PM Bouasone Bouphavanh visits Nam Mang III hydropower plant

(KPL) Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh has recently visited the Nam Mang III hydropower plant and irrigation scheme in Thourakhom district, Vientiane province, where he was received by provincial Party Secretary Chansy Phosikham, and local officials, veterans and people.
PM Bouasone was told by the provincial agriculture and forestry service head about the Nam Mang III irrigation project which was divided into three phases of construction.
Nam Mang III is located on the plateau of Phoukhao Khwai, some 60km north of Vientiane Capital. The hydropower plant has an installation capacity of 40 megawatts and started operation in 2005. The plant is an efficient project because it provides both energy generation for export and local supply and also irrigates nearby farmland.
The irrigation system is particularly efficient because it can supply water to farmers without the use of pumps.
On this occasion, PM advised the two sectors to study and prepare a plan for agricultural development in the area.
Nam Mang III is financed by the Lao government, partly with the assistance of the Chinese government through the EXIM Bank of China. The project started in 2002 at the cost of more than 537 billion kip (US$ 63 million).

Nam Theun 2 delivers first local electricity

The Nam Theun 2 Hydroelectric Project has made its first delivery of electricity for domestic use in Laos .

According to a press release from the Nam Theun 2 Power Company (NTPC), the project began delivering electricity for domestic use on August 6, 2009, when the first of two Pelton Unit turbines was successfully synchronised with the local substations of Electricité du Laos (EDL).

Engineers from the project and EDL watched the turbine produce 2 megawatts (MW) of power during the first test.

The electricity was transmitted to the EDL substation at Mahaxay and then on for consumption by local customers in Khammuan province. Further tests were conducted the following day, with delivery rising to full power.

The Nam Theun 2 Power Station houses two Pelton Units, each able to deliver 42 MW when running at full power output. The project operator, the NTPC, will supply 300 gigawatt hours of electricity per annum to EDL from next year.

This accounts for 5 percent of the project's output, with the remaining 95 percent to be exported to Thailand via a separate generation and delivery system.

According to the Director of EDL's Transmission and Substation Department Mr Khene Thepvongsa, this power is very important for Laos and for people in the project area.

“When the two Nam Theun 2 Pelton generators are available for full power delivery, Khammuan province will be able to stop importing electricity from Thailand ,” said Mr Khene.

The province currently imports 55-60 MW from across the Mekong .

Mr Khene said the team of EDL engineers were happy to be on hand to see the first domestic power come from Nam Theun 2. “The NT2 engineers were able to smooth some initial problems on the test and then proved to us that the unit can run at full capacity” he said.

EDL purchased this test energy from NTPC at a special low rate and hopes to start buying electricity regularly from September.

The second Pelton generating unit at the NT2 Power Station is expected to come on line in November 2009.

NTPC successfully tested its first export of power to Thailand in June.

NT2 is located in Khammuan province. The 1,070 MW project is the biggest power project in Laos and will generate around US$2 billion of revenue for the country during its first 25 years of operation. According to Nam Theun 2's website, construction began in the middle of 2005.

By Times Reporters
(Latest Update August 11, 2009)

Savannakhet residents access to electricity

(KPL) More than 200 households in Songkhon district, Savannakhet province have accessed to permanent electricity.
They live in five villages of Ban Nonekhamsong, Ban Khanthayath, Ban Nongphue, Ban Nongkong and Ban Noneborkeo.
The expansion of electricity network access to these villages, conducted by Electricite du Laos branch of Savannakhet province, commenced in 2007 and completed in recently this month.
The expansion work is over 1.7 billion kip in which 80 percent was granted Norath (International donor organization) and the rest was the World Bank.
Last week the Electricite du Laos branch of Savannakhet province held an official opening ceremony of electricity in these villages that draw a lot of senior officials in the province.

Laos plans to become battery of ASEAN by 2020

(KPL) Laos has a plan to transform itself to become the battery of ASEAN by 2020 and so rid itself of the status of least developed country.
"According to a government estimate it would be selling 7,000 megawatts of hydroelectric power to Thailand by 2015 and 5,000 megawatts to Vietnam by 2020", said Mr Saypaseuth Phopsoupha, Director of Energy Promotion and Development of the Ministry of Energy and Mines.
"The purpose of the production and sale of such a high volume of electricity is to earn millions of US dollars and put them into the coffer of the country," added Mr Saypaseuth.
He also said that the electricity would come from a slew of hydropower dams nationwide, like Nam Thuen 2,
This plan was reviewed at an annual meeting of Ministry of Energy and Mines in Luang Prabang province, last week.
Mr Saypaseuth said that if all the hydropower electricity development projects of the government came on stream and on schedule, the revenue they would generate would get the country out of the least developed country status by 2020.
Many hydropower projects were under the construction and feasibility studies were carried out on quite a few, such as Nam Ngum 2, Nam Lik 1-2 and Sekaman 3.
"Nam Thuen 2 is a good pilot project and it would come on stream at the end of the year," Mr Saypaseuth confirmed.
The Nam Lik 1-2 and Sekaman 3 hydropower construction projects would commence to generate electricity by 2010 and Nam Ngum 2 would be operational by 2011.

99.8 per cent of households in Vientiane access to electricity

(KPL) Over 120,000 households in 500 villages entire Vientiane Capital has been accessible to electricity.
While over 190 households are reported to be used solar cell, according to a report of Vientiane Energy and Mining Division.
Currently the installation of transmission lines work in Vientiane Capital was almost achieved. It counted for 99.8 per cent of households in Vientiane accessed to permanent electricity.
Only Vangma village in Sangthong district was staying in dark which the Energy and Mining Division confirmed that the transmission lines work to this area would be achieved by at the end of this year.
This work is one out of many development activities is strongly contributing to socio-economic development and poverty reduction programme.