Compared to ASEAN countries, Myanmar is still a country with the low percentage of population accessing reliable and affordable grid electricity, even in many places throughout the country electricity is unstable. Facing the urgent demand, the country’s Government has actively called for investment into electricity energy projects from the international investors. This may be the opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises to research the possibility of participating in bidding packages, as well as investing in power development.
Myanmar's power capacity has been raised from about 3,896 MW in 2012 up to about 6,034 MW (as of May 2020). In which, it's power source is mainly from hydropower, accounting for about 54% of the country's power output, while the fossil fuel power accounts for about 41.3%, the rest of power output is produced from coal, oil and solar energy.
Hydropower is still the cheapest source of power generation with the production cost per unit about 12 MMK at state-owned hydropower plants, and private hydropower plants of 72 MMK (1,230 VND). Meanwhile, the cost of power generation by gas is about 150 - 190 MMK (2,560-3,246 VND), the cost of solar power is about 195 MMK (3,331 VND).
According to the World Bank's forecast, Myanmar's electricity demand will be around 8,600 MW by 2025 and 12,600 MW by 2030. Myanmar’s Government also set a target to double electricity output in the next 10 years. In order to meet the forecasted domestic electricity demand as well as to serve production, industrialization, modernization and electrification for the rural area, creating an attraction for foreign investment into Myanmar, the country’s Government called for investments in many power plants across the country.
Currently, out of 129 projects are under executed or called for investment (key projects) by Myanmar Project Bank, 27 projects are related to development of power plants and transmission systems with the total investment of about 6.1 billion USD with the total capacity of 2,772 MW (excluding the Myitsone hydropower project).
The Government has also invited bids for construction of many solar power plants with a capacity of 1,060 MW. Myanmar's power generation and transmission projects are funded by state’s budget source, loans for aid, private cooperation, and foreign investment. In order to assist Myanmar to achieve the goal of all people access grid electricity, a credit of US $350 million was approved by the World Bank. To achieve this goal, it is expected that Myanmar has to double its capacity in the next 5-7 years.
In long term, if the drawback of power supply is overcome, Myanmar can become the most investment attractive country in the region, deeply participating in the regional and global supply chains. Myanmar Government has been actively inviting investors for electric power projects, with domestic and investment experiences in some regional countries, Vietnamese enterprises can also participate in the power sector of Myanmar.
*Source: nangluongvietnam.vn