Cambodia’s government on Friday approved a hydropower dam and solar energy plant to ease the strain on the country’s electricity grid, which has suffered nationwide outages over the past several weeks. In a statement, the Council of Ministers said SPHP (Cambodia) Co. Ltd. had been approved to invest in an 80-megawatt hydropower dam in Pursat province, while Cambodian firm SchneiTec Co. Ltd. was given permission to build three 60-megawatt solar energy plans in Pursat, Kampong Chhnang and Kampong Speu provinces. The projects will help to ease Cambodia’s power shortages in the future by helping supply for energy meet the demand. According to officials, the current grid is around 400 megawatts short of what is needed to supply the country during the dry season. However, critics from the Cambodian environmental watchdog, Mother Nature, are concerned that the dam construction will destroy the forest in Pursat if the government using the project as an excuse to log the area.

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