The southeast Asian nation is presently making use of a month-to-month capability charge on rooftop PV methods and the federal government could halve it in an effort to spur extra photo voltaic installs. A number of extra hurdles, nonetheless, ought to be eliminated to make sure additional progress.
Set up of rooftop PV is closely penalized in Cambodia with photo voltaic arrays presently charged a month-to-month capability charge – round US$0.07/kWh for bigger methods and $0.84/kWh for smaller methods, in line with the report “Position paper on renewable energy in Cambodia” by the European Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia (EuroChamb). It’s advocating for the cancelation of the costs for each the manufacturing and industrial sectors.
Based on the laws launched by the Electrical energy Authority of Cambodia (EAC) in 2018, rooftop PV system homeowners can not entry cheaper off-peak vitality at nighttime nor could they export extra photo voltaic electrical energy to the grid. Moreover, photo voltaic is capped at 50% of the contracted load, and methods constructed previous to the laws can not function.
“It’s evident that this tariff and regulation coverage shouldn’t be solely discouraging investments in non-public photo voltaic panels however successfully blocking any chance for the business to scale back the price of electrical energy and obtain sustainability objectives,” Massimiliano Tropeano, sustainability and garment professional at EuroChamb Cambodia instructed pv journal. Cambodia presently has one of many highest electrical energy costs in Asia, with industrial, agricultural, and business shoppers paying between $0.1370 to $0.1723/kWh.
New insurance policies
The Cambodian authorities has rolled out insurance policies to decrease the value of electrical energy and appeal to international funding. It’s reportedly contemplating halving the capability cost for rooftop PV methods. “We all know the federal government may scale back the capability cost levied on the photo voltaic PV methods, additionally due to the varied messages coming from the business and us. However, even a slash of fifty% – rumors are saying so – is not going to be ample to open a considerable photo voltaic market that may very well be advantageous for everybody,” Tropeano stated.
Different insurance policies comprise the approval final 12 months of a legislation that features tax and customized duties exemptions for renewable vitality. Photo voltaic panels are presently exempt from import tax, however there’s a 5% obligation on PV inverters bought from China, and seven% from elsewhere.
Cambodia’s financial system remains to be principally pushed by the garment manufacturing sector. The present laws frustrate rooftop PV’s potential to supply decrease electrical energy payments, making it unattractive for many factories. “All of the factories have an funding perspective of most 5 years. The photo voltaic methods proposed to them at this level have an unattractive return on funding (ROI) of eight to 10 years,” stated Tropeano. “Even when the capability cost is slashed by 50%, the ROI will likely be oscillating between six to eight years – nonetheless unappealing and never sufficient for a garment manufacturing facility.”
PPAs
One other regulation presently stopping the enlargement of the Cambodian PV market is the unavailability of bilateral energy buy agreements (PPAs). The state-owned utility Electricite du Cambodge (EDC) is the one approved entity to signal PPAs for solar energy, thus prohibiting renewable vitality licensees and particular financial zones from putting in solar energy. Based on EDC, the Cambodian grid can not maintain variable solar energy output, thereby limiting the quantity of photo voltaic on the grid to fifteen% of the electrical energy era combine.
Total, photo voltaic accounted for six.36% of Cambodia’s vitality combine in 2021, in line with knowledge from the EDC. The nation’s whole put in capability totaled 376.8 MW in 2021. In 2020, there have been 296.80 MW of photo voltaic put in, representing 3.38% of the vitality combine.
Photo voltaic is the one renewable vitality supply predicted to develop within the nation in 2022, to 436.80 MW of put in capability, corresponding to six.77% of the vitality combine. Hydro is the biggest supply of renewable vitality within the nation, with 1,331.70 MW of put in capability in 2021, or 44,17% of the vitality combine.
Cambodia imported 26.55% of its vitality combine in 2021, with 56.91% coming from Laos, 33.95% from Vietnam, and 9.14% from Thailand. Figures are anticipated to extend in 2022, with the nation importing 31.79% of its vitality combine. Imports from Laos and Thailand will develop, totaling 62.45% and 10.47% of imported vitality, respectively, with imports from Vietnam reducing to 27.08%.
Based on a recent report by the United Nations Improvement Programme (UNDP), there may be an estimated $903 million funding alternative in photo voltaic PV in Cambodia.
