Episode #124: Today’s guest, Guillaume de Langre, worked for several years in Naypyidaw as an adviser to the Myanmar Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MOEE), and explains the history of electrification in Myanmar.
From the post-independence period through the 2000s, he describes how much of the country was dark. One reason is that Tatmadaw was never really interested in developing access to electricity to much of the country. It may seem strange that the military regime did not seek a more prosperous economy, which would have required a more efficient and widespread electricity grid. But de Langre explains how the generals followed a Soviet style plan of state-owned industries where actual productivity was never the goal.
Then in 2000, providing access to electricity suddenly became a priority, and brought about a rapid transformation that greatly benefited the Burmese people and economy. However, usage rates went way up, straining the system in a new way. De Langre notes that the government ended up spending more on energy subsidies than even on education, which ultimately led to sharp price hikes in 2019. This led to exploring plans for alternative energy sources, like solar or imported power plants, several of which were in place on the eve of the coup. However, everything fell apart after the coup, as investors balked at what had become high-risk projects overnight.
Sadly, de Langre also believes that even if the military is defeated, “it would still take years to fix the damage done to the energy sector by the coup… It will take years for companies to trust again and to lower their perception of risk.”