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Cambodia has abandoned plans for a $1.5 billion 700-megawatt coal-fired power project in a protected area along its southwest coast and will instead build an 800-megawatt natural gas plant, the country’s energy minister told Reuters.
As part of the project, Cambodia is exploring building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal to import the super-chilled fuel and re-gasify it for use in power plants, Energy Minister Keo Rottanak told Reuters.
The planned LNG terminal, which is likely to be a fixed land-based facility, would be Cambodia’s first LNG terminal and would make it a new import market in Southeast Asia. Vietnam and the Philippines received their first LNG shipments this year.
“Prime Minister Hun Manet will announce on November 30 the cancellation of the 700MW coal-fired power plant in Koh Kong province and plans to replace it with an 800MW liquefied natural gas power plant to be put into operation after 2030,” Rottanak told Reuters.
He did not say how much the gas-fired power plant and liquefied natural gas terminal would cost.
The planned Botum Sakol coal-fired power plant has been criticized by environmentalists and some residents who say it encroaches on some of Cambodia’s most densely forested areas, threatens to destroy local livelihoods and contaminate a protected area that is home to dozens of endangered species with coal dust.
Rotanak said the decision to abandon the coal project, which was due to start generating electricity by the end of 2025, reflected the country’s commitment to clean energy.
Cambodia hopes to increase its share of clean power generation capacity to 70% by 2030 from 52% in 2022 by building new solar, wind farms and hydropower projects.
“The announcement will be made in Cambodia, but it will send a signal to COP28,” said Rottanak. The annual UN climate conference is taking place in Dubai this week, with Cambodian environment ministry officials attending.
Cambodia’s electricity demand has grown by about 15 percent a year over the past decade, and the country has used hydropower to meet its growing demand, while other countries in the region, such as Malaysia and Vietnam, have turned to coal for power generation.
Clean energy, mainly hydropower, accounts for the bulk of Cambodia’s annual electricity needs, but the country faces output fluctuations due to increasingly frequent disruptions to hydropower – its main source of electricity – caused by weather.
Cambodia announced about two years ago that it would not build any new coal-fired power projects other than those already under construction.
With the cancellation of the Botum Sakor project, Cambodia’s only remaining coal power project under construction is a long-delayed small 265MW unit in the northern province of Oddar Meanchey.
The Botong Sakor coal-fired power project was to be built, owned and operated by Royal Group, a local conglomerate with investments in telecommunications and transport, and will now build the gas project, Rotanak said.
Royal Group did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
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