📋 Tender Overview
Project Name
Utility-Scale Battery Energy Storage Project
Project Number
59110-001
Country / Economy
Cambodia
Project Status
Proposed
Project Type / Modality of Assistance
Grant
Loan
Source of Funding / Amount
Loan: Utility-Scale Battery Energy Storage Project
Concessional ordinary capital resources lending US$ 40.00 million
Sector / Subsector
Energy / Electricity transmission and distribution
Gender
Some gender elements
Description
The proposed project will (i) install a 200 MW/400 MWh of utility-scale BESS at a substation in the north of Phnom Penh to supply ancillary service for stabilizing the transmission grid and improving power quality, avoiding curtailment and (ii) enhance technical and regulatory capacity of EDC for technically and financially sustainable BESS operation. The project will aim at deploying at least 2100 MW / 4100 MWh of BESS capacity with grid-forming inverter in various locations across Cambodia mostly for ancillary services, peak load shifting and grid congestion relief. The total project cost is estimated at $62.1 million, of which $40 million is to be financed with ADB concessional OCR, $20 million from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) through the ASEAN Catalytic Green Finance Facility Green Recovery Program (ACGF GRP) and the remainder through co-financing.
Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy
Cambodia has substantially increased power generation capacity while reducing imports from neighboring countries. Domestic power generation has rapidly increased from 8.68 TWh in 2020 to 17.85 TWh in 2024, while imports decreased from 3.06 TWh in 2020 to 1.57 TWh in 2024. Such a sharp domestic electricity generation increase has been mainly driven by 1,201 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy capacity addition in 20202024. Solar photovoltaic (PV) is the least cost and the fast-growing generation technology in the domestic renewable energy power capacity, which has increased from 105 MW in 2020 to 827 MW in 2024. The government plans to spur further renewable energy capacity, adding up to 31% of installed capacity of solar PV and up to 7% of installed capacity of wind power. By 2030, solar PV and wind power are expected to account for 38% of the total generation capacity in Cambodia. In particular, solar PV is considered critical as it supplements seasonal variability of hydropower outputs between dry and rainy seasons throughout the year in Cambodia.
Further increase in variable renewable energy capacity by 2030, especially solar PV, requires strengthening of the transmission grid system by scaling up battery energy storage systems (BESS), which can provide an ancillary service, peak-shifting, and load smoothing functions to stabilize the transmission grid and evacuate growing renewable electricity. EDC sees cumulative capacity of solar PV will reach 2,000 MW by 2028 and 5,390 MW by 2030. The updated Power Development Master Plan (PDP) 20202040 planned to install 1,100 GW of BESS capacit
