Energy developers to complete downstream Hinboun power project
Energy developers to complete downstream Hinboun power project
A local energy investor expects the construction of Nam Hinboun Downstream Hydropower Project (NHDHP) in Khammuan province to reach completion and commence electricity generation and supply to the national power grid in 2019.
The investors launched the official ceremony of the foundation stone for the hydropower construction project on Sunday in Hinboun district of Khammuan province, after construction work began in November last year.
�The project will have an investment cost of about 301.52 billion kip (US$36.7 million),� Rasita President, Ms Banheuang Oudone, said at the ceremony.
She added that the project is a joint venture between investors from Laos, Rasita Power Co Ltd, and their Chinese and Thai partners Sichua ANHE Hydraulic and Hydroelectric Engineering Co Ltd, and Thai Union Public Co Ltd.
The ceremony was attended by Minister of Energy and Mines, Dr Khammany Inthirath, Governor of Khammuan province, Mr Oday Soudaphone, and officials and businesspeople from the provinces and Vientiane.
NHDHP is a small-scale overflow hydropower scheme with a planned installed capacity of 15 megawatts (MW), proposed on the lower reaches of the Nam Hinboun mainstream in the Hinboun district of Khammuan province in central Laos. The proponent of this project development is Rasita Power Co Ltd.
The developers hope to sell the electricity generated by NHDHP to Electricite du Laos (EDL) once the project meets the commercial operation date in 2019. EDL and Rasita signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for the NHDHP in December 2015.
The proposed plant location is about 50km north of the Khammuan provincial capital. It will take a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer approach (BOOT) for a period of 50 years.
The development of the NHDHP aims to achieve two immediate objectives, which are power production for domestic supply and the enhancement of local irrigation potential in the surrounding area of the Nam Hinboun plain.
�Thus, once it is constructed, the NHDHP is expected to generate 79GWh of electricity per year which will be sold to EDL via the local power grid for domestic use,� Banheuang said.
This power will benefit the national economy as a whole and is also in line with the socio-economic development policy of Khammuan province.
As for the second objective, the NHDHP will provide benefits to local farmers through enhanced irrigation water pumping to supply their paddy lands, which are currently irrigated with several individual electric pumps to lift the water from the Nam Hinboun.
In many instances, pumping is very costly for farmers due to the receding water levels, which drop by several metres during the dry season.
With the NHDHP, it is expected that pumping of water will be done more efficiently and be less costly in terms of electricity payment thanks to the elevated water level.
The developers also expect that the area will become a major tourism site for Hinboun district in the years ahead, with restaurants and other attractions planned for the waterside.
It is estimated that this way the dam will enable an increase of irrigation capacity and paddy area by 500 hectares, while providing sufficient water for an additional 2,000 hectares of new cultivatable land.
In the long term, the developer intends to construct large pipes from which water will be drawn and distributed to individual farmers at a much lower cost.
