Energy Efficiency,
Conservation & Sustainability
1. Introduction
Energy utilization in Myanmar
mainly depends upon traditional energy such as Fuelwood,
Charcoal and Biomass. During 1999-2000, 35 percent
of the total energy consumption is contributed by
commercial energy such as oil, natural gas, coal
and hydropower. The balance utilization of different
energy types have all along been emphasized and
increased production of commercial energy has been
prioritized in order to replace traditional energy
types and at the same time to meet the requirement
of industrial development programme.
Myanmar has abundant renewable energy sources such
as Hydropower, Wind, Solar, Geothermal, Biomass
and other types of renewable energy sources. Renewable
Energy , i.e., Hydroelectricity and Biomass contributed
67 percent of total energy consumption. Biomass
in the form of Fuelwood, Charcoal, Agriculture waste
and animal dung are predominantly used.
To liberalize the trade and to open up private sector
investment opportunities, Myanmar has established
a new economic system based on market oriented economy.
Thus, the Government promulgated Union of Myanmar
Foreign Investment Law and its related procedure
in 1988.
As the outcome of the new economic policy, new investments
in all sectors of economy and also construction
and infrastructure developments are growing at a
faster pace, and the energy demand growth has been
increasing to fill the gap that occurred due to
change from supply oriented to demand oriented.
It is estimated that the energy demand growth will
rapidly increase up to Year 2003-2004 and later
will increase gradually at a single digit.
The total energy consumption during 1988-89 was
69160 Thousand Barrel of Oil Equivalent ("KBOE")
and increased to 91887 KBOE during 1999-2000. The
average growth rate of total energy consumption
is in the order of 2.64 percent. For Crude Oil,
the consumption increased from 4299 KBOE in 1988-89
to 20599 KBOE in 1999-2000 with an average growth
rate of 15.43 percent. Natural Gas consumption increased
from 6463 KBOE in 1988-89 to 9567 KBOE in 1999-2000
with an average growth rate of 4.3 percent. Hydroelectricity
increased from 2625 KBOE in 1988-89 to 4786 KBOE
in 1993-94 and became stable with an average consumption
rate of 3991 KBOE from 1994. Coal consumption is
regular during the past 10 years, and presently
is around 158 KBOE. Biomass is also stable for the
past 10 years and in recent year has noticeably
decreased.
In order to meet the challenges of the energy demand
growth in the 21st Century, energy policy guidelines
had been laid and pursued. The policy guidelines
for energy sector are :-
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To maintain the the status of energy
independence |
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To employ hydroelectric power as one
of the vital sources of energy sufficiency |
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To generate and distribute more electricity
for economic development |
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To save non-renewable energy for future
energy sufficiency of the nation |
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To promote efficient utilization of
energy and impress on energy conservation |
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To prevent deforestation caused by excess
use of fuelwood and charcoal |
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2. Current Status
(a) Petroleum
In the past, the utilization
of liquid fuel mainly depends on indigenous production
and there has been small imports but mostly for
externally assisted projects. The consumption of
liquid fuel was less than one million ton constituting
about 7 percent of the total energy consumption.
Presently, the consumption has increased and in
order to fulfill the demand growth, liquid fuel
as well as refined products had to be imported and
distributed within the country.
Natural Gas produced previously as associated gas
was flared into the atmosphere and commercial utilization
of natural gas started in early 1970. As of 1986-87,
use of natural gas has accelerated and extensive
natural gas pipeline grid system throughout the
country had to be installed in order to supply industries
natural gas requirement. Although the increase use
of natural gas have been constrained due to limited
availability, the demand has been substantially
growing. The utilization of natural gas in total
energy consumption is around 10 percent.
