Myanmar’s most populous region, Yangon, will experience even longer and more frequent power cuts after a generating plant in Mandalay Region’s Myingyan Township halted operations on Monday, the Yangon Electricity Supply Corporation said.
Sembcorp Industries, a Singapore firm owned by the city state’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek, said on Monday it had suspended operations at its 225 megawatt gas-fired power plant in the region’s Myingyan Township.
“Sembcorp will look to resume operations at the plant as soon as reasonably practicable, once conditions are safe,” the firm said in a statement to Singapore’s stock exchange. It referred to the revolution in Myanmar as “unrest” and assured its investors that “security measures are in place to safeguard the plant” and that “insurance coverage on the plant is currently maintained, particularly for cover in respect of property damage.”
Yangon Electricity Supply Corporation said difficulties at a gas-fired power plant owned by Hong Kong-listed V Power Holdings and the suspension of Sembcorp’s Mandalay plant cut 4,920 megawatt hours from the national grid as of Monday morning.
Yangon Electricity Supply Corporation said Tuesday that V Power and Sembcorp’s gas-fired plants in Myingyan Township, which supply the national grid, were forced to cease operations on Monday morning. As a result, the national grid lost 4,920 megawatt hours.
Sembcorp’s 225 MW gas-fired power plant opened in 2019 and VPower has run a 90 MW gas-powered power plant in Myingyan Township since 2019. VPower used to operate five power stations in Myanmar, with four ceasing operations in 2023. The plant in Myingyan is the last one.
V Power is listed on the Hong Kong Exchange, but has not released a public statement about any recent “material change” to its remaining business in Myanmar. However, in its annual statement for 2023, it recorded “a share of loss of approximately HK$700 million [about US$ 90 million] from a joint venture with investments of three power projects in Myanmar.”
Yangon Electricity Supply Corporation said it will cut electricity supply in some townships of Yangon.
A resident of the region’s North Dagon Township said on Tuesday that electricity was cut off at about 1 pm. The power cut lasted nearly nine hours. Today, electricity went off at 10 am, and it is not yet back,” the source said.
In Yangon, blackouts are normally shorter in the monsoon season, when hydropower dams deliver power. In Myanmar, 40 percent of domestic power production is generated by hydropower.
Monsoon power is, however, insufficient. Since the coup, blackouts have become commonplace throughout Myanmar, even in its commercial capital, Yangon. In other areas of the country, they are almost as habitual as airstrikes on primary schools and hospitals.
