The 400MW Lower Sesan II Hydropower Dam will provide Ratanakkiri province with 50MW of electricity via a newly completed substation that was officially launched last week, said a provincial electricity authority official.

The official, who declined to be named, told The Post on Sunday that the substation links the national grid to the dam through a 102km transmission line with a 230kV capacity.

The $781 million Lower Sesan II is located near the confluence of the Sesan and Srepok rivers in Sesan district’s Phluk commune in Stung Treng province and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Hun Sen in September 2017.

The official noted that electricity demand in the province is between 20 and 25MW in the dry season and 12MW in the rainy season.

“The substation will bring electrical power to distribute throughout the province. We are building more transmission lines to expand electrification into more remote rural areas.

“Though the task of rural electrification is not yet complete, it is planned to be realised within the next five years. The additional 50MW will be enough to meet the ensuing demand,” he said.

Ratanakkiri Provincial Hall Administration director Neang Sam Ath told The Post on Sunday that 206,000 people in the province stand to benefit from the new substation.

“The substation will help owners of local businesses and handicrafts run their operations more smoothly and will assist in attracting more provincial development,” he said.

Cambodia planned to increase its power supply to 2,870MW by the end of last year, up from 2,650.26MW in 2018, the Electricity Authority of Cambodia said in its 2018 Annual Report.

Keo Rottanak, the director-general of state-run electricity supplier Electricite du Cambodge (EdC), previously said the EdC is ramping up its efforts to secure 1,000MW more by the end of the year, through sources such as coal-fired power stations, solar farms and low-cost power purchases.