Gov’t Meets With Landlords to Discuss New Electricity Scheme

BY SEK ODOM | JANUARY 20, 2015

Less than a week after Prime Minister Hun Sen announced plans to reduce the price that migrant workers in Phnom Penh pay for electricity, the municipality hosted 12 public forums Monday to discuss a new payment scheme to be overseen by state operator Electricite du Cambodge (EdC).

In an effort to prevent landlords from profiting off the resale of electricity to their tenants, the government plans to outfit tens of thousands of rented rooms in the city with its own electricity meters, with renters paying between 610 and 820 riel ($0.15 to $0.20) per kWh directly to the EdC.

Landlords currently install their own meters and are allowed to set their own rates—often well above what they are charged by the electricity firm—for the electricity being used in their buildings.

At a public meeting with more than 200 building owners in Sen Sok district, Im Sophan, the head of EdC in the district, said the new meters will be installed throughout the city in the coming months.

“We are waiting for the meters to arrive from Thailand. There are 30,000 to 40,000 meters that will arrive in about two months,” he said.

A number of landlords at the meeting said the plan was flawed, as neither building owners nor tenants could afford to foot the bill for the new equipment.

Than Phearom, 36, a landlord in Phnom Penh Thmei commune, said workers would not be able to pay the security deposit of about $7.50 that the EdC would require from tenants.

“How will the worker deposit 30,000 riel to the EdC when they can barely buy rice for only 1,000 riel a day?” Mr. Phearom asked.

At another meeting in Russei Keo district between EdC representatives and more than 400 property owners, landlords also aired their objections.

“The EdC should not change anything,” said Sok Ny, an apartment building owner. “I will only take a little bit, not the same as in the past.”

....read more: https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-meets-with-landlords-to-discuss-new-electricity-scheme-76419/

Source: Cambodia Daily!

Unions wary of energy plan

Fri, 30 January 2015 Sarah Taguiam and Pech Sotheary

An electricity notice sits on the wall next to power metres at a garment worker’s residence yesterday in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district. Pha Lina

Some labour unions are suggesting reforms to state energy provider Electricite du Cambodge’s (EdC) plan to grant energy discounts to garment workers in Phnom Penh, saying yesterday that the current arrangement is “too complex to implement”.

More than two weeks ago, EdC announced that it will lower electricity costs to alleviate the financial burden on impoverished workers after they complained about homeowners charging staggering prices ranging from 1,000 to 2,500 riel ($0.25 to $0.62) per kilowatt.

According to the new plan, workers are entitled to pay a lower fixed price of 610 riel ($0.15) per kilowatt for electricity consumed under 50 kilowatts a month. Electricity beyond that, however, will be subjected to public prices.

To enforce the $2-million plan, EdC was supposed to have installed new connections yesterday in rental spaces in three districts heavily populated by garment workers, said director-general Keo Rattanak in a recorded video clip last week.

The districts are Russei Keo, Meanchey and Dangkor.

EdC will bypass homeowners and draw up independent contracts with workers, charging them directly to avoid any price manipulation.

But unions are dubious.

“We really appreciate that the government announced this policy, but it just doesn’t sound realistic enough to implement,” said CLEC labour program head Moeun Tola.

C.CAWDU president Ath Thorn agreed, saying “some workers don’t have necessary documents to register for contracts and lack the time to pay the bill separately from their current utilities”.

Thorn also added that around 20 per cent of C.CAWDU’s members are unwilling to pay the 35,000 riels fee to install the new electric cables and counters.

To simplify the process, both labour leaders suggested that EdC let homeowners manage the payments and penalise landlords who charge beyond the fixed price.

Currently, most homeowners, according to Thorn, oppose the new initiative but have been told by EdC that they are obligated to comply with government policy.

“We will compromise with the homeowners to make this project successful,” said Long Dimanche, spokesman for Phnom Penh’s city hall, which is helping with implementation.

EdC officials will meet with homeowners from Monday to Sunday in the next few weeks to straighten out any outstanding issues, Rattanak said.

Kim Tay Factory garment worker Kit Meng said that the discounts are good, “but we’re worried that now the homeowners might overcharge water prices or increase rent to make up for their loss of money in electricity, so officials really need to negotiate with them”.

EdC could not be reached for comment.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KHOUTH SOPHAK CHAKRYA

Source: Phnom Penh Post

Why solar? why thin film?

