Us-based energy giant General Electric (GE) signed a sales agreement yesterday to outfit the new 135-megawatt coal-fired plant in Preah Sihanouk province that is being constructed by a subsidiary of Japanese electronics manufacturer Toshiba.

According to the agreement, GE will supply the boiler, electrostatic precipitator and steam turbine generation systems for Toshiba Plant Systems and Services Corporation for an undisclosed amount. The 135-megawatt plant – the Kingdom’s third – is owned by Malaysia’s Cambodian Energy II Co Ltd (CEL2) and is expected to come online in late 2019.

Massimo Gallizioli, an executive from GE’s Steam Power Systems arm, said that the deal was a first for the company in Cambodia and was part of its expansion across the region.

“In terms of equipment and technology, this is our first integrated power package deal in the 100 to 300 megawatt range in both Cambodia and the ASEAN region,” he said. “We believe the CEL2 plant will be a good showcase for other emerging markets with similar energy needs.”

Registered in August 2016, CEL2 shares the same board of directors as Cambodian Energy Co Ltd (CEL), a subsidiary of Malaysia’s Leader Universal Holdings that operates an existing 100-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Sihanoukville. The government granted CEL2 the rights to develop the plant after it scrapped a contentious hydropower project in Koh Kong province’s Areng valley.

Keo Rottanak, director of Electricite du Cambodge (EdC), said that while Cambodia was meeting current levels of electricity demand, despite lingering challenges to connect the whole country to the national grid, the plant would serve future needs as manufacturing and industrialisation take off.

“If there is no additional investment into power generation at this time, by 2019 with such a fast growing economy like Cambodia’s – there will be a lack of supply,” he said, adding that the government needs to push for immediate energy investment packages.

“More projects will ensure that all manufacturing can operate efficiently in order to provide jobs and also to ensure that supply reaches all people across the country,” he said.

Yesterday, GE also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Mines and Energy to install carbon emissions monitoring technology, aiming to give the ministry a better understanding of the level of pollution coal-fired plants emit.