Electricity production
Hydropower dams
Thailand considers buying more power from Laos
Thailand may buy 9,000 megawatts of electricity from Laos this year to ensure sufficient supply to meet rising demand, says a senior official at the Energy Ministry. That is nearly 30% higher than thethe 7,000MW Thailand currently buys annually from Laos, according to the most ...
China woos Myanmar, tries to massage its public image
According to the State Council Information Office of the Chinese foreign ministry, Beijing has invited more than 100 journalists, government officials and members of parliament to visit the country, as well as 100 students to study in China. In what seems likely to be a concerted and ...
Myanmar: Hydropower and the cost of life
Suicide rates and poverty are on the rise among rice farmers displaced by Myanmar’s Paunglaung Dam. The change of government is expected to spur foreign investment into the country, contributing to its rapid development. But among the myriad issues facing the country, including decades-long civil wars, the ...
Foreign investors acquire 36 percent stake in Vietnam's power firm
As Vietnam works to promote renewable energy, its power sector is becoming increasingly attractive to foreign investors. In the latest deal, the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, has bought a 16 percent stake in Gia Lai Electricity JSC, a major hydropower ...
China’s last wild river carries conflicting environmental hopes
Three great rivers rush through parallel canyons in the mountains of southwest China on their way to the coastal plains of Asia. At least 10 dams have been built on two of them, the Mekong and the Yangtze. The third remains wild: the remote, raging ...
Local fishers still reporting catches at Don Sahong
Local fishers around Don Sahong Hydropower Project area in Khong district, Champassak province said their fish catches have only decreased slightly this year as the project has improved fish passage for upstream and downstream migration. One fisherman in Don Sahong village, Mr Viengxay explained that recently ...
Damming the Nam Tha in Northern Laos
The Nam Tha, or Tha River, begins in northern Laos near the Lao-China border and runs southwest to join the Mekong just south of Huay Xay on the Lao-Thai border. In October 2014, I traveled by motorcycle and longtail boat up the Nam Tha, starting ...
No authority to prevent new Mekong River projects: MRC
The Mekong River Commission does not have the authority to stop projects even if they have trans-boundary effects, delegates to the fourth Green Mekong Forum said on 13 June, while the Thai Irrigation Department presented a water diversion project to fight poverty. If the MRC member states – ...
B Grimm sets Bt24 bn to replace power plants in 2 industrial estates
B GRIMM, one of Thailand’s oldest business conglomerates, on 13 June announced its plan to spend Bt24 billion to replace its power plants in two industrial estates, Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate and Laem Chabang Industrial Estate in Chon Buri. The investment plan was set up after ...
Value of dam-affected homes being assessed
Officials have started to assess properties in Oddar Meanchey that will be flooded by an under construction dam, though the affected villagers remain in the dark about possible compensation. Eight officers from the Ministry of Finance and the province’s water resources department were in Chongkal district’s ...
