A Crippling Energy Sector
The podcast conversation with Guillaume de Langre is a valuable insight into the inner workings of a country in turmoil. As an adviser to the Myanmar Ministry of Electricity and Energy, he brings a unique perspective on how the military coup has not only destabilized the nation, but also hindered its ability to provide basic necessities for its people. He paints a picture of a junta unable and unwilling to deal with the complexities of managing the electrical grid, leaving the citizens of Myanmar to suffer in the darkness. His words are powerful, painting a vivid picture of the dire situation and the human toll it takes. It is a must-listen for anyone looking to understand the depths of the crisis in Myanmar.
“The burden of that increased global price of gas was on the company, not the ministry, so that company decides to shut down a lot of power plants in the country.”
“A Chinese Hong Kong company called ‘V power’ had started producing a lot of the emergency gas plants [in Myanmar before the coup]. Now [after the coup], that company says, ‘We believe that the Ministry of Electricity and Energy is probably not going to be able to pay us long term for the electricity that we're supplying to it. So we prefer stopping production right now rather than taking the risk of producing and not getting paid, combined with the fact that international gas prices were increasing”.
The company was importing gas at a higher price, but selling electricity that was produced by burning that gas at a fixed price to the to the government. So the burden of that increased global price of gas was on the company, not the ministry, so that company decides to shut down a lot of power plants in the country, including two big power plants around Yangon, and other one in Kyauk Phyu in Rakhine, and another one, in Myin Gyan or Magway.
That is a major blow to the power sector at the time! On top of that, you start having a tax on power lines. In last August, and then in November, there were reports of attacks on power lines that connected some dams in Kayah state. Anyone who follows the situation in Myanmar pretty closely well know that Kayah state is a hotspot of the confrontation between PDFs and the junta. Now, some PDFs blew up key power lines that connected three dams to Naypyidaw with the explicit purpose of disconnecting of reducing the power supply to Nay Pyi Daw. Of course, that's not really how a power grid operates because the electricity as soon as it's injected into the system kind of runs free. So it's not really like a pipeline or water, it's a bit different.
Nevertheless, what happened is that they blew up those power lines and they prevented any electrical engineers from coming to repair those power lines and they're still preventing them to this day. So that took out another chunk of power generation from the grid.”