Myanmar recently launched the first phase of the country’s first commercial-scale solar power plant located in Minbu, Magwe region. The Minbu Solar Power Plant has been developed by Green Earth Power (Myanmar) under a build-operate-transfer contract and will add 40 MW of power to the national grid.
The solar power plant project will be completed in four phases and will have capacity to generate 170 MW of power and produce 350 million kWh of electricity per annum, sufficient to meet the demands of about 210,000 households. Each of the first three stages of construction will add 40 MW of power generation capabilities while the fourth and final stage will add 50 MW.
The government aims to roll out electricity coverage to 50 per cent of the population by December 2019 and 100 per cent by 2030. Currently, only one-third of the country’s 60 million people are connected to the electrical grid and cities experience frequent blackouts.