Cambodia commences hydro power generation at China-built 338MW project

Cambodia has started operations at the 338MW Russei Chrum Krom facility, which has been developed by China Huadian.

Considered to be the largest hydropower project, the project will supply electricity to underserved villages and factories in the country.

Prime Minister Hun Sen was quoted by Chinese news agency Xinhua as saying: "The dam will provide great benefits to both households and business establishments."

Located on the Stung Russei Chrum River in the western part of Koh Kong province, the plant has two power stations having combined annual output of 1.199 billion kWh (average).

While the upper station has a generation capacity of 206MW, the lower one will can generate up to 132MW.

The upper concrete-face rockfill dam comes with a maximum height of about 124m and had been operational since 2013.

The lower one is a roller-compacted concrete gravity dam with the maximum height of 58.5m.

The project was constructed by the Chinese corporation under a 35-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreement with the Cambodian government. It involved an investment of nearly $500m,

Renewable electricity from the project will be supplied to the Electricity Authority of Cambodia at a rate of 7.35 cents/kWh.

The government will earn annual tax revenue of $12.5m from the project, reports Xinhua.