REGULAR electricity supplies later this year will depend on adequate
water in the dams and reservoirs supplying 11 hydropower stations
which generate 48 percent of Myanmar’s total output, officials
from the Ministry of Electric Power (2) said last week.
A regular supply of power was likely by mid-June, subject to
the early arrival of the monsoon, the officials said.
“One of the reasons why more electricity was supplied
in May than April was due to heavy rain in the first week of May,”
said U Aung Khine, the chief engineer of the Yangon Electricity
Supply Board, under the ministry.
“Last year, YESB managed to provide 24-hour electricity
throughout the country from July 9 to December. This year, we
will be able to provide 24-hour electricity no later than July
9,” U Aung Khine told The Myanmar Times.
As well as the 11 hydropower stations, Myanmar’s electricity
supply is provided by nine natural gas turbines and five thermal
power plants.
A statement released by the ministry on May 23 said the country’s
total production capacity is 1542 megawatts (MW) but the amount
being generated was 782MW.
The hydropower stations have a combined output of 738 MW but
have been operating at 58.8 percent of capacity because of low
water levels in the dams or reservoirs, the statement said.
During the summer season, only the Lawpita hydropower station,
at the Moe Bwe dam in Kayah State, was able to operate at full
capacity, the statement said.
It said the nine natural gas turbines, which have a combined
capacity of 450MW, were operating at 42pc of capacity.
To operate at capacity, the turbines need 206 million cubic
feet a day but are receiving just under 102 million cubic feet
a day on average, it said.
The five thermal power plants have a combined output of 285MW
but are operating at 38pc of capacity, the statement said.
Demand for electricity in Yangon is 530MW, of which 410MW is
for public consumption and 120MW for industrial zones, said Lieutenant
Colonel Maung Maung Latt, the secretary of the YESB.
The 11 hydropower stations and a coal-fired thermal power plant
are operated by the Ministry of Electric Power (1), which is responsible
for supplying the national grid. The natural gas turbines and
the remaining thermal plants are under the Ministry of Electric
Power (2), which is responsible for transmission.
Just under 50pc of supply is distributed in Yangon Division, 3.1pc
is for Nay Pyi Taw and the balance goes to the rest of the country.
