Hongsa power company to receive ISO next year
Hongsa power company to receive ISO next year
Hongsa district, Xayaboury province: The Hongsa Power Company hopes to receive ISO14001 within the next year, officials from the company announced, serving as a model for environmental and social responsibility.
The standard is currently under inspection and consideration by the relevant international organisations, the company's Corporate Communications Director, Mr Yuthana Chulpanthong told local media during a visit to the site last week.
The Hongsa Mine Mouth Power Plant in Hongsa district, Xayaboury province is regarded as a model power project in generating electricity and implementing environmental and social mitigation measures.
The plant comprises three generators. The first power generator officially began producing electricity in June and the second generator was commissioned in November, while the third began commercial generation in March of this year.
After the plant started commercial generation, the project has provided significant royalties to the government, which shall be utilised for development and to promote the country's economy.
Families affected by the project have gained better livelihoods through agricultural projects and handicrafts and large numbers of people in the village are working with the project.
The project also creates jobs opportunities for locals, especially young workers. The number of Lao people now working with the project now represents 60 percent of the total of more than 4,000 labourers, Mr Yuthana said.
The project respects international environmental standards and takes its responsibilities seriously in terms of health and safety.
To ensure safety, the responsibility unit of the company, which includes the health sector at the central, provincial and district levels always closely follows up any health cases with village volunteers.
In previous years, the project has checked the health of local people before the project construction, during construction and after commencing generation but not found any suspect cases.
The company also assists the community with educational development and infrastructure by constructing schools, temples and dispensaries, road construction works along with social contributions and participating in local activities.
Many power projects around Laos have come to share their experiences and learn from the plant's management system.
The Hongsa Mine Mount Power Project is the biggest thermal power plant in the country.
The constructions started in 2011 and is now completed with a 25 year land concession of 76.2 square kilometres from 2016-2041.
The company has spent US$3.7 billion on investment and the plant has a total capacity of 1,878 MW or 626MW per generator.
Under the agreement, 1,473 MW of electricity is exported to Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), and 100MW is transmitted to Electricite du Laos (EDL).
Banpu Power Limited, and Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Public Company Limited both hold 40 percent shares in the company, and Lao Holding State Enterprise has the remaining 20 percent.
