Rural solar electrification projects to cover 49,966 households in over 1,000 villages this FY

Rural solar electrification (mini-grid) projects have so far brought green electricity to 49,966 households in 1,056 villages in the current financial year 2022-2023, according to a workshop to spur rural electrification.
Between 2016-2017 FY and 2021-2022 FY, this rural electrification project through a household solar power system provided electricity access to 418,363 households in 9,163 villages and the solar mini-grid electrified 38,913 households in 162 villages with 126 projects. Those projects contributed adequate power supply to 2.3 million people of 457,276 households in 9,325 villages. Additionally, 16,088 public solar power projects expand electric city access to the roads with 53,922 lamp posts. Furthermore, power distribution reached 1,338 small and medium scale enterprises as well.
The Department of Rural Development under the Ministry of Cooperatives and Rural Development has covered 35.6 per cent of remote places under off-grid rural electrification projects.
According to a survey of the Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP), a global knowledge and technical assistance programme administered by the World Bank, Myanmar supplied electricity to households from tier 1 to tier 5. This FY, there is a plan to reach 48,751 households and three mini-grid projects are planned to cover 1,215 households in eight villages.—TWA/GNLM