Champassak hopes to build additional power plant
Champassak hopes to build additional power plant
A local energy investor must complete a feasibility study (FS) of the proposed Houaychampypakang hydropower project in Champassak province within the next few months after it got approval on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) extension recently.
“We approved an extension to the timeframe for the study a few months ago because Power Excellence Multi Management Co Ltd (PEMM) has not yet completed it,” the provincial Energy and Mines Department Deputy Director General, Mr Keo Sylysavath, said yesterday.
Initially PEMM signed the MOU on the project with the province's Planning and Investment Department and Energy and Mines Department in October, 2013.
The MOU authorises the investor to conduct studies including assessments of the potential social and environmental impacts of the proposed plant as well as other issues, according to a press release distributed by PEMM.
The study is expected to be completed within 18 months after the agreement.
“However, recently, the company completed only the study of earth sciences, geography and social economy,” Mr Keo said.
“So the MOU extension agreement is to continue the study to see if the project is profitable and is possible to develop or not.”
“So far we have not known what the installed capacity of the project will be and how much the investment cost will also be.”
Construction will start immediately if the study yields good results, and the company will be given a concession by the government to carry out the project.
If approved, the Houaychampypakang hydropower project would be built in Pakxong and Bachiangchaleunsouk districts and the power plant is expected to generate energy which it will sell to Electricite du Laos (EDL) for local supply.
The company has years of experience in energy development and hopes to complete the feasibility study by the new time set in the MOU extension.
Mr Keo said, the Houaychampy river has the potential to develop about five hydropower plants and so far there are three projects that have completed their study. Each plant will have an installed capacity of 3 to 10 megawatts (MW).
The Houaychampypakang hydropower project is the fourth on the river.
Champassak is keen to develop its natural resources to spur the province's social development and economic growth. Greater use of these resources would also help to eradicate poverty, in line with the government's goals.
Mr Keo said that so far the province has more than 20 power plant projects to be developed in the province, including almost 20 that are small plants.
Some of them are under concession agreement negotiation; and some of them are under construction preparation that will have installed capacity over 400MW.
Five projects are under construction that will have installed capacity over 450MW. One of them will complete next year and the rest by 2018, including the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy hydroelectric dam.
The government is promoting the rapid development of power plants for local supply in a bid to cut electricity imports.
Twenty-seven power plants are currently operational in Laos with a combined installed capacity of 3,304MW.
Laos is aiming for a total installed capacity of about 12,000MW by 2025, a report from the Ministry of Energy and Mines states.
The abundant resources of the Mekong River and its tributaries give Laos the potential to produce more than 25,000MW of electricity.
