Tigyit power plant
{{#badges:CoalSwarm}}Tigyit power station is a 120-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Shan State, Myanmar.
Contents
Location
The map below shows the location of the plant, in Piinlaung Township, Taunggyi District, Shan State.
Background on Plant
The Tigyit power plant (also known as the Tayyit or Takyit power plant) is the only operating coal-fired power station in Myanmar. The Pa’O Youth Organisation reported that "in September 2001 the regime’s Vice-Senior General Maung Aye arrived and chose the place for the power plant, instructing local military to confiscate over 100 acres of local farm lands. No compensation was provided. China National Heavy Machinery Corporation and Eden Group of Myanmar built the plant under the supervision of the Energy Ministry. Construction began in September 2002 and was completed in April 2005." Operations began in 2005, under the management of China National Heavy Machinery Corporation, with local companies Eden Group and Shan Yoma Nagar. [1]
The plant has two 60 megawatt generating units and "produces 600 gigawatt hours (Gwh) electricity annually, using 640,000 tons of coal per year from the Tigyit coal mine just one and a half miles away. The electricity is transmitted to a substation in Kalaw. According to Mizzima News, 65 MW of the electricity is slated for transmission to the Pinpet iron factory ... The plant also exports electricity to the nearby Nagar cement plant."[1]
The plant was temporarily closed in 2014, when it ignored a waste management request issued by the Ministry of Electricity and Energy. The request was issued after the ministry received reports about the impact of waste from the plant on the surrounding environment. In 2015, the plant was granted a 22-year license to recommence operations after it pledged to upgrade the plant and conduct the necessary waste management procedures.[2]
In April 2016 it was reported that China’s Wuxi Huagaung Electric Power Engineering is upgrading the Tigyit plant. A tender to operate the coal-fired power plant under build-operate-transfer terms was issued in 2015 and Wuxi Huagaung was selected as the winner.[3]
Operation at the plant restarted in 2017. In August 2019, the central government voted to extend the operation period of the plant for three more years. Locals have protested the decision, saying the plant has exceeded the land use limits placed on its mining and operation, and built up piles of coal waste, polluting local water and agricultural lands.[4]
Plant Details
- Sponsor: China National Heavy Machinery Corporation, Eden Group, Shan Yoma Nagar.
- Location: Piinlaung Township, Taunggyi District, Shan State, Myanmar
- Coordinates: 20.431292, 96.703524 (exact)
- Status: Operating
- Gross capacity: 120 MW (Units 1 & 2: 60 MW)
- Type: Subcritical
- In service: 2004-05
- Coal type:
- Coal source:
- Source of financing:
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Pa’O Youth Organisation, Poison Clouds: Lessons from Burma’s largest coal project at Tigyit, Pa’O Youth Organisation, January 2011, page 24. (Pdf)
- ↑ Kyi Kyi Sway, "Official speaks out against coal power," MM Times, 10 November 2016
- ↑ Aung Shin, "Chinese firm to restart Myanmar’s only coal plant," Myanmar Times, 28 April 2016
- ↑ "Myanmar Angers Coal Region Residents by Extending Life of Polluting Chinese-run Mine," Radio Free Asia, 2019-10-17