Output of Solar Modules: a-Si vs Mono c-Si
		In high temperature climates such as desert regions where the sun’s rays are its strongest, amorphous silicon clearly generates more energy.
		Amorphous based thin flim solar cells generate energy over a longer period throughout the day. During peak load hours of utillty plants when electricity rates peak, a-Si also outperforms crystalline based cells.
Thin Film is the Future Key Advantages of Thin Film:
Significantly lower energy consumed during production compared to poly-crystalline approach Thin Film modules can outperform crystalline based modules in extreme weather conditions such as dimmer light and higher temperature weather Transparent characteristics suitable for BIPV applications Amorphous silicon modules generate more electricity per unit of installed capacity than do crystalline silicon modules
Cautions on Crystalline Production Polysilicon production is complex, consumes a high amount of electricity, and has environmental impacts
“It takes 10 kg of polysilicon to produce a solar panel with a capacity of one kilowatt” “A factory must burn more than 40kg of coal to produce a crystalline based panel – one metre by 1.5 metres” “Almost 30 million tonnes of coal or more than 1% of the mainland’s output of coal last year, will be needed to keep the ovens of all the polysilicon plants hot” “Leshan is one of the handful of cities to have imported polysilicon production lines – using a handheld device - found more than 10 poisonous substances from ammonia to trichlorosilane - workplace rated highly hazardous” Original: (Stephen Chan, SCMP, September 10, 2009)

Monster of the Mekong

Sat, 21 June 2014, Tom Fawthrop

 

It will be a giant, stretching across the mighty Mekong River. Standing 32.6 metres tall and 820m wide, the $3.8 billion Xayaburi dam in Laos could supply electricity to more than three quarters of a million homes in Thailand. And when it’s completed in 2019, it will be the most controversial power project in the region. Since the plan was released in 2010 to construct the hydroelectric plant, geologists and environmentalists have voiced concerns about safety and the effects the mega-dam will have on neighbours Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. They have highlighted the risks of seismic activity in the area and the threat to the fishing industry on the 3,100-mile long (4,900 kilometres) Mekong River, which flows from the Tibetan steppes into southern China on its way to Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

“Previous earthquakes near the Xayaburi dam site should have served as a warning for Laos and the Thai dam company,” said Ame Trandem, the Southeast Asia programme director for the conservation group International Rivers. “It is completely irresponsible to push forward with a project located in a seismically unpredictable zone.”

During the past seven years, the area around the Xayaburi dam project has been shaken by earthquakes. A 6.9 magnitude quake hit Shan state in Myanmar. A 4.6 tremor only 48 kilometres away from the proposed project was recorded in 2007, while a 6.3 convulsion was reported in the Xayaburi area in the same year.
Naturally, this has alarmed Dr Punya Charusiri, who heads earthquake studies at Chulalongkorn University’s Department of Geology. The Thai scientist has identified an active fault close to Xayaburi town about 30km from the site. “I am worried that many people from the town would be affected. But I am not able to predict how much damage would be done to the dam itself, which is built on an ‘inactive fault’,” he said.
The risk factor is certainly there. During the 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Sichaun, China in 2008, the walls of the Zipingu dam were badly damaged and came close to unleashing a second disaster of epic proportions.
“In a worse case scenario, if a [major] earthquake happened right under the [Xayaburi] dam, then nobody knows,” said Dr Sampan Singharajwaranpan, a seismologist and the dean of sciences at Chiang Mai University.

Safety, of course, is not the only concern. Fears are growing about the impact on the environment and ecology of the region when the Xayaburi dam, one of nine hydropower plants planned by the Laos government, is up and running. More than 30 million people in Cambodia and Vietnam rely on the Mekong River for their livelihoods. Rice and fish exports could be threatened in the inland waterways, which generate up to $3.9bn in revenue a year, equivalent to a quarter of the world’s annual catch.

Up to 40 species, such as the giant catfish, are under further threats from the dam, according to a report commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). “Mortality is likely if fish pass through dam turbines [and] . . . the cumulative impacts of the dam are a serious threat,” said Zeb Hogan, an associate research professor at the University of Nevada in the US, and author of the report. “A fish the size of a Mekong giant catfish will simply not be able to swim across a large barrier like a dam to reach the spawning grounds.”

A fish trader waits for customers.

