AN official from the Yangon City Electricity Supply Board (YESB) said early this month that round-the-clock electricity supplies in the city would likely end by the end of November.

“When the rainy season ends we lose a lot of our hydropower. But if we had enough natural gas supplies we could keep the power on 24 hours a day,” he said.

During the rainy season Yangon gets 200mw of electricity from a hydropower station in Lawpita in Kayah State and an additional 200mw from four gas-based power stations, which is enough for the city but not enough to power the outlying industrial zones.

According to the Ministry of Electric Power (2), 99 million cubic feet of onshore gas or 134mcf of offshore gas are needed for Yangon’s four gas-based power stations to run at their full capacity of more than 300mw. However, the current supplies of 59.46mcf are only enough to produce about 200mw.

In the meantime, Yangon’s total power needs have skyrocketed to 530mw this year, up from 430mw last year, resulting in difficulty providing 24-hour electricity supplies to the city even during the rainy season.

“Increasing demand from industrial zones and increasing use of electric appliances have contributed to supply shortages,” the YESB official said.
He said officials at the ministry were always busy trying to figure out ways to distribute available energy supplies to people in the city.

“We've divided the city into three areas but we have also developed 79 patterns of power distribution depending on the situation,” the official said.

He said he was optimistic about the future of electricity supplies in Myanmar.

“Right now about 19 percent of the country is on the national grid, with 60 percent of the electricity going to Yangon and 40pc going to the rest of the country. But projects are underway to build hydropower dams that will produce more than 21,000mw. So far we’re getting about 700mw from hydropower,” he said.

“The present problems with electricity will be solved by the end of 2009, we think,” the official said.