Construction of a $1 billion Chinese-invested hydropower station has begun in Cambodia to facilitate the Southeast Asian country’s use of renewable energy, reports the South China Morning Post. This comes as the fallout from the Iran war constricts developing countries’ access to traditional fuel supplies.
Work on the Upper Tatay pumped-storage hydropower project in the hilly southwestern province of Koh Kong started on April 10, which is described as a future “green power bank” for Cambodia’s national grid.
The investment was big for Cambodia given its relatively small economy, said Jayant Menon, a visiting senior fellow at the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. It also came as Cambodia, like other developing countries, fretted over the price and availability of imported fuel due to Middle East bottlenecks and a lack of domestic refining, Menon said.