Laos deal with Singapore signed next month
Laos deal with Singapore signed next month
Adeal through which Laos will export electricity to Singapore is set to be signed next month by the relevant parties, the Minister of Energy and Mines said yesterday.
Dr Khammany Inthirath spoke to local media at a press conference yesterday during his attendance at the three-day meeting between the government cabinet, Vientiane Mayor and provincial governors. The three-day meeting will end today.
The deal is set to be signed next month in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia during the meeting of Energy Ministers of Asean – the 10-member regional bloc.
“I myself will attend the meeting,” he told the local media.
The pilot project is set to export 100MW of electricity from Laos to Singapore via the Thai and Malaysian power line network.
Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines Mr Viraphonh Viravong said previously that Singapore had agreed in principle to purchase the power from Laos.
Officials said the Lao power line network is already connected to Thailand's, the Thai network is linked to Malaysia's and the Malaysian network is connected to Singapore's.
It was reported in January last year that Laos exported electricity at a unit price of just over US$0.07 per kwh to Thailand and just over US$0.06 per kwh to Vietnam and Cambodia, while the unit price in Singapore was about US$0.20 per kwh.
Laos has a large potential to produce hydro electricity for sale as it is rich with an abundance of rivers across the country.
Currently, Laos has 29 hydropower dams that each has an installed capacity of 1MW or more. The 29 dams have a combined installed capacity of 3,329MW, which are able to produce more than 16 billion kwh annually, of which between 10 -12 billion kwh is exported.
In recent years electricity has been the main revenue earner for Laos. Total income generated from electricity sales in fiscal year 2013-14 hit more than US$880.9 million (more than 7.1 trillion kip), a remarkable increase compared to the year before.
Of the total, income generated from electricity exports amounting to more than 11,332 million kwh reached US$535.47 million (more than 4.316 trillion kip), an increase of 6.62 percent compared to the year before.
Laos has strong potential to build hydroelectricity plants and plans to achieve a combined installed capacity of about 28,000MW, including the existing dams.
Dr Khammany said the state enterprise, Electricite Du Laos is entrusted to sign contracts with various hydropower plants to purchase power from them in order to centralise the export management of power.