To increase the petroleum reserves and to boost
the existing production level, Myanma Oil and Gas
Enterprise ("MOGE") under the Ministry of Energy
invited Multi-national Oil Companies and worked
in joint venture on a Production Sharing Basis,
in both onshore and offshore areas. Presently, Myanmar
has been demarcated into 18 Production Sharing Contract
("PSC") Blocks, 4 Exploration and Production ("EP")
Blocks, 10 Reactivation of Suspended Fields/ Areas
("RSF") Blocks, 7 Improved Petroleum Recovery ("IPR")
Blocks and 7 MOGE Blocks, totaling 46 Blocks in
Onshore Area and 7 PSC Blocks in Rakhine Offshore
Area, 11 PSC Blocks in Moattama Offshore Area and
7 PSC Blocks in Taninthayi Offshore Area, totaling
25 Blocks in Offshore Area.
Up to now, a total of 45 Contacts of various types,
including 40 PSCs, 3 IPRs and 2 Performance Compensation
Contracts ("PCCs") have been signed with 39 International
Oil Companies for 49 Blocks in both Onshore and
Offshore Areas. Currently, 9 Operators are working
in 14 Onshore Blocks and 4 Operators are working
in 10 Offshore Blocks.
In the downstream petroleum industry, 3 Refineries,
3 Urea Fertilizer Plants, 1 Methanol Plant, 1 Liquefied
Petroleum Gas ("LPG") Plant are operating. But due
to the many years of operation, these plants cannot
produce the name plate capacity, and only 50 percent
of installed capacity can be produced. Efforts are
made to Renovate, Revamp and Upgrade downstream
petroleum industry to name plate capacity.
(b) Hydroelectricity
The hydropower potential of the country is estimated
to be more than 100,000 MW on an installed basis.
Myanma Electric Power Enterprise ("MEPE") under
the Ministry of Electric Power has identified more
than 200 potential hydropower sites through out
the country which has a total installed capacity
of 38,000 MW.
Even though Myanmar has abundant potential for hydro
electricity, the installed hydropower capacity is
only 360.32 MW, constituting about 31percent of
total installed power capacity. The generation of
electricity from hydropower plants during 1999-2000
have been approximately 959.46 million KWh constituting
about 21percent of the total power generation. There
have been delays in the exploitation of hydropower
reserves because of the high capital investment
requirement. In the past several years, the contribution
of hydro electricity is about 3 - 5 percent of the
country's total energy consumption.
MEPE has developed 26 mini and 9 medium size hydropower
projects whose capacities are between 24 KW and
5,000 KW mostly in remote border areas. The electricity
generation in Myanmar increases two folds during
the last 10 years. During 1988-89, the total electricity
generation was 2226 GWh, and during 1999-2000 it
increased to 4508 GWh. The average annual growth
rate during these years is 6.81percent per year.
(c) Coal
The production and consumption
of coal had never been significant in the past.
Potential of coal in Myanmar is 235.16 million tons
of coal at 16 identified locations of major coal
deposits. The total annual production of coal during
1999 - 2000 fiscal year is 106,423 ton.
The constraint on production and consumption of
coal may be due to remoteness of coal reserves,
Lack of sufficient investment for exploitation and
finally due to prevailing option on coal as "dirty
fuel". In the past, the only two producing coal
mines are Kalewa and Namma. Private sector participation
has been encouraged to promote coal production and
presently one producing large scale private coal
mine in Samlau has been catering the needs of steel
industry and private owned cement mills. Tigyit
coal field is under development and plan to produce
15,000 tons during the middle of Year 2000.
Plans are underway to increase the production of
Kalewa coal mine from its present production level
to 15,000 tons per year to 300,000 tons per year,
if the construction of a 66 MW mine mouth power
plant and a 500,000 tons per year cement plant near
the coal mine were realized.
At present, increased utilization of coal in fuel
sticks and briquettes for use in place of fuelwood
and charcoal as a measure against deforestation
has lead to more consumption of coal, although the
contribution to total energy consumption is only
a fraction amounting to 0.2 - 0.3 percent.
(d) Wind Energy
Use of wind energy is at the
very initial stage. Potential available wind energy
of Myanmar is around 365.1 Terra Watt hour / year.
