs, the transmission of energy due to the high voltage, many engineering studies, and the study of energy purchasing agreements in order to reach the investment stage,” he said.

Regarding the specific investment site, H.E Jona stated that he does not know yet and said that the company has to choose the location itself where it would be easy to transport coal and send electricity to National Road No.4 then to Phnom Penh.

However, H.E Jona said that the old location can no longer support the situation because the transmission line is beyond the ability to transport the increased power.

The project is under a 30-year concession through a BOO agreement plus a construction period of four to five years.

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