Demand for power up 15%: minister
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Yangon - The country’s demand for power has increased by 15 per cent annually due to the increasing number of factories and workshops and high population density, Khin Maung Soe, union minister for electric power says.
Between the 2011-12 financial year and 2014-15, the ministry built nine hydropower plants with an installed capacity of 626 megawatts and 10 gas-fired power plants with an installed capacity of 877 megawatts.
In addition, the installation of 1,350 miles of power lines and 1,454 sub-power stations have been completed.
According to the ministry, a total of 3.5 million households in 398 towns and 29,300 villages have access to electricity, according to the ministry. Nationwide power consumption has reached 11,400MW while per-capita power consumption per year is 222 kilowatt hours.
Power generation from hydropower projects and gas-fired power plants amounted to more than 3,000MW, according to the ministry.
An official from the ministry said: “Now we can generate more than 3,000MW from hydropower projects and gas-fired power plants. According to the installed capacity of hydropower projects, they can generate more than 4,000MW. All hydropower plants could not operate at their full capacity. We need further 500MW to fully supply demand.”
The national grid now distributes 33 per cent of total power supply. Plans are under way to increase the grid’s capacity to 50 per cent.
In the past few years, the country’s power demand has increased by 13-15 per cent per year. The ministry still needs to extend its power generation to rural areas.
