Cambodia tender secures lowest solar power price in Southeast Asia

Cambodia’s first solar auction has set an electricity price the Asian Development Bank (ADB) says is a record low for Southeast Asia of $0.03877/kWh.

The 60 MW tender was opened in February to secure generation capacity as part of the planned 100 MW National Solar Park launched in June 2017.

The ADB yesterday announced the tender conducted by electric utility Electricite du Cambodge (EDC) had attracted 26 bidders, with Thai-based private equity company Prime Road Alternative Company Limited lodging the lowest bid.

“The record low prices show the power of competition,” said ADB office of public-private partnerships director Siddharta Shah, in a press release issued by the multilateral lender. “This is a new era for renewable energy development in Cambodia and the region, and particularly for solar power generation. This is good news for EDC and the people of Cambodia. We believe more governments in the region will adopt auctions as a strategy to procure renewable energy generation capacity and this structure and tariff will serve as a benchmark for future projects.”

The electric utility has supplied the land and transmission access for the National Solar Park with the ADB supplying a loan plus climate finance backing to help fund a new transmission line and substation for the project in Kampong Chhnang province.

The ADB acted as transaction adviser on the tender with the governments of Canada and Singapore helping with project preparation work.

Cambodia has only one operational solar project, a 10 MW facility developed by Singaporean company Sunseap in Bavet.