The electrification rate of all villages across the country has now reached 99% as of September this year since works have been accelerated to connect them to the power grid.

There are about 210 villages or one percent of the total 14,168 villages in the Kingdom that remain off-grid, said Heng Kunleang, director-general of Energy at the Ministry of Mines.

“The government’s goal of developing electrification is almost 99% of the total number of villages nationwide connected to the national grid and to other energy sources such as solar, biomass and biogas,” Kunleang told Khmer Times on Thursday.

“We only have 210 villages that are not connected to the grid because these villages are floating villages, villages on islands, and those without roads, difficult roads and flooded during the rainy season,” he said.

“However, people who live in those villages use alternative power sources such as home solar systems and other renewable energy sources for daily usage,” he said.

The challenges which have been posed by the Covid-19 pandemic also put electrification plans for the supply of power to non-electrified villages on hold, he said.

The government had set 100 percent of villages in the country to be electrified by 2020, but it failed to reach the target.

However, the ministry is working with development partners to install green power projects for remote homes such as solar energy.

The initiative demonstrates the government’s commitment to include innovation using rapidly deployable and decentralised renewable energy solutions, especially in the most remote areas where people need energy the most.

The Electricity du Cambodge (EDC) also said through the Electricity Development Fund, it has installed solar systems in more than 100,000 homes throughout the country and in rural areas, following the government’s policy to increase the energy supply to all villages.