IT will likely be several more months before the government signs
a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Japanese organisation
for the construction of a US$7-million rice husk electricity plant,
an official with the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation said.
The power plant planned for Dadaye in Ayeyarwady Division will
be the biggest of its kind in Myanmar and is aimed at cutting
long-term costs for rice millers in the area.
A target for starting the three-year construction project lapsed
in January.
“The Japanese side wants to sign the MoU as soon as possible,”
said the ministry official. He added that the government was currently
reprocessing financial data in preparation for the signing.
The Japanese government is providing the rice-husk power plant
at a cost thought to be over US$6 million. Installation will be
carried out by the Japan government’s alternative energy
research arm, the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development
Organisation.
The Myanmar government is to loan the Myanmar Rice Millers Association
(MRMA) $780,000 to cover construction costs at the six-acre site
70 kilometres from Yangon.
The association aims to make this money back once the plant
is running by selling electricity to 13 rice mills and one ice
factory in the area, MRMA joint secretary general U Win Aye Pe
told The Myanmar Times.
The plant will produce a total of 1500 kilowatts per day through
consumption of three tonnes of rice husks and will be able to
distribute 1000kw to millers. A third of the plant’s output
is required to keep it running.
Once completed – likely in early 2011 – the power
plant will be operated by a committee comprising local authorities
and representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation
and the Ministry of Electric Power 2.
“We will provide training to workers employed at the rice
husk power plant and send some overseas (for advanced training),”
the agriculture ministry official said.
The official also noted that the growing number of smaller rice
husk electricity generators being set up in Myanmar – particularly
in Yangon Division and Mon State – was beginning to drive
up the price of rice husks.
