Rooftop Solar Project Myanmar

Sunlabob Renewable Energy, a Lao venture-backed company that provides sustainable renewable solutions to underserved regions for electricity, has completed and commissioned a 92.6 kWp solar installation on the rooftop of Anita Asia, an Austrian garment factory.   A total of 356 solar panels mounted on the factory’s rooftop are capable of producing over 122,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of clean electricity on an annual basis.

“Anita Asia’s investment in solar power is firmly rooted in the company’s philosophy of sustainable economic development and continuous improvement across all areas of our operations,” said Stephan Seidel, Managing Director of Anita Asia.

The system, designed to operate for a minimum of 25 years, will reduce the cost of Anita Asia to lower the factory’s consumption of grid-based electricity, as well as diesel fuel in the event of grid outages.   “Electricity prices from the main grid in Myanmar will only increase. Anita Asia’s solar power assets will be a cost-saving hedge for many years to come as electricity costs continue to rise,” said Evan Scandling, MD of Sunlabob’s Myanmar office, which has operated in the country since 2014.   Anita Asia’s solar installation comes as the country’s second-ever grid-connected solar system, after its first was also installed by Sunlabob in late 2016 at Junction City, a multi-use commercial complex in downtown Yangon.

Meanwhile, Sunlabob has been very active in the country’s off-grid arena, as it successfully finalized its mini-grid project, funded by the Japanese government, having connected 11 solar mini-grids in remote villages of Myanmar to provide power to local households.

The off-grid projects across Myanmar are part of a huge government-led scheme, which involved private companies, in order to bring electricity to the entire country by 2030.

According to the World Bank data, Myanmar has one of the lowest electrification rates in the world with an estimated 84% of households in rural parts of the country without electricity connection.