Vientiane Times, February 24, 2014

The Nam Theun 2 Power Company Limited (NTPC) is filing documents and preparing to sign a memorandum of understanding with the government to commence a full feasibility study of the expansion of the hydropower project.

At the annual shareholders meeting in 2012, it was agreed that the company should implement the pre-feasibility study to expand part of the Nam Theun 2 Hydropower project, according to the Lao Holding State Enterprise (LHSE) report.

The results of this pre-study found the prospects positive as the cost of construction is quite low and the environment impact is expected to be small.

Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) have already expressed their interest in purchasing the power generated from the expansion, and there is an electric transmission line from the site already in existence.

In previous years, the project shareholders have contributed funds totalling some US$268,000 towards the cost of preliminary studies.

However, the company has yet to reveal when the expansion project will be studied in full, what the capacity of the expansion will be, how much power it will produce or how much it is expected to cost.

These details are currently under negotiation and consultation between the government, the company and the developers.

NTPC is the company formed by the Lao government and private shareholders in the NT2, which was tasked to build and operate the project for the first 25 years of its operation.

The project shareholders include Electricité de France with a 40 percent stake, LHSE with 25 percent, and EGCO with the remaining 35 percent.

NTPC is dedicated to running a world class hydropower facility and to improving the living conditions of people in the areas surrounding the project.

Each year, the government receive about US$12 million in royalties and it is expected that it will receive income of about US$1,953 million from dividends and royalties during the 25 year concession period.

The existing Nam Theun 2 hydropower Project has an installed capacity of about 1,080MW and cost almost US$1.3 billion to build.

Last year NTPC exceeded expectations by supplying 5,896 GWh of electricity to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand for about US$242.3 million, which was 4.61 percent over target as well as 378 GWh to Electricite du Laos for US$15 million, 26 percent over plan.