EDL invests in upgrade of transmission lines
EDL invests in upgrade of transmission lines
Electricite du Laos (EDL) expects to spend about 27 billion kip on the upgrading and installation of transformers and transmission lines to reduce failure and ensure the stable distribution of electricity in Vientiane.
“The 27 billion kip includes 20 billion kip upgrading the transmission lines and the remaining 7 billion kip for transformer installation,” said the Director of EDL's Vientiane Power Distribution Department, Mr Soukhonh Chanthone.
“This year expenditure will be much larger than last year because we expect to reduce shortages in the supply of electricity as much as possible ,” he said.
“Currently there are some places still facing shortages of electricity, especially when the weather is hot. There are also periodic overloads that cause the exploding of fuses,” Mr Soukhonh explained.
The department reported that it spent more than 18.33 billion kip on transmission line improvements in Vientiane last year, including about 3.04 billion kip for transformer work and around 15.28 billion kip for transmission lines.
The improvements will include scheduled upgrades in the districts of Xaythany, Hadxaifong, Pakngum, Naxaithong and Sangthong.
There are some 231 transformers to be installed or replaced this year including 143 transformers slated for installation and another 88 transformers set to replace old or outdated ones.
Mr Soukhonh said that by May this year the department had installed 96 transformers with a total capacity of 19,225kVA, including an additional 55 transformers with a total capacity of 9,910kVA.
EDL also replaced older low capacity transformers with new higher capacity ones, with upgrades carried out on a total of 41 transformers with a total capacity of about 9,315kVA so far this year.
“This was done at a cost of more than 751.19 million kip; about an 11 percent increase from the same period last year,” he said.
The upgrade cost over 6.35 billion kip for the transmission line improvements until May; this was a 3.7 percent increase compared to the same period last year.”
The upgrading of the power grid and transformer installation is being undertaken in line with the annual and longer term planning of Electricite du Laos.
“We have to do this because we have seen that electricity consumption increases by about 10 to 15 percent per year in Vientiane,” he said, admitting that it could even go up by 20 percent.
The increase in consumption has been attributed to the expansion of the city, new residential and commercial developments, population growth and the rising use of electronic equipment.
These factors have caused the transmission lines and transformers to experience periodic overloads. “This is one of the main causes of transformer explosions and blackouts in the villages or towns,” Mr Soukhonh explained.
Currently EDL's staff are on standby 24 hours, ready to repair and install the new transformers and transmission lines once the electricity fails.
“We often go and check the transformers, mostly in the hot weather, to see what capacity and load a transformer is operating at,” he said.
“If a transformer is operating at over 60 percent of its capacity, we will replace it with a new one with a larger capacity,” Mr Soukhonh added.
“Or on the other hand, if we do not replace it with a new one, we install additional smaller ones.”
vientiane times
