The road to Mandalay: APR Energy’s 100MW thermal power plant in Myanmar now operational

It will provide electricity to over 6m people.

The road to Mandalay may not be smooth and basic infrastructure is yet to be built, but since the the US and EU lifted sanctions on Myanmar in 2013, the country is already experiencing the greatest investment boom South East Asia has seen in a generation.

But to support this massive socio-economic development, a reliable source of electricity throughout the country is critical. Myanmar’s electrification level and per capita electricity consumption are among the lowest in Asia, which means there is a vast potential for power development.

With 75% of the population unable to access reliable electricity, APR Energy, a global leader in fast-track power solutions, comes at a perfect timing.

APR Energy’s power plant based in Kyaukse, in the Mandalay Region, provides the Myanmar Electric Power Enterprise (MEPE) with a guaranteed minimum of 82 megawatts of power generation and will enable the provision of electricity and power to more than six million people, or roughly 10% of the population.

Within only three months, APR Energy was able to transform a vast field in Kyaukse into one of the country’s biggest thermal plants. Fueled by Myanmar’s indigenous natural gas resources, the plant features 68 of the newest generation CAT low-emission mobile gas power modules (GPMs) and will offer one of the cleanest power generation solutions in Myanmar. 

According to Clive Turton, Managing Director Asia Pacific at APR Energy, “We are a large-scale, fast-track power supplier. We have a fleet of GE™ 2500+ turbines which we can deploy anywhere in the world in three months’ time. There’s no other company in the world that can do that."

The contract for the plant, which was signed in February 2014, was the first agreement between a US company and the government of Myanmar for power generation since the lifting of sanctions. "We were pleasantly surprised with the openness and transparency of the process when we got involved. We do this business all over the world, but here, the cooperativeness and helpfulness of the government made it actually a relatively easy process," notes Turton.

APR Energy's contract term in Myanmar is only for two years, but Turton looks forward to having it longer than expected. "We expect to be able to demonstrate to the Ministry that we can operate more efficiently and more reliably than anybody else on the grid. And I hope that if we can demonstrate that, they’d be happy to keep our plant longer term," he adds.

Following its landmark power contract in Myanmar, Turton hopes to do more business in the region. "We’ve gone from having nothing in Asia to having business of 500MW across Myanmar, Bangladesh, Australia, and Indonesia. I hope to do much more business over the years. There’s a lot of opportunity to place large-scale gas turbine plants in other Southeast Asian countries and across the Asia Pacific."

To view the photo gallery featuring APR Energy's power plant in Myanmar, click here.