Due to expensive initial cost, wind energy is implemented
only as an experimental and research phase. The
promising areas to harness wind energy sources are
the hilly regions of Chin and Shan State, Coastal
region and Central Myanmar region.
Currently available data on wind energy sources
are not enough to evaluate suitable sites for
construction of wind turbines. Judging from
existing data collected by Department of
Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH),
western part of the country has the potential for
development of wind power. The evaluation of wind
energy resources using modern acquisition systems
has been conducted since 1998.
Myanma Scientific and Technological Research
Department (MSTRD) of the Ministry of Science and Technology
performed research and development works on the
utilization of wind energy. Department of Physics
at Yangon University performed studies and research
works of wind energy.
Also, Department of Electric Power (DEP) and MEPE
of the Ministry of Electric Power in cooperation
with New and Industrial Development Organization
(NEDO) of Japan constructed Meteorological Observation
Stations and installed Wind and Solar measuring
equipments at some sites in both Central Myanmar
and Lower Myanmar areas, in order to collect data
and to conduct feasibility study for Wind - Solar
Power Hybrid System.
The results obtained from investigative works indicates
that the feasible areas to harness wind energy by
mean of erecting wind turbines is the locations
with an average wind speed of between 5.6 to 7.4
meters per second that would yield outputs in the
range of 55 to 225 KW.
(e) Solar Energy
Use of solar energy is also at
the very initial stage. Potential available solar
energy of Myanmar is around 51973.8 Terra Watt hour
/ year.
As in wind energy, due to expensive initial cost,
solar energy is in the research and development
phase. Solar energy is abundantly available in Central
Dry Zone Area of Myanmar. Experimental measurement
indicate that radiation intensity of more than 5
KWh / Sq. m. / day was observed during the dry season.
Except for small experimental systems installed
in cooperation with foreign participants, Photovoltaic
(PV) power is not yet developed in Myanmar. Solar
energy is being introduced in rural areas and is
used through Photovoltaic cells to generate electricity
for charging batteries and for driving motors to
pump water for irrigation, but only on an individual
scale. As an initial step to demonstrate the Photovoltaic
Power System for remote villages, some equipment
have been installed under the "Technical Cooperation
among Developing Countries Programme".
Pilot project under the "Solar Photovoltaic Battery
Charging Community Enterprise" financed by Energy
Services and Income Generating Opportunities for
the Poor (Project "ENSIGN") in collaboration with
Yoma Bank and Energy Planning Department (EPD)
of the Ministry of Energy and Research works
under the "Demonstrative Research on a
Photovoltaic Power Generation System in Myanmar"
in cooperation between New Energy and Industrial
Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan and Department of
Electric Power of Ministry of Electric Power were
carried out.
Similarly, Solar Power Village Electrification Scheme
was implemented and Research and Development works
on prototypes of solar equipment were performed
by Myanma Scientific and Technological Research
Department (MSTRD) and Department of Physics of
the Yangon Unversity.
Research activities are on going in the use of solar
cooking for household purpose and pumps driven by
solar energy and also solar driers for grain and
fish. At present, it has successfully replaced fuelwood
with solar energy for making salt out of seawater.
(f) Geothermal Energy
Myanmar is one of the country
with abundant geothermal resources. A total of 93
geothermal locations have been identified throughout
the country.
Out of the 93 geothermal sites, 43 of them were
investigations had been made by Myanma Oil and
Gas Enterprise (MOGE) of the Ministry of Energy and Myanma
Electric Power Enterprise (MEPE) of the Ministry
of Electric Power in cooperation with Electric
Power Development Co., Ltd. (EPDC) of Japan, Unocal
of United States and Caithness Resources Inc of
United States. Water samples of hot springs were
taken and chemical analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis
were performed on these samples.
(g) Nuclear Energy
Nuclear energy is at the very
initial stage and studies are being made to utilize
nuclear energy. In the past, as the power generation
have all along been based on hydropower and gas
based generation, considerations have never been
made either as a preference or as an option to utilize
nuclear power for generating electricity.
