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Laos to build 20 new hydropower plants by 2020
Aug 10, 2010, 5:46 GMT
Vientiane, Laos - Laos, which has said it aspires to be the 'battery of South-East Asia,' plans to build about 20 new hydropower plants by the year 2020, state media reported Tuesday.
Director general of the state-run Electricite du Laos, Khammany Inthirath, told a press conference Monday that the communist country is to build an average of two new hydropower plants every year until 2020, the KPL newspaper reported.
Laos, a mountainous country rich in water resources, currently has 14 hydropower plants with a combined capacity of 2,540 megawatt, much of which is exported to neighbouring Thailand.
In 2006, Laos' total hydroelectric production was 700 MW.
The Nam Ngum 2 plant is to come into operation in December, while the Tard Salen plant in Savannakhet province, Nam Ngum 3 in Vientiane and Sekaman 3 in Sekong province are scheduled to start up in 2011, Khammany said.
Two other projects, Nam Song in Vientiane province and the expanded Theun-Hinboun in Borikhamsay province, are scheduled for completion in 2012.
The government announced plans to turn the country into a power generation hub for the region.
Laos, a land-locked country half the size of France, lies between China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
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