7.7.1 Biomass resources in Cambodia

Biomass resources such as wood and agricultural residues are abundant in Cambodia. It is estimated that biomass fuel accounted for some 80% of the national energy consumption (MIME 2001) but biomass fuel used for power generation is limited for a few small-scale projects and negligible amount among the total national power production. Woody biomass accounts for more than 95% of the biomass energy used in the country.

According to our initial survey, rice husk and some other agricultural residues, old rubber wood occurred as the result of new planting and forest wood from plantations and managed natural forests are high potential energy source for electricity generation. The status of those high potential biomass resources is described below:

(i) Rice Husk: In 2003, rice was cultivated in 2.3 million ha of the field and 4.7 million ton was produced (MAFF 2003). The CQGEN3 program which is funded by European Commission to promote the use of cogeneration in ASEAN countries has conducted a pre-investment study for a potential biomass-fired cogeneration project of 1.5MW electrical capacity at the Angkor Kasekam Roongroeung rice mill just outside Phnom Penh.

(ii) Cashew Nuts Shell: The cashew Anacardium occidentals is a tree in the flowering plant family, Anacardiaceae. Cashew nut is the single seed of the cashew fruit. Cashew nuts trees have been planted 37,140 ha in Cambodia (MAFF 2004) and the number of grower is increasing. The production in Cambodia would be 14,000 t/yr.

(ii) Other Agricultural Residues: Bagasse is the residue of sugar processing from sugarcane.

It represents 30% of total sugarcane weight. Direct combustion power generating system has been widely introduced to the sugar processing factory in the major sugar production countries. Cambodia produced 330,649 t of sugarcane in 2003. The production of cassava in 2003 was 330,649 t and the area of coconut farm was 27,054 ha. The productions of coconut and cassava residues are not known. The peanut production in 2003 was 18,483 t. Peanuts shells represent approximately 30% of the total weight of the peanuts.

(iv) Woody Biomass from Forests : The 95% of population is dependent on woodfuel for cooking (NIS 1999) and the biomass energy covered 86% of the total national energy supply (ADB 1996). The total fuel wood consumption was estimated about 6 million m3, while log production estimated 1.5 million m3 in 1995 (World Bank and others 1995).

(v) Plantations: There are total 11,125 ha of forest plantations mainly with Acacia spp. and Eucalyptus spp. in Cambodia (2003). The purpose of plantation of most case is production of wood chip materials for export.

(vi) Tree Farming: Tree farming of fast growing species is an appropriate method of supplying

biomass for village level electrification. Anlong Ta Mei Community Energy Cooperative in Battambang province, the only biomass electricity generation operating in practical manner in Cambodia uses tree farming system for fuel supply.

(vii) Community Forestry: Community forestry (CF) is recognized as an important strategy to manage the forest at sustainable manner in Cambodia. The majority case of CF activity is managing existing primary or degraded forest rather than reforestation by planting.