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CHAPTER 1. |
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Basic Information of Energy |
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1.1 Energy Resources |
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Cambodia derives more than 80% of its energy requirements from biomass (MIME,1997). Fro 90% of households, firewood and charcoal are used as an energy source for cooking. Evidence from specific study sites suggest that most cooking stoves currently used in Cambodia are of basic technology and of poor conversion efficiency, such as three-stone stoves and bucket stoves (FAO, 1998;Burgess,2000;De Lopez,2001). The Cambodia Fuel wood Saving Project (CFSB), an NGO funded by international donors, has developed locally a more efficient cooking stove. The introduction of the stove has been limited to a few rural areas because of budgetary constraints.
The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) has conducted an assessment of the potential for using biomass as a source of renewable energy in Cambodia. The analysis starts with an examination of crops currently produced in different provinces of the Kingdom. Rice, sugar cane and maize are the only three crops that are grown nationally and whose residues can be used to produce energy. The annual production for year 1999 was 4.04 million tons for rice, 0.16 million tons for sugar cane and 0.10 for maize (MAFF,2002). However, these figures mask large disparities among production regions. Out of 24 provinces, only three exceed an annual rice production of 400,000 tons. For sugar cane three provinces produce more than 20,000 tons per year. These figures imply that rice and sugar cane production is broadly dispersed among different provinces. In contrast, the production of maize is more concentrated, with most of the crop harvested in Battambang province.
The NEDO report identifies Kompong Cham province as the regions with the highest potential for biomass energy resources. The annual production for rice, sugar cane and maize were for year 2000 respectively 465,733 tons, 25,310 tons and 15,649. Proximity to the capital and the existence of adequate roads and waterways makes the area “ideal for construction of a power generating facility fuelled by biomass energy” (NEDO,2002 and day by day increasing crop production)
A parallel initiative, funded by the European Commission, is the COGEN 3 project for the promotion of cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) technologies among ASEAN member countries. COGEN 3 acts as a business facilitator and aims to Develop Full Scale Demonstration Projects (FSDP) through the provision of a grant of 15% of the cost of purchase of cogeneration equipment from EU-based suppliers (COGEN,2002). Although several provinces have been identified as having potential for using rice husk for power production, the main obstacles is the availability of residues in sufficient quantities to allow for economies of scale and the constriction of a financially viable facility. Existing rice-milling operations, operated by independent rural entrepreneurs, use rudimentary technology and have limited processing capacity.e.g. 2 to 3 tons of rice per hour (SME,2000). This implies that rice husk will generally need to be collected from different mills to a central heat and power production plant.
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1.2 Energy Supply and Demand |
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Currently total installed capacity of electricity supplier in around 300 MW and 25% of Household, have access to electricity. Only 9% of households in rural area has access to electricity while 54 % has access in urban area. Electrification ratio is still very low and there is a big gap between urban and rural area for accessibility to electricity. Serious unfairness exists on the electricity tariff as well. Cambodia does not have a major inter city main grid connection yet. Electricity of national capital Phnom Penh and some other major cities are supplied by 100% state-owned company Electricite du Cambodge (EDC). Most of electricity in rural area is supplied by independent power producers called REE (Rural Electricity Enterprises). The tariff varies place to place. The lowest residential unit electricity tariff is $0.09-$0.16 in Phnom Penh. There are also so many non-registered REE all over the country. Small scale (<30 customeres) non-registered REE often charge more than $1.00 Wh-1. Electricity is only supplied limited hours (often only in evening) in rural area and there is frequent power failure due to the poor facilities. People loves in non-electrified villages often use shallow cycle lead acid batteries (Car battery) for lighting and other electrical devices such as TV and radio. The costs for charging batteries are estimated about $1.00Wh-1. People in rural area are suffering to very expensive and poor quality electricity.
The Royal Government of Cambodia is acutely aware of how rural communities are disadvantaged and have set the target of 70% level of household electrified by year 2020 by different form. esp. using RETs. The government will be working to achieve this target via grid extension and mini-grids establishments. It has been proposed that mini-grids establishments will be based on renewable energy. All fossil fuel products are imported in Cambodia. Utilization of domestic renewable energy source has both environmental and economical advantages. Bit micro-hydro and wind power potential is very specific area in Cambodia. Solar system is appropriate for all area of Cambodia and Installed capacity round more than 2000KWp.Biomass resources such as wood and agricultural residues are abundant in Cambodia. It is estimated that 10,452 villages (76%) will remain un-electrified at year 2010. We examined the potential of biomass gasification electrification fuelled by energy tree farming using geographic and social economic database of Royal Government. Among un-electrified 8,008 villages (77%) have sufficient grassland and shrubland available for tree planting for electricity generation (0.002 ha per household). Among the villages with sufficient available land, 6,418 villages (61% of un-electrified villages) with TV diffusion (powered by batteries and generator) > 10% are assumed to have high electricity demand and ability to pay. Those 6,418 villages are considered to be appropriate candidates for biomass gasification mini-grid installation.
The cost of unit electricity generation by biomass gasification becomes lower that diesel generation when plant capacity factor exceeds 13%, which is slightly higher than expected plant capacity factor of rural electrification of around 10%. Electricity consumption concentrates only in the evening in rural area. It is crucial to create daytime electricity use for economical activities to make biomass gasification economically more competitive against diesel generation. However, residues are generally already well utilized as local energy sources and there is insufficient information regarding to availability to make estimates at he national level.
Although biomass is the main source (80%) of total energy consumption, biomass use for electricity generation is very limited in Cambodia. There are currently one bio-digestion gas and three gasification system installed in the country. Total capacity is estimated as gas and three gasification system installed in the country. Total capacity is estimated as slightly larger than 100KW. So, there are so much of agricultural residues produced in Cambodia, and they are generally well utilized as energy source for household and cottage industries. Energy tree farming by local farmers is assumed to be the most appropriated method of biomass fuel supply for biomass gasified electricity generation for rural mini-grid. Certain subsidies and smart credit to electrification by renewable energy significantly improve economical competitiveness of biomass gasification against diesel generation. The largest fraction of power generation cost of biomass gasifies is the depreciation. The effort should be taken for domestic manufacturing of gasifies. It would reduce the cost significantly. Priority region have to wait many years to be connected if the grid ever reaches. It is important to provide alternative methods to have their own grid electricity to have their own grid electricity to the people in off-grid area. We examined the potential of biomass electricity mini-grids of un-electrified 10,452 villages.
Finally the Royal Government Program of Cambodia for poverty reduction have mainly cemented to renewable energy development, the energy efficiency increment and environmental protection.
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