As the demand for electricity has rapidly increased,
studies are being conducted for alternative energy
sources including nuclear energy capable of producing
power in high volumes and densities. As nuclear
energy is not an environmentally friendly source
of energy and malfunction of nuclear plants could
create drastic problem, it is thus consider to utilize
nuclear power as a last resort , when other means
cannot be implemented.
However, as an ongoing program on alternative energy
sources, it is planned to make following studies
with the aim for peaceful purpose and focused on
social and economic aspects and at the same time
invitations are made from possible sources both
inside and outside of the country for assistance
in the studies.
Study for the development of radioactive ore known
to exist in the country,
Building in house capability on nuclear energy to
assist energy sector long term planning.
(h) Biomass
Myanmar has a total population
of 51 million. Myanmar is fundamentally agriculture
based country, with more than 75 percent of total
population, i.e., 38 million living in rural areas
and engaged in rural agricultural activities. At
present, 64 percent of the primary energy is being
supplied in the form of fuel wood, charcoal and biomass.
Total forest coverage of Myanmar is 344,232 Sq.
km amounting to 50.8 percent of the total land area
of 676,577 Sq. km.
Wood fuel is the main source of domestic energy in
Myanmar. Firewood is used for cooking in rural areas
together with limited amount of agriculture wastes
such as cotton and pigeon pea stalks, sugar cane
, biogases, paddy straws, rice husk, sesame stalks
and palm leaves.
During 1988-89, the wood fuel consumption was about
80.46 percent of the total primary energy consumption
and gradually decreased to 64.07 percent. Fuelwood
consumption is directly proportional to population
growth and indirectly proportional to availability
of other energy sources such as Crude Oil, Natural
Gas, Hydropower and Coal.
The current level of wood fuel consumption is about
19.86 million cubic tons and supply sources are
natural forests, plantations, homestead gardens,
community forests and tops and lops. About one million
acres of forest have been clear felled to get the
above amount of wood fuel, which means that one million
acres of actual forests are depleting each year.
Measure are taken to control deforestation due to
wood fuel consumption and ways and means are being
implemented to utilize improved cook stoves that
have 10 - 25 percent efficiency over traditional
open fire stoves that have efficiency of 5 - 15
percent. Also production and utilizing of fuel sticks
and briquettes made from paddy husk, saw dust and
charcoal dust are being encouraged and private entrepreneurs
and some government agencies are now developing
and producing on commercial scale.
Biogas generation from animal residue are also encouraged
in rural areas. Since 1980 biogas generation is
being implemented in order to substitute fuelwood
scarcity in Central Myanmar region. Use of Biodigester
prevent deforestation and at the same time it control
pollution which improves health and sanitation standards
of the area and also biodigester residues can be
utilized as fertilizer.
3. Energy Efficiency and Conservation
In accordance with the guidance
of the Government, Ministry of Energy has laid down
Energy Policy and Strategy. The main objective of
the Policy is to utilize optimum amount of energy
efficiently and to save non renewable energy sources.
The Energy Strategy emphasized on the development
of all available energy resources of the country
and to increase the production level of existing
energy sources and at the same time to update the
unsuppressed energy demand.
Due to population growth and change in the economic
system, the demand for energy has increased. Thus
energy conservation measures and improvement of
efficiency of equipment are becoming essential.
Ministry of Energy in cooperation with New Energy
and Industrial Technology Development Organization
("NEDO") of Japan is planning to hold Energy Conservation
Seminar to a wide range of people related in energy
conservation, policy making and promotion. It aims
to provide practical training in the use of NEDO-DB.
Energy Planning Department ("EPD") of the Ministry
of Energy is forecasting energy demands by computer
energy modeling. In the database management of energy
demand and in the sectoral energy demand studies,
Database Administration Variable Output Input Data
("DBAVOID") computer software was used. For long
term final energy demand simulation system, Energy
Demand Evaluation Model ("MEDEE-S") was used.
