Since 2018, the Ministry of Mines and Energy have developed new sources of electricity and expanded its supply. In 2018, it noted, 86 per cent of villages across the country had a reliable electricity supply and has now reached 98.27 per cent, according to ministry secretary of state Ty Norin.

Norin revealed the figures during a press conference on the ministry’s achievements of the past five years, held by the Government Spokesperson Unit on August 9.

It noted that in line with government policy, there had been several key goals in the energy sector. They included the development of new generation sources, in line with a carefully thought out master plan for grid development. The ministry had also sought to reduce the cost of electricity – both to consumers and wholesale providers – and estimate projected demand going forward.

Norin said that in the past five years, the energy sector has developed an additional 1,597 megawatts, equivalent to a 60 per cent increase.

According to Norin, about 74 per cent of the Kingdom’s electricity is developed domestically, with the remainder imported from neighbouring countries, including Thailand, Vietnam and Laos.

“The growth of our transmission network has further stabilised the quality and reliability of the national power supply. The development of additional sources in recent times has meant we have reserves, and no longer face the kind of shortages we faced in 2019,” he said.

“On example is the increase in high-voltage transmission lines – from 2,141km in 2018 to 3,485.51km by the end of this year. We will have a total of 63 substations by the end of the year, but only had 33 in 2018. Just 20 of the 25 capital-provinces had reliable electricity supply back then, but now they all do,” he said.

“There are still 245 villages which we have no reached, but this represents less than two per cent of the villages in the Kingdom. They are typically very remote, flooded during the rainy season or actual floating villages. As you can imagine, it is very challenging providing a permanent electricity supply to these kinds of places,” he added.

He said, however, that they were trying to provide temporary access to electricity to the remaining villages through the provision of home solar systems. Some houses also used batteries and had a common battery charger in the village.

“A joint working group of the ministry and the Electricity Authority of Cambodia is working to supply electricity to the remaining villages,” he said.