Hydropower projects in the pipeline
Vientiane Times, July 16, 2009 Phonsavanh Vongsay
Planned hydropower projects along the Mekong River will not have negative environmental impacts, according to a senior official.
Several developers, both domestic and international, have signed Memorandum of Understandings (MOU) and Project Development Agreements (PDA) with the Lao government in recent times to construct hydropower plants along the Mekong River .
The projects will have very low environmental impacts and will contribute to energy generation. They are not large projects, said Chief of the Ministry of Energy and Mines' Planning and Statistics Division, Mr Konethong Phounikhom yesterday.
Some of the proposed projects do not include dams, while others will have small dams, allowing the passage of boast to continue as usual.
Projects for which MOUs have already been signed include Thakho, Lat Seua and Ban Koum in Champassak province, Paklai in Xayaboury province and Sanakham at the border of Xayaboury and Vientiane provinces. There are a further two projects in Luang Prabang province - Pakbeng and Luang Prabang.
However the division is not yet sure which of the projects will be granted a PDA because feasibility studies are yet to be completed.
I can say the projects are a high possibility of becoming developments. The investors have spent large amounts of money on studies so far and don't want to waste their efforts, Mr Konethong said.
Projects already granted PDAs include Don Sahong in Champassak and Xayaboury in Xayaboury provinces respectively.
I am certain the two projects will sign on for further agreements with the Lao government. However we don't know the investment costs because they are still being studied.
The Xayaboury project is expected to cost around 22 trillion kip (more than US$2.5 billion) and have an installed capacity of 1,260 megawatts (MW), according to a press release issued at the PDA signing ceremony last year.
Under the PDA, the project's two investors are working on further details, including project design, electricity tariffs, power purchase agreements and funding sources.
Once they complete all the necessary work they can sign a Concession Agreement (CA) with the government, he said.
The Don Sahong plant is expected to commence operations in 2015, however the commencement date for the Xayaboury facility is still to be determined. All the projects with MOUs are yet to set a date for commencing operations, Mr Konethong said.
If they go ahead the nine projects would have a total installed capacity of between 9,190 to 9,310MW.
This includes the large projects of Lat Seua at 800MW, Ban Koum with 2,330MW, Paklai at 1,320MW, Pakbeng at 1,300MW and Luang Prabang with 1,410MW.
If all the projects go ahead we will have enough power for local supply as the government has planned, he said.
Mr Konethong said there are many other sites along the river with the potential for hydropower developments, especially in the southern and northern provinces.
Currently Laos has 10 hyd ropower projects under operation with a total installed capacity of about 678MW.
There are also nine projects that have been granted CAs or are under construction.
A total of 17 projects are at the PDA stage and another 42 have signed MOUs. If all 78 projects go ahead they will have a total installed capacity of about 23,000MW, according to the Ministry of Energy and Mines |
