Laos to finish building four dams this year
Laos to finish building four dams this year
The electricity generating capacity of Laos will continue to surge next year when four more hydropower plants become operational.
According to a report from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, construction of the Theun Hinboun expansion project in central Khammuan province and the Nam Ngum 5 dam in Vientiane province are on track for completion at the end of this year.
The Xekaman 3 dam in the southern province of Xekong and the Nam Xong dam in Vientiane province are also expected to be completed this year.
The combined power generation capacity of the four hydropower plants is about 664MW.
At present, Laos has 17 operational power plants with installed power production capacity of about 2,560MW. In addition, about 70 power plants are now in the planning and feasibility study stages.
The commercial operation of the new power plants will enable Laos to produce about 13.8 billion kWh next fiscal year, an increase of 29 percent compared to the previous year, the Ministry of Planning and Investment says in a report presented to the National Assembly this month.
In the first six months of the current fiscal year, Laos generated 5.90 billion kWh of electricity, 57 percent more than in the same period last fiscal year. The massive increase is due to the increasing number of operational power plants and heavy rainfall last year.
Over the same period, Laos exported 3.79 billion kWh to Thailand and Vietnam, 64 percent of all electricity output. The total export value of electricity in the first six months of this current fiscal year was about US$340 million.
But despite the increase in output, Laos imported about 735 million kWh from Thailand, Vietnam and China to secure electricity for border areas not accessed by the national power grid.
Laos hopes to end electricity imports in 2015. The government is mobilising funding to build power plants that will provide sufficient energy for domestic consumption and build power grids around the country to ensure supply to rural areas.
The planning ministry says that, at present, about 78 percent of households have access to electricity. The government plans to ensure 90 percent of households have access to electricity by 2020.
vientiane times
