Irrawaddy-Sept 8
Myanmar’s power sector has been in a downward spiral since the February 2021 coup and the prolonged electricity blackouts that have been a hallmark of military rule will likely worsen, according to a recent World Bank report and a former advisor to the Myanmar Ministry of Electricity and Energy. Major cities, including Yangon, Mandalay, and Naypyitaw, are facing power outages while industrial zones across the country are bracing for crippling power cuts and surging fuel prices, according to the recent World Bank report “In The Dark: Power Sector Challenges in Myanmar.” While electricity generation has been declining and widening the gap between supply and demand, damaged power infrastructure has also undermined the entire power transmission system. “Increasing the power supply–demand gap is the major challenge to securing reliable electricity services in the country,” said the World Bank. Myanmar faced power shortages in 2019, of up to about 300 megawatts (MW), but the gap has widened since the coup. Even to sustain the current level of power supply, Myanmar would require adding between 300 to 400 MW every year until 2030, the World Bank report estimates. Guillaume de Langre, a former adviser to the Myanmar Ministry of Electricity and Energy, noted on a recent Insight Myanmar podcast that as much as 50% of the country’s power grid is fuelled by domestically produced gas, which is expected to run out by 2030. “Let me be clear,” he said, “That means that the fuel that is used to produce 50% of the electricity in Myanmar is going to be extinct. It’s not being replaced. So, the question we have to ask ourselves today is, how does Myanmar go about functioning as an economy, when half of its power supply disappears?” Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/business/myanmar-has-been-running-out-of-power-since-the-coup-world-bank.html
