Govt's power plant development surges ahead

Govt's power plant development surges ahead

Three construction projects for government-owned hydropower plants, the Houay Lamphan Gnai, Nam Khan 2 and the Nam Sana, are progressing steadily after building works began last year and all three anticipate starting commercial operations on schedule.

The three projects are located in Xekong province, Luang Prabang province and Vientiane province respectively. They will all be operated by Electricite du Laos (EDL), on behalf of the government.

EDL Managing Director Mr Sisavath Thiravong reported at the recent biannual meeting in Vientiane that the construction of Houay Lamphan Gnai is now more than 32 percent complete, work at the Nam Khan 2 is 27 percent complete, and the development at Nam Sana is about 14 percent complete.

The Houay Lamphan Gnai construction officially began in May last year. The project is an investment of about 1.6 trillion kip (US$206 million).

The investment capital is being provided by the state-owned EDL through a loan from a Chinese bank. The loan is to be repaid within 15 years after the dam becomes operational.

The project contractor is the China Gezhouba Group Company Limited (CGGC). By 2015 the dam will be generating electricity for the southern provinces, where the demand for power is increasing rapidly. It will take about 5 years to build the power station, which will have a capacity of 88 megawatts (MW) and generate 480 million kWh per year.

The Nam Khan 2 construction project on the Khan River bega n in December last year, with commercial operation expected to co mmence in 2015.

Mr Sisavath said that the project involves a total investment of about 2.4 trillion kip (US$308 million), of which 95 percent has been borrowed from the Exim Bank of China, while the balance comes from EDL's coffers.

The government expects to repay the entire sum borrowed from Exim bank within 15 years. Construction is being carried out by the Chinese company Sinohydro.

The project will have an installed capacity of 130MW and will be able to generate 558 million kWh of electricity per year.

EDL signed an engineering procurement and construction contract for the Nam Sana project with Nawarat Patanakarn Public Company Limited of Thailand in June last year.

EDL's investment in the project will be about 241 billion kip (US$30 million). The money for the investment was secured in the form of a loan from a Thai bank. The loan was approved in 2010 and EDL will have 10 years to repay it.

The commercial operation of the power station is expected to begin in early 2014. The plant will have a capacity of 14MW that will generate about 49.6 million kWh per year.

The electricity generated will be carried on EDL's grid of 22KV voltage transmission lines and will supply Kasy district.

The recent biannual report noted that currently there are 15 hydropower plants that have an installed capacity of 2,519.70MW, including EDL-Gen's 7 plants with an installed capacity of 381MW, and state owned EDL's 4 plants with 3.70MW. The remaining 4 plants are being operated by independent power producers.

vientiane times