The Cambodian government is also anxious to avoid fish stocks being damaged. This in turn could lead to dietary problems if the industry is badly hit. “[Fish provide] 76 per cent of animal intake, 37 per cent of protein intake, 37 per cent of iron intake and 28 per cent of fats intake of the Cambodian population,” a study by the Cambodian Fisheries Administration (CFA), a government body, revealed.

Nao Thuok, the director of the CFA, underlined Cambodia’s concerns when he said the “protection of fisheries in the Mekong should be regarded as an issue of national security”. The stakes are so high, a joint declaration, released in March, from 39 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Australia set a one year deadline for the Laos and Thailand governments to scrap the project. “There is still essentially one year left to stop the dam as construction on the Xayaburi [power project’s] final dam across the Mekong River will begin in 2015,” said Trandem of International Rivers.

As the clock ticks down, the pressure is building on CH. Karnchang, the Thai group that will construct the dam, and partner Poyry Energy, part of the Finnish-based international engineering company and consultants Poyry. The Thai government has also been dragged into the dispute after agreeing to buy 95 per cent of the electricity generated at the hydropower plant.

One major concern aired by independent geologists has been the lack of transparency from CH. Karnchang and Poyry Energy about crucial seismic studies. Te Navuth, the secretary general of Cambodia’s National Mekong Committee, had called for “an independent research team [to] assess the risk of earthquakes and dam safety” back in 2011.

Two years after construction began, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) received “[a] seismic hazard assessment” which was drafted by Poyry Energy and AF Consult, the Swiss company based in Zurich. The MRC referred the “assessment” to an independent expert, but so far the Cambodian government has yet to see the report.

Images of shattered buildings from the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Tarlay in the Shan state in Myanmar in 2011.

“The seismic hazard at the Xayaburi dam site has been studied thoroughly and the dam, the powerhouse, and the spillway will be designed against earthquakes, according to the latest seismic design guidelines prepared by the International Commission on Large Dams [ICOLD],” said Dr Martin Wieland, the managing Director of Poyry Energy.

Critics of the project have expressed disquiet about ICOLD and claimed that it is not an independent research body, but a forum for the dam engineering lobby largely funded by hydropower companies. Dr Wieland, of Poyry, is also chairman of the committee on Seismic Aspects of Dam Design for ICOLD in charge of seismic guidelines.

“The CH. Karnchang people assumed that the faults closest to the dam-site are inactive, and so they believe it is quite safe,” said Dr Punya, who has also worked for the CH. Karnchang group. “But there is an active fault and it is located within a 30km radius. Construction should never have been started before the research into the danger has been completed.”

As the row continues, regional government heavyweights have warned of the dangers ahead if the Xayaburi project is completed. “We have to protect our interests,” said Lim Kean Hor, the Minister of Water Resources and Meteorology in the Cambodian government. “We will not allow [construction] if there will be a serious impact.”

Just like the huge scale of the Xayaburi hydropower plant, the arguments against the project have grown from a trickle to a tidal wave. What happens next could change the course of the Mekong River for generations to come.
 

Original text: Phnom Penh Post

Residents left in dark again

Fri, 13 June 2014, Sen David and Stuart White

 

A phone shop in Kab Ko market uses a petrol generator during a power outage in Phnom Penh yesterday.

Residents in the vicinity of Kab Ko market in Phnom Penh’s Chamkarmon district found themselves fumbling in the dark yet again yesterday on the second consecutive day of hours-long power outages.
According to locals, electricity to the street failed around noon on Wednesday and was restored at about 10pm that night, only to fail again around noon yesterday, driving down trade and serving as a general headache for residents and business owners alike.

“The electricity is very important to make a living,” jewellery vendor Chan Vanta said. “I need light for my business as a gold seller to attract the customers, but for two days there have been few customers coming to look … and buy some jewellery.”

Sitting in a still, dark, empty dining room, the owner of the usually popular Phsar Kabko restaurant agreed.
“After the electricity was cut … there were fewer customers,” he said. “Right now the days are very hot, and customers need a fan.”

The restaurateur, who asked to be identified only as Mean, said he had been forced to resort to iceboxes to keep his produce and drinks cold after the power outage killed his refrigerators, but the run on ice that ensued after the outage made it hard to find.

The blackout was also causing problems on the home front, resident Sam That said.
“We need a fan, air conditioning and light to live, because it is too hot, and we need electricity for my daughter to study, use the internet and watch TV,” she said. “We heard about an EdC [Electricité du Cambodge] release, but we can’t do anything.”

