Renewable Energy Sector

Renewable Energy Sector consist of following Sub-sectors:-

• Hydro Electricity Sub-sector

     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.

• Wind Energy Sub-sector

     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.

• Solar Energy Sub-sector

    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.

• Geothermal Energy Sub-sector

    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.

• Biomass Energy Sub-sector

    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.