Myanmar switches on 20 MW of solar

Green Power Energy (GPE), a subsidiary of Myanmar’s Gold Energy, said in late December that it had started operating a 20 MW solar plant in Myit Thar, Myanmar.

GPE built the project on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis, after winning a bid in Myanmar’s second tender for utility-scale PV projects. The country’s second tender was launched in June 2021 – just a few months after Myanmar’s military coup in February. It was aimed at independent power producers (IPP) and BOO projects. Myanmar launched its first solar tender in May 2020.

The Taung Daw Gwin project features 45,980 PV modules from an undisclosed manufacturer and 1,500 V string inverters from Chinese manufacturer Sungrow. While PV projects tendered in Myanmar’s second tender are moving ahead, reports from exiles point to problems related to the construction of large-scale solar projects that were allocated in the first tender. Sungrow secured a project in the 2020 tende, but it was canceled in April 2022, for example.

The new facility is expected to generate 25.1 MW of electricity per year, according to a statement by GPE. It is linked to the Taung Daw Gwin substation and is connected to the Burmese grid via a 33 kV transmission line that the company built.

“GPE is deeply committed to infrastructure development and sustainability in Myanmar,” said GPE’s Managing Director U Zaw Win. “This and other renewable energy projects we are involved in will increase the contribution of renewable energy to the national grid while advancing the country’s national electrification goals.”

The company also commissioned the Thapyay Wa solar project in Myanmar in December 2021, with a total installed capacity of 30 MW. According to the latest statistics from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Myanmar had an installed PV capacity of 80 MW by the end of 2021.