I was born in India they lived in
California for 25 years before moving to
Myanmar growing up in India I was used
to blackouts just like here in Myanmar
but I never thought that one day
California will be in the same boat
California one of the richest states in
the u.s. has a new normal
blackouts this blackouts are not caused
by shortage of electricity like here in
Myanmar their pre-emptive measures by
the local utilities to prevent fires the
local utilities the likes of y es e mes
C and es e here in Myanmar turn off
their big power lines whenever they fear
that they could lead to fires and that
is because those power lines have caused
many fires in 2018 in one of the biggest
and deadliest fires 600 square
kilometers of land was burned down
destroying everything in its path
including an entire town and claiming 85
lives so now
PG&E one of the biggest utility in the
country just turns off the power during
the dry and windy season when there is
high fire risk and when they do that all
the cities and towns receiving power
through those power lines are left
without power imagine that if due to a
fire risk in bago division we have to
turn
of the big power lines bringing power
from Kia to Yangon in the months of
March and April when it is hot and there
is high fire risk can you imagine that
now let me explain why that happens and
why it matters even here in Myanmar in
the last century when the current
electrical infrastructure was developed
we had to generate electricity from
sources like hydro just like we do here
in Myanmar now the trouble with hydro is
that you need the river water flowing
down from the top of the hill from a
significant height so we have to build
this hydropower plants like the upper
pond long project near the hills of kara
and Shan what that means is that we can
only generate electricity far away from
where we need it for example we need
electricity here in Yangon but there are
no Hills with rivers flowing down near
here so we have to move the electricity
all the way from kara or Sun using what
are called transmission lines
transmission lines are those big power
lines that you would normally see while
driving along the highway such a system
of generating lots of power from a big
power plant beet hydro or thermal and
then moving the electricity using
transmission lines is called a
centralized generation and distribution
system now this transmission lines are
not like the ordinary power lines that
come into our homes or businesses these
power lines carry a lot of energy so
sometimes due to a fault or high winds
they can create really big sparks that
it that
good cause the bush or the grass
underneath them to catch fire
now risk of fire and blackouts is not
the only drawback of the centralized
power system a single electrical failure
plunged a large part of the South
American continent into darkness
disrupting the lives of 48 million
people and it's not just what has
happened but what could happen
blackouts can be caused by cyberattacks
of the centralized system as a result of
all these issues with the centralized
system even in countries with hundred
percent electrification micro grid
utilities are on the rise like this
community that is in helping themselves
by building a micro grid utility a micro
grid utility is a small utility that is
they serve a small area or a campus if
it serves a town or a number of villages
like here in Myanmar we call them a mini
grid a mini grid and a micro grid are
essentially the same but they differ in
size both of them generate the
electricity locally and distribute it
over not more than a few kilometers and
modern micro grids and mini grids use
renewable sources of energy like solar
because the electricity is generated
near where we need it where people live
say using solar and the Sun shines
everywhere there is no need to move the
electricity over hundreds of kilometers
using big power lines
such a system of many greats and
microgrids
is called a decentralized generation and
distribution system decentralized
generation has been enabled by advances
in technologies like solar and the
widespread adoption worldwide and they
associated price drops so even in
countries without hundred percent
electrification like India and Nigeria
they're betting on mini grids big time
in India they expect 10,000 mini grids
in Nigeria they want to electrify the
remaining 40% of their population using
mini grids there is a paradigm shift
happening in the power sector worldwide
there is a new way for us to get our
electricity now here in Myanmar the
centralized system reaches only about 35
to 40 percent of the population that
means 60 percent of the population
mostly living in rural areas have none
of this big power lines come anywhere
near the villages where they live and
the World Bank estimates that Myanmar
needs 20 to 30 billion dollars to
complete the centralized system and to
achieve 100% electrification has planned
in the National electrification plan
however five years after the plan was
adopted those funds are yet to be
identified now here is the thing with
mini grids and micro grids we no longer
have to wait for the government to do
something
businesses can set up micro grids in
their campuses on the rooftops of
buildings and factories to help
themselves and to help the country to
reduce the burden on the already
overburdened centralized system
entrepreneurs and private companies can
build mini grids using solar to
electrify villages that are far away
from the centralised system I want to
leave you with a thought perhaps Myanmar
can leapfrog into the future by
embracing mini grids and micro grids to
electrify the rest of the country and to
stamp out blackouts forever
[Applause]