EU bankrolls green energy initiatives

The EU will provide $5.97 million to fund two new projects to boost a green economic recovery in Cambodia.

The goal is to promote sustainable consumption and production of energy sources and put local small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) on track to a green recovery, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) said in a press release on Friday.

Funded by the EU, the “Switch to Solar” project will be implemented over four years from 2020-2024 by the NGO People In Need to contribute to sustainable and inclusive economic growth in rural areas of Cambodia.

Approximately 1.14 million women, men and children across six provinces and 15 districts in the Tonle Sap Lake region will benefit from greater economic opportunities at the local level, a more sustainable natural environment, and greater access to environmentally-friendly products and services from target SMEs, said GGGI.

People in Need programme manager for economic empowerment and green energy Jerus D’Silva said solar energy is currently one of the easiest to implement and fastest growing technologies in the field of renewable energy.

He highlighted that with energy being the foundation of everything that is economically viable, there needs to be more focus on developing sustainable forms of energy to build a sustainable and functioning economy.

“I believe this project will significantly contribute to the economic empowerment and livelihoods of people living in rural areas.

“The key results from this project are that business models and technology solutions are designed and promoted for local solar technology providers to strengthen and target SMEs and consumers to improved awareness and access to a range of solar energy devices,” said D’Silva.

The second EU funded project – “Promotion of sustainable energy practices in the garment sector in Cambodia” – will promote clean energy practices, including energy efficiency but also rooftop solar in garment manufacturing.

GGGI said: “This project is implemented by the GGGI together with the NGO Geres and the Garment Manufacturing Association in Cambodia [GMAC].

“It will stimulate demand for sustainable energy technologies in garment manufacturing by raising awareness among factories around the strong business case for clean energy.”

The project will also work with banks and energy service providers to increase the supply of technologies, services and financial solutions for sustainable energy in manufacturing.

Finally, the implementing partners will work with Cambodian government to strengthen the regulatory framework for clean energy in manufacturing.

GGGI country representative to Cambodia Karolien Casaer-Diez, claimed that GGGI’s economic modelling projects that a 20 per cent increase in energy efficiency in the garment sector would lead to an increase of 31 per cent in energy productivity by 2030 and $2 billion of avoided energy costs.

“This will help to sustainable energy practices strengthen the competitiveness of Cambodian garment manufacturing. This creates employment opportunities direly needed in one of the sectors hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic,” she said.

EU ambassador to Cambodia Carmen Moreno said: “Our support will allow Cambodian SMEs harnessing the potential of green energy for developing agricultural value chains around the Tonle Sap lake and as well as for the garment sector.”

https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ ... nitiatives

September 22, 2020
Solar power looking sunny

Around 372 megawatts (mW) of additional solar farmland will be put into operation in 2021, which makes up 9 percent of power in the country and 14 percent of the total installed capacity and peak demand respectively, according to data from Electricite du Cambodge (EdC).

EdC also added that another 60 mW of solar farmland will be put into operation in 2022 and a further 40 mW is undergoing a bidding process.

A megawatt is a unit for measuring power and represents 1 million watts which is equivalent to the energy produced by 10 automobile engines or used by 330 average homes for one hour.

“Approximately 200 mW more is being studied under our 2021-2023 simulation to test whether our grid can further support its injection into the system. This is critical because our national grid is also synchronised with those of neighbouring countries,” said EdC.

EdC Director-General Keo Rattanak said at the launch of the Switch Garment project last week that in the next few years the company aims to increase the share of solar energy in the mixture of power sources to at least 15 percent. Switch Garment is an initiative by the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia to increase its use of sustainable energy.

“We are going to increase our solar energy alone by 200 mW in the next few years and, by 2030, approximately 1,815 mW of solar energy is expected to be added, representing 17 percent of peak demand,” Rattanak added.

“If you look the numbers in the rest of Asean, Thailand has 7 percent of solar energy and, if they added other new sources into the generation mixture, Thailand has 12 percent. Japan and South Korea have less than 5 percent and Malaysia
has less than 5 percent of solar power,” he added.

Rattanak added that renewable energy includes solar, waste energy, wind, and biomass. “We are actively exploring the potential of energy such as types of biomass and wind energy – and hydropower is also being promoted,” he added.

According to the data from the EdC, the daily energy and capacity demand as of Sept 7 has consumption of energy at 34.14 million kW per day. Daily generation by hydro is more than 22.49 million kW (65.36 percent), coal is 5.74 million kW (16.70 percent), solar is 844,720 kW (2.45 percent), biomass is 15,335 kW (0.04 percent) and imported power is 5.316 million kW (15.45 percent).

EdC said that the capacity demand of energy during peak demand in the daytime is 1,812 mW and peak demand at night is 1,566 mW.

“Our plan is to keep increasing solar energy to the maximum level that can be supported by our grid without compromising the national grid’s stability. We believe that a fully responsible sustainable energy policy is one that treats all sectors in the economy equally and fairly and all costs to society are fully calculated and the cost evaluation is shared equally,” said Rattanak.

“We want clean and renewable energy but this energy has to make sense to the Cambodian people as a whole. No renewables will be added to the grid if they add costs to the consumers. With this in mind, we will continue to support all sorts of renewable energy that meet our criteria especially big scale solar farms that have good potential for better value for the Cambodian people,” Rattanak added.

https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50765104/s ... ing-sunny/

I think if I do remember rightly that sometime back it was Chinese businessmen, who said there was simply a lack of electricity to run their clothing factories. So they asked if they could use solar to make the difference. But Cambodia have very strict laws on the subject. I think they could was the answer, but at their own cost (but I don't think this was an issue), they would spend the millions of dollars on solar, but I think the electric suppliers wanted the power too be taped into the grid and they would sell them electricity.