Also, under the cooperation program between NEDO
and Foreign Economic Relation Department ("FERD")
of the Ministry of National Planning, Feasibilty
Study for Energy Conservation Model Project ("ECMP")
was launched. After completion of Feasibility Study,
energy conservation measures will be implemented
to selected plants and factories.
A continuous energy efficiency programme is being
implemented including DSM strategies involving energy
related groups, financial sector and institutes
of higher learning.
4. Future Programme
In order to implement future
plan for energy efficiency, conservation and sustainability,
the following keys issues are addressed and are
taken into account in drawing up a comprehensive
energy development programme:-
Each sector of energy has its own key issues which
are to be taken into account for implementation
of future development programme.
In the Petroleum sector, in order to meet
the increasing demand growth, the Government has
relaxed the policy on import of crude oil and petroleum
products. Also, joint venture operation with foreign
oil companies has realized improvement in the production
of petroleum, both in terms of crude oil and natural
gas, with major discoveries of natural gas reserves
in offshore area. Key issues in the petroleum sector
are as follows:-
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To reduce the gap between demand and
supply |
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To have more input in terms of financial
resources, equipment, machineries and facilities |
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To improve technology and management
systems |
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To promote private participation |
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To have more conducive terms and conditions
to attract more foreign direct investment |
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To formulate appropriate pricing mechanism |
In the Hydroelectricity sector,
it is estimated that the present hydropower installed
capacity of 1171.8 MW will increased to 2672.5 MW
in Year 2005 - 2006. In order to meet increasing
demand in electricity consumption, mini and medium
scale hydropower projects are to be implemented
in addition to major hydropower projects for domestic
supply that are currently under construction. Also,
some hydropower projects are earmarked and planned
to be constructed for export to neighboring countries,
such as Thailand and India. Key issues in the hydropower
sector are as follows:-
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To reduce the gap between demand and
supply |
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To have more input in terms of financial
resources, equipment, machineries and facilities |
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To improve technology and management
systems |
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To promote private participation |
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To have more conducive terms and conditions
to attract more foreign direct investment |
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To formulate appropriate pricing mechanism |
In the Coal sector, consumption
of coal has also increased and it is expected to
increase from 106,423 ton during the year 1999 -
2000 to 150,000 ton in the year 2000 - 2001 and
will eventually jump to nearly 400,000 ton per year
after the Development of Kalewa Coal Mine Development
Project. As Myanmar recently became a member of
ASEAN Forum on Coal, it has opened up opportunity
for investment in the coal sector. It has also opened
means to promote rural electrification by application
of Coal Technology and to implement power generation
in locations wherever feasible. Key issues in coal
sector are as follows:-
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To carry out extensive exploration works
to identify more proven coal reserves |
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To invite foreign direct investment
and technologies to utilize coal in power
generation as well as in industries |
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To promote private participation to
utilize coal in both power as well as non-power
generations |
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To introduce Clean Coal Technology for
protection of environmental degradation |
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To formulate appropriate pricing to
compete with other types of energy sources |
In the Renewable Energy sector,
Myanmar has abundant renewable energy sources such
as Wind, Solar, Geothermal, Nuclear and Biomass.
However, they are at the very initial stages and
presently studies, research and experimental works
can be performed except biomass which is the traditional
source of energy of the country. As most of the
population resides in rural areas, it depends heavily
on biomass, in the form of fuelwood, charcoal, agriculture
waste and animal residue. More development works
together with appropriate technologies are required
to be made in order to utilize Wind, Solar, Geothermal
and Nuclear Energy as future source of energy of
the country. Key issues in the renewable energy
sector are as follows:-
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To have adequate information on each
and every type of renewable energy sources
of the country |
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To encourage more inter-Ministries and
inter-departmental interaction and cooperation
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To promote private participation in
the development programme |
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To define and specify energy policy
incorporating renewable energy. |
In the Energy Efficiency and
Conservation (EEC), Myanmar is in the awareness
state due to lower cost of energy compared to other
countries. Thus, Myanmar has no specific EEC policy
at present, but as the energy consumption increased,
specific EEC policy will have to be formulated.
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