Vientiane Times, 18 August 2014
Nam Theun 2 (NT2) hydropower plant has generated more than 3,450 GWh of electricity in the first six months of this year for both local supply and export to Thailand.
“The 3,459 GWh is about 58.27 percent of the annual electricity generation plan that is set at about 5,936 GWh,” General Manager of the state-owned Lao Holding State Enterprise (LHSE) Dr Somboune Manolom reported last Tuesday.
The LHSE holds a 25 percent share in the NT2 Power Company Limited (NTPC).
Speaking in Vientiane to review operations at the enterprise’s biannual meeting, Dr Somboune said the total 3,459 GWh inclu ded 3,281 GWh sold to Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) that was about 58.22 percent of the total demand of about 5,636 GWh for this year.
The rest of the 178 GWh was sold to Electricite du Laos (EDL) and that was about 59.33 percent of the total demand of 300 GWh for this year.
“The first six months supply of the electricity generated income of more than 1.11 trillion kip (US$139.72 million) for the NTPC,” Dr Somboune said.
The over US$139.72 million included income in different currencies of over 427.37 billion kip (US$53.42 million) and over 632 billion kip (2.52 billion Thai baht) from EGAT.
The rest of more than 26.11 billion kip (US$3.26 million) and more than 32.27 billion kip (129.1 million Thai baht) were from EDL.
“The government also received almost 53.53 billion kip (US$6.69 million) in royalties from NTPC in the first six months this year,” Dr Somboune said.
The Nam Theun 2 hydropower plant is a large project in Laos. It has an installed capacity of 1,070 megawatts with investment amounting to US$1.297 billion.
NTPC is a company formed by the Lao government and private shareholders to build and operate the NT2 project for the first 25 years.
NTPC’s shareholders are Electricité de France with a 40 percent stake, LHSE with 25 percent and the Electricity Generating Public Company Limited of Thailand with 35 percent.
LHSE was created by the Lao government in February 2005 to facilitate investment in energy generation. Its first investment was in the NT2 dam.
Dr Somboune said LHSE received dividends amounting to around 65.4 billion kip (US$8.12 million) from NTPC in the first six months of this year, which was about 6.4 percent over the target.
LHSE is now a shareholder in four power plant projects that have a total installed capacity of 3,658 megawatts (MW) and an investment cost of around 55.97 trillion kip (US$6.996 billion), including US$539.86 million invested by LHSE.
LHSE holds 25 percent stake in NT2, 24 percent in Xe Pian-Xe Nam Noi, 25 percent in Nam Ngiep 1 and 20 percent in Hongsa Mine-Mouth Power Project.
