China in talks to sell hydropower to Myanmar

• 6 years ago (2017-08-04)
• David Flin

Asia 847 Hydropower 111

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Myanmar is in initial talks to buy electricity from China, according to officials in both China and Myanmar. China’s Yunnan province has seen a switch towards less energy-intensive industries, and has an excess of hydropower available. Rural Yunnan, which generates around 85 per cent of its electricity from hydropower, already sends surplus power to eastern China, Vietnam, and Laos.

A senior Myanmar energy official said: “China welcomes the plan, but Myanmar is still reviewing the details. The government-to-government talks are still at an early stage, with details such as price and timing still to be worked out. It’s one of the many options we are considering.”

Three Chinese state-owned companies have proposed separate plans to plug Myanmar’s national power grid into Yunnan’s electricity network.

One proposal is from China Electric Power Equipment and Technology Company, which signed an MOU with Myanmar to build a high-voltage transmission line running for several hundred miles from Muse in north-eastern Myanmar to Meiktila in the centre of the country.

State-run China Southern Power Grid Company (CSG) has proposed a similar plan.

A third plan, proposed by CSG’s subsidiary Yunnan International, would use an existing cable to carry power to Meiktila from Yunnan via Muse.

Myoe Myint, Energy Specialist with the World Bank, said that such a project could take up to five years to complete, a quicker solution than building hydropower facilities in Myanmar.