An official at EdC who declined to be named would not comment in detail, but offered a statement pertaining to construction in Por Sen Chey and Meanchey districts, among others. Due to interconnected power grids, work being done there could have an effect elsewhere in the city, the official said.

“The EdC would like to inform the public that EdC will … remove some lines for road expansion construction, so [power in] some areas in Phnom Penh will be off until 14 June,” the statement reads. “We hope that the public will be aware and forgive us.”

Original text:

Phnom Penh City Hall Hoping to Turn Garbage Into Electricity

By Ben Sokhean and Simon Henderson | June 9, 2014

The Phnom Penh Municipal Government on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Inter Far East Engineering Public Company Limited of Thailand to study the feasibility of turning the city’s waste into energy, according to a notice posted on the municipality’s website.

Mean Chanyada, the city’s deputy director of administration, said in the statement that the amount of garbage collected each day across Phnom Penh was expected to jump from 1,300 tons now to 2,000 tons by 2018.
“The quantity of garbage that has increased in Phnom Penh at the present has made problems and will affect the city environment if we don’t pay attention,​” he said.

City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said the MOU was a preliminary agreement for study and research and that the city hoped to find another five companies—or more—whose proposals would all be compared.
At Thursday’s MOU signing, Far East Engineering director Wichai Thavormwa Thanayon said the company’s plan would be groundbreaking.

“This MOU is a pioneer for recycling the garbage to electricity so that 200 tons of waste could be used to create five megawatts of electricity each day,” he said, according to the statement.

Inter Far East Engineering Public Company Limited has only recently moved into the alternative energy business. In April, it acquired True Energy Power Lopburi Company Limited, which operates a biomass power plant in Thailand’s Lopburi province with a capacity of 6.8 MW.

Thailand, however, offers considerable tax breaks to companies investing in renewable energy projects, something Phnom Penh City Hall has so far failed to do, said Yang Saing Koma, president of local agricultural NGO Cedac.

“Phnom Penh’s garbage problem is a serious one, so it is a positive to find ways to solve it. But so far, [City Hall] has struggled to encourage enterprises into recycling projects such as composting and biomass,” he said.

“If they wish to replicate what is happening in Thailand, they need to offer similar concessions such as tax incentives.”

Original text

Japan firm buys share of new power plant

Wed, 4 June 2014, Hor Kimsay

 

In what looks to be a concerted push into the Southeast Asian energy sector, Japanese import and export conglomerate Marubeni Corporation has acquired a large stake of Cambodia’s power generation infrastructure.

In a Tokyo Stock Exchange filing dated June 2, Marubeni announced it had purchased a 20 per cent share of Malaysian firm, Leader Infrastructure Limited.

Leader Infrastructure operates Cambodia’s only 100-megawatt, coal-fired power plant in Preah Sihanouk province as well as a transmission network under subsidiaries Cambodia Energy Limited (CEL) and Cambodia Transmission Limited (CTL).

The power plant, which cost more than $195 million to build, began operations in February.
“Marubeni will contribute positively towards the operation of CEL/CTL and indirectly contribute towards the reliable power supply in Cambodia,” the Marubeni statement states.

“Marubeni envisages expanding its power business in Cambodia utilising its extensive knowledge and experience from its worldwide participation in the power industry.”

It’s the first time a Japanese company has entered Cambodia’s energy market, according to the statement.
It comes less than a week after Marubeni also announced it had entered a $977 million joint venture agreement with Tokyo Electric Power Co to expand an existing coal-fired power plant located in Pagbilao, the Philippines.

Hiroshi Suzuki, chief economist at Business Research Institute for Cambodia (BRIC), said he hoped Marubeni’s investment will bring know-how to Cambodia’s power sector.

“I hope the Marubeni’s participation encourages future large scale investments into Cambodia’s power sector,” he told the Post yesterday.

“[But] the size of Cambodia’s power sector market is not big enough to attract many [more] investment projects,” Suzuki added.

Suzuki also said Marubeni’s investment alone would not solve Cambodia’s power-related issues, such as the unstable supply and the high cost of electricity.

Leader Infrastructure received a 33-year build-operate-transfer land concession from the Cambodian government in 2010 for the Preah Sihanouk power plant project – three years for construction and 30 years for operation before handing the plant back over to the state.
 

Source: Phnom Penh Post