The Thanlwin River, site of several hydro-electric dam projects, is currently the longest undammed river in Southeast Asia.

THE government intends to wean Myanmar off its reliance on gas for electricity generation and make hydropower the country’s sole source of electricity by 2030, an official from the Ministry of Electric Power (1) told The Myanmar Times.

Currently gas accounts for the bulk of Myanmar’s electricity production, providing about 48.5 percent of supplies, the official said.

“But now the government prefers hydropower,” he said.

Hydropower currently accounts for about 38.5pc of electricity, steam turbines 12.5pc and diesel the remaining 0.5pc.

But by 2030, the government hopes 100pc of the country’s electricity will come from hydropower plants, which are the most cost-effective option, he said.

The government plans to establish 24 hydro-electricity plants in coming years, which will vary in output from 48 megawatts to 7100 megawatts.

A percentage of the electricity from these projects is to be exported to neighbouring countries.

The Hutgyi hydropower dam, which is being built with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) at the cost of US$1 billion, will export some 60 percent of its electricity to Thailand.

In April, Thai energy firm MDX Group and the government agreed on a $6 billion hydropower project on the Thanlwin River, from which Thailand will receive 85 percent of electricity.

MDX said its dam, the biggest in Myanmar, would be ready in 2012, with electricity capacity to be upgraded to 7000 megawatts later.

Progress on the Hutgyi dam slowed earlier this year, although an official from the Ministry of Electric Power (1) denied this was the result of the death in May of an EGAT employee working on the feasibility study.

In early May an EGAT official had said full-scale surveying was not expected to resume until 2007.

“We feel we have enough information to complete the feasibility study, even though it is not really as complete as we would have wanted,” the EGAT official said.

The Myanmar government official said the feasibility study had been finished.
“In May, we finished the feasibility study for the whole project,” he said. “And that’s why we stopped the progress for a certain period.”

The official predicted construction on the Hutgyi dam would start in December 2006 or January 2007, ahead of the November 2007 date in the initial agreement.

With all planned dams in operation by 2030, the Ministry of Electric Power (1) estimates 23,300 megawatts of electricity will be available. It balances this with a projected annual domestic demand for 18,900 megawatts by 2030.

In comparison, Thailand, with a population of about 64 million, in September 2004 had an installed power generation capacity of 25,970 megawatts, according to the Electric Power Trade Mission, an international organisation set up by the US Department of Commerce, the International Trade Administration and the Office of Global Trade Programs.

A ministry official told The Myanmar Times that as hydropower accounts for more electricity generation, the government will direct a greater proportion of Myanmar’s gas reserves to fertiliser production and other projects.

A 1995 World Bank study showed the theoretical potential for hydropower in Myanmar to be 108,000 megawatts.