Burma has enough energy potential in its four main rivers to power
Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia combined. Instead of struggling with
blackouts, candles and noisy diesel generators, the country could be
illuminated with mains electricity from end-to-end.
Hydroelectric systems could harness the rivers to provide a power
generating capacity of
100,000 megawatts (MW), says the Asian
Development Bank (ADB). At present, Burma struggles with around 3,000 MW
and three quarters of the country has no access to electricity.
Burma also has huge natural gas resources, an estimated 465 million
metric tons of coal and considerable geothermal potential—tapping into
the energy in underground hot water reservoirs and hot rocks.
But accessing these rich sources of energy to power the country’s
economic revival will require major foreign investment, said a new ADB
study called “Energy Sector Initial Assessment.”
Despite enormous potential, only 750 MW of river-harnessing
electricity generating capacity is in operation in Burma as part of a
national total of around 3,000 MW—a mere 10 percent of the capacity in
neighboring Thailand.
Perhaps Burma’s least known natural energy resource is geothermal, said the ADB study.
“Geothermal energy is abundant, with considerable potential for
commercial development. Ninety-three geothermal locations have been
identified throughout the country,” it said.
Some geothermal sites are currently being assessed and tested with
the assistance of Japan’s Electric Power Development Company, the US’s
Union Oil Company and Caithness Resources.
More than 200 locations for hydrodam projects have been identified
but only a few are under construction or being seriously assessed.
Only one-in-four Burmese has access to mains grid power and even the
main city of Rangoon often has no more than six hours of electricity per
day.
“Clearly, strengthening [Burma’s] energy sector is critical to
reducing poverty and enhancing the medium and long-term development
prospects of the country,” says the ADB study. “Electrification is an
urgent requirement, without which whole areas of the country will be
severely hampered in their efforts to advance economically.
“Social progress also depends on electrification, without which
health, education and other essential services inevitably suffer.”
The ADB stresses, however, that in spite of this urgency “issues of
sustainability and protection of the environment must be considered
simultaneously.”
Work on the country’s biggest hydroelectric dam, a 6,000 MW project
being built by Chinese companies at Myitsone on the Irrawaddy River, has
been suspended because of environmental concerns. Plans by Thai
developers for a 4,000 MW coal-fired power plant in southeast Burma
adjoining Dawei were canceled by the government, reportedly also on
environmental grounds.
“In the short term coal might offer the fastest means of increasing
electricity capacity in [Burma] although it is the least clean,”
independent regional energy industries analyst Collin Reynolds told The Irrawaddy.
“Without some changes in contracts most of the offshore natural gas
being produced or soon to be tapped is scheduled for export. The lead
time for new gas field development is several years and building
hydroelectric systems of size can be slow.”
The US-based International Rivers says large hydrodams cause major
environmental, social and economic damage way beyond their immediate
vicinity. The environmental NGO is currently campaigning against a large
hydroelectric project at Xayaburi in Laos on the Mekong River on
grounds that there have been inadequate environmental assessments.
Objectors say the dam would undermine fishing stocks, food supplies
and livelihoods for tens of thousands of people downstream in Cambodia
and Vietnam.
International financial supporters of hydrodams in Laos include the
ADB. The bank recently reopened an office in Rangoon after an absence of
years although it has not yet resumed any lending to Burma pending
settlement of outstanding debts.
“Burma’s largely rural population … relies heavily on rivers for
their livelihoods and culture, which are now threatened by dam
development,” said International Rivers. “Burma’s laws allow for no
public participation in decision-making and effectively offer no access
to justice.
“If built, dams on the ecologically rich Salween River, for example,
will fragment the longest free-flowing river in mainland Southeast Asia.
The Myitsone Dam in Kachin State will flood areas of pristine
rainforest,” the NGO said.
But clearly some action is needed to power Burma’s regeneration. The
country’s current per capita consumption is not only the lowest among
the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which
Burma is a member, but also the lowest in Asia along with Nepal,
according to the ADB.
“[Burma] is an extreme example of energy poverty,” said the bank.
One possibility is to build mini hydroelectric systems on smaller
rivers, said the ADB, which could provide electricity to local
communities especially in northern areas of the country.
However, it is not only more electricity that Burma needs to fuel an
economic revival. The country’s power distribution network, limited as
it is mostly to a corridor between Rangoon and Mandalay, is in urgent
need of repair and refurbishment, the ADB study said.
It recommends the construction of a new 500 kilovolts power
transmission line on the corridor, along with an “integrated,
comprehensive plan for hydropower development and the rehabilitation and
upgrading of coal and gas-fired generation plants, refineries and
natural gas pipelines.
“Development has been hampered by limited capital, a lack of
qualified personnel, poor legal and regulatory frameworks, and a lack of
coordination and planning among seven energy-related ministries,” it
said.
Rangoon alone needs an estimated US $237 million for infrastructure
refurbishment and expansion work for the 2013-2016 period. Yet it
remains unclear where the capital for these major works will come from.
source: Irrawaddy
http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/20552
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