National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Policy, Strategy and Roadmap has defined targets on energy saving which has been defined by Ministry of Industry in 2016 has set target to reduce energy intensity 12% by 2020, 16% by 2025 and 20% by 2030 from base year 2012.

The target for energy efficiency, set by the Ministry of Energy in 2008, was 5% reduction in total energy consumption by 2015 and 8% by 2020 from base year 2005. The basis for these targets is in line with targets set by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. To strengthen the institutional setup, an energy efficiency and conservation division under the Directorate of Planning at Ministry of Industry was established in April 2014. Please mention few more words about the directorate of planning at Ministry of Industry such as how is it different than the ministry.

In 2014 the government of Myanmar released the National Energy Policy, which highlighted the importance of EE&C for the country’s long-term energy goals, and recognized the financial gap to finance projects, particularly in the industry sector. The National Energy Policy 2014 states the need to improve the availability of energy supply in Myanmar through the development of the country’s renewable energy resources and improvement in energy efficiency in all sectors of the economy. Various Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EE&C) objectives and work programs are included in the document, which are contained within the following policy framework:

  1. To conduct awareness raising campaign and capacity building regarding energy efficiency and conservation programs
  2. To prescribe relevant legal framework including laws, rules and regulations etc. required for the implementation of energy efficiency and conservation programs
  3. To establish a dedicated department responsible for successful implantation of energy efficiency and conservation programs
  4. To implement resources mobilization and exchange of experience of problem in coordination with international organisations who are working on energy efficiency and conservation programs
  5. To formulate funding mechanism in order to successfully implement energy efficiency and conservation programs

In 2015, the Government of Myanmar developed a long-term energy master plan, including EE&C elements with support from ADB. As part of this collaboration, the government released the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Policy, Strategy and Roadmap (2016). As part of this roadmap, the government identified Myanmar’s energy consumption patterns and future demand, as well as the potential to reduce energy consumption by 25% by addressing EE&C issues mainly on the industrial (8.84%), commercial (4.97%) and residential sectors (9.70%); an additional potential of 1.7% was identified in other sectors.

Myanmar has significant potential in industrial and commercial activities for substantial energy saving. The potential savings are estimated at 45% for the iron and steel industry, 65% for the pulp and paper industry, 35% for sugar mills due to their high electrical and thermal demands, and 4% for the thermal power plants. In overall, the average energy saving potential for the industry sector is about 20% and would lead to reduce the CO2 emission by 78,690 tons in 2020.

There is well known that the country needs large investments for the Energy Efficiency measures in sectors such as industry, buildings, transport, etc. Financing of EE&C programs in Myanmar is still at a very early stage. Although the majority of industrial energy efficiency investments are financially viable, most enterprises would rather invest in business expansion than promoting energy efficiency measures due to the cheap electricity price. The same also applies true for the commercial and industrial sector.

According to Myanmar Ministry of Energy, the country’s transmission system loss is getting better year by year but the 20% loss in electrical distribution in 2014 is still far worse than the world’s average (9%). Hence, this sector is becoming one of government’s priority for energy conservation. Through a 100 million USD governmental loan, the Myanmar’s government has confirmed to finance phasing out the old 6.6-kV systems in favour of an 11-kV network, and to expand the 33-kV systems. Transition to the higher voltage transformer is necessary in order to reduce the transmission loss.

In addition, as reported by ERIA on sectorial analysis of the energy consumption in Cambodia that more than half of savings (about 680 ktoe) will be biomass based, about 330 ktoe are electricity savings generated from heavy fuel oil, and 180 ktoe are diesel savings.

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