ICBC provides $600 million loan for Phase 1 of 700 MW Sihanoukville CIIDG Coal-Fired Power Plant Construction Project

In May 2018, Cambodia’s Council of Ministers approved a proposal for the 700 MW Sihanoukville CIIDG Coal-Fired Power Plant Construction Project to be implemented on a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis through a 35-year concession agreement. Then, on April 15, 2020, Huadian Sihanoukville Power Generation Co Ltd. — a special purpose vehicle and joint venture of China Huadian Hong Kong Company Limited (CHDHK) and Cambodia International Investment Development Group (CIIDG) — signed a $600 million loan agreement with ICBC Asia and ICBC Phnom Penh Branch for Phase 1 of the 700 MW Sihanoukville CIIDG Coal-Fired Power Plant Construction Project. The purpose of the project is to construct a 700 MW coal-field power plant on a 54.9 hectare parcel of land in the coastal district of Stung Hav within Preah Sihanouk Province. The power plant will consist of two 350 MW supercritical coal-fired power units. An 8,000-ton coal berth and a 1.5-kilometer 230 kV transmission line will also be built. Under the terms of a 35-year concession agreement, Huadian Sihanoukville Power Generation Co Ltd. will sell the power to Électricité du Cambodge (EdC) for $0.0743 per kilowatt hour (kWh). The power plant will be constructed in two phases, with each phase capable of producing about 350 MW (net) of baseload power. Phase 1 was originally expected to be connected to the national grid by 2023, and Phase 2 was originally expected to be connected to the national grid by 2024. Southwest Electric Power Design Institute (SWEPDI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Power Engineering, is the EPC contractor responsible for the implementation of Phase 1. A formal groundbreaking ceremony for Phase 1 began on December 18, 2019. However, media reports indicate that the project’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) was not presented to the provincial government in a meeting until July 2020. At that meeting, the provincial government expressed support for the project, but stated the EIA still required national-level approval. Construction reportedly commenced on or around August 18, 2020. Huadian Sihanoukville Power Generation Co Ltd (HSPGC) reportedly put online the "number-two unit" of its 700MW coal-fired HSPGC Power Plant on December 16, 2022.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the Sihanoukville CIIDG Power Station 2 Project and the CIIDG–Huadian Sihanoukville Coal Power Plant Project. The Chinese project title is 中国华电柬埔寨燃煤电厂项目 or 柬埔寨西哈努克港2×350MW燃煤电厂项目. The Khmer project title is រោងចក្រអគ្គិសនី ដុត អានុភាព ២x៣៥០ មេ ហ្គា វ៉ ត់ របស់ ក្រុមហ៊ុន CIIDG និង CHDHK នៅ ខេត្ត ព្រះសីហនុ 2. Cambodia International Investment Development Group (CIIDG), according to Cambodia’s company register, is owned by the wife of Cambodian Senator Lao Meng Khin. CIIDG is linked to several energy-generation and transmission projects, including a 405 MW coal plant adjacent to this project. 3. Huadian Sihanoukville Power Generation Co Ltd. was legally incorporated in October 2019.

Number of official sources

4

Number of total sources

21