By Giwa SHILE
Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, could see periodic power outages continue until late May due to an electricity shortage attributed to climate change and drought, the Energy Ministry said Monday.
The planned outages, which occurred for several hours on multiple days earlier in some Phnom Penh neighbourhoods, may last until the fourth week of May, Victor Jona, director-general of the ministry’s energy department, told dpa.
The government was asking people to minimise their electricity usage.
Large businesses could use their own diesel generators for backup power, Jona said.
Prime Minister, Hun Sen, said the nation was facing a 400-megawatt electricity shortfall due to a water shortage which had led to cuts in the country’s hydroelectric power generation, the Khmer Times reported on Monday.
“Climate change is not only affecting Cambodia, but also the whole region,” Sen said.
Nearly half of Cambodia’s 2,208 megawatts of power generated domestically in 2018 was from hydropower with about a third coming from coal, according to government figures.
National utility company, Electricite du Cambodge, said on Friday that electricity demand had risen and led to power supply disruptions due to extremely hot weather, the Times reported.
The utility was scheduling either morning or afternoon power outages for six hours daily throughout the country.=====DPA
