Pricing talks on wind energy project underway

Pricing talks on wind energy project underway

State-run Electricité du Cambodge (EDC) and Singapore-based The Blue Circle are in preliminary talks on the price of wind generated power, as senior officials place high hopes for having the renewable energy factor into the nation’s energy mix soon.

The two parties are in the initial stages of determining a price for power from the 80-mW wind turbine project as the company completes a comprehensive study on wind energy and a wind turbine project on Bakor mountain in Kampot province, said Victor Jona, director-general of Energy at Ministry of Mines and Energy.

After completing the study, they will move on to discussing the investment required. The pricing of wind power is crucial to that process and will require more talk, he said.

“The EDC and the firm have not yet reached an agreement on the price. The firm has offered a price at over $.06 per kWh. The EDC, having seen solar PV generate pricing at 3.88 cent per kWh, wants to wait and see as the wind price, as offered, is unacceptable,” Jona told Khmer Times last Friday.

The Blue Circle is the leading renewable energy company in Southeast Asia and was granted a licence by the Ministry of Mines and Energy to conduct feasibility studies on renewable energy generated from wind in Cambodia, especially in Kampot province, which the company has chosen as the first site for investment in the Kingdom.

Major energy sources in Cambodia include hydroelectric dams, coal-fired power plants, solar farms and imported power. Along with the proposed wind turbine project in Kampot province, another 100-mW wind energy project is in the feasibility study stage. It is to be located in Mondulkiri province. Khmer Times