Hydropower dams

Laos aims to sharply boost its hydropower generation to 10,000 megawatts by 2020 and is exploring for shale gas as part of plans to export electricity to its neighbours, its vice minister of energy and mines said on 26 October. Laos is among