Myanmar will complete the first phase of its sweeping National Electrification Plan (NEP) by 2021, according to the public Electricity Supply Enterprise (ESE). It will be the first step towards the government’s goal of total nationwide electrification by 2030.
ESE managing director U Saw Win Maung told the Myanmar Times that by the end of next year, 5000 new villages will have been connected to the national grid. Eight hundred villages have already been connected by private contractors since the government awarded its first round of NEP tenders.
Currently, only around 60 percent of Myanmar households have access to the national power grid. When the National League for Democracy took power in 2015, it promised total electrification by 2030. That will require upping Myanmar’s generating capacity fourfold to around 25 megawatts per year. Hydropower, which accounts for more than half of Myanmar’s power, will continue to be a major source of energy. However liquid natural gas (LNG) will also play a significant role, especially in the short term. The government has recently awarded emergency tenders to foreign LNG suppliers in an effort to fill demand for power in the coming dry season.
Development of the NEP has been mired in politics and has actually been influenced by several “master plans” from organizations like the Asia Development Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency. It will require an estimated USD 30 billion in investment, USD 400 million of which has already come from an interest-free loan by the World Bank.
