Vientiane Times, March 5, 2014

Three additional hydropower plants will begin commercial operation this year after three came online last year while another three are scheduled to commence generation the following year as well, according to an energy and mines sector report.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines Planning and Statistics Division reported last Thursday that the three plants that will start energy generation this year include the Xekaman 3, Xenamnoy 1 and Nam Ngiep 3A hydropower plants.

The division reported that construction works on the Xekaman 3 dam in Xekong province, were 99 percent complete early this year after the developers signed the concession agreement with the government in 2006.

The project will have an installed capacity of 250MW, that will be able to generate electricity of about 982.88GWh per year and the planned market is Laos and Vietnam.

Vietnamese company, VLPC, is the majority shareholder at 85 percent while Electricite du Laos (EDL) holds a share of 15 percent.

The construction progress of Xenamnoy 1, in Attapeu province, is also 99 percent complete early this year after a local investor, Phongxubthavi Bridge-Road Construction Company, signed a concession agreement with the government back in 2012.

The project will have an installed capacity of 14.8MW and will generate the energy of about 100GWh annually, destined for local consumption.

Meanwhile Nam Ngiep 3 in Xieng Khuang province is now 90 percent complete. The project is being developed by a local investor. It will have an installed capacity of 44MW and generate about 152.3GWh per year for local supply.

Last year, there were three plants that commenced commercial operations. They were Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project in Borikhamxay province, Tad Salen in Savannakhet province and Nam Long in Luang Namtha province.

Theun-Hinboun Expansion officially started generation in January last year. It has an installed capacity of 280MW and generates the energy for export to Thailand. It was a shared investment between EDL that holds 60 percent of the investment cost; while the other shareholders were Nordic Group (Norway) and GSM (Thailand) that hold 20 percent each.

Tad Salen officially began generation in the same month as the Theun-Hinboun Expansion. It is a small power plant that has an installed capacity of 3.2MW. It is an investment of Thai company, SIC Manufacturer, to generate energy for the local market.

Nam Long, started testing electricity generation in November last year with an installed capacity of 5MW to generate 37GWh annually for local consumption. It is a shared investment between EDL, which holds 20 percent and Luangpaseuth Construction Company, which holds 80 percent.

So far Laos has 23 operational power plants with a total installed capacity of 3,211.5MW that are generating electricity of about 16,093.98GWh annually for local and export markets.

The 23 plants include 13 plants under the management of independent power producers and 10 plants under the management of EDL and EDL-Gen.