Biomass gasification in Southeast Asia: Factors influencing technology adoption in Cambodia

Electricity price in Cambodia is among the highest in the region due to limited fossil resources. The national grid provides electricity with cheapest tariff, from $0.11 to $0.27 per kWh, but only 25% of Cambodians are having access to it. Since 2003, scores of rice mills have installed rice husk gasification systems (RHGs) to produce electricity with a cost from $0.06 to $0.27 per kWh. RHG development is showing signs of slowing down while national grid is continuing to expand its supply area. The study was carried out to identify some factors influencing RHG adoption in Cambodian rice mills, based on data of rice mills (n=396) and report on power sector of the Kingdom of Cambodia in 2015. Field trips to rice mills (n=8) and interviews with RHG stakeholders (n = 66) were also conducted. Results indicated that technical support for RHG and annual production of rice mills had positively influenced adoption of RHG. In contrarily, results showed an insignificant correlation between the presence of national grid and RHG adoption. This study will help planners, policy makers, researchers and farmers prioritize factors affecting RHG adoption decisions and hence provide insight on pathways to increase RHG adoption