| Home to the drainage basins of four large rivers; the Ayeyarwaddy, Chindwin, Thanlwin, and Sittaung, Myanmar is blessed with its abundant hydropower resource. The country’s power supply relies heavily on hydropower that currently contributing close to 69% of its total installed capacity. Hydropower is also one of the key sectors that lure foreign direct investments, with $8.2 billion being funnelled into the country within 2010 and 2011. The Ministry of Electricity and Energy is in plans of implementing a large number of hydropower projects due to the sky rocket demand of power supply throughout the country. |
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| Figure 1-4: Major Rivers & Existing Major Hydropower Schemes in the Union of Myanmar |
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| (source: Myanmar Energy Master Plan 2016) |
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| Quick Facts on Hydropower in Myanmar |
| • | World Bank reported that Myanmar has more than 100 GW of recognised theoretical potential, 46 GW of feasible potential has been identified for possible development and a number of 43 dams are under construction or planning. |
| • | The annual inflow of water resources is 1,081.3 cubic kilometres (km3) and current percentage of annual usage of water cultivation is 6%. |
| • | Ministry of Electricity and Energy will build an additional of 13 hydropower plants up to 2020 with a total capacity of 2,572 MW. Local enterprises will develop 9 hydropower plants with a total capacity of 580 MW. Joint ventures with foreign investors are planned for the development of 44 hydropower projects totalling 42,150 MW. |
| • | At present, the Electricity Supply Enterprise has 32 small and medium hydropower stations – generally ranging between 1 MW and 10 MW in capacity- all of which have been built by the government outside the Grid system supplying electricity to the rural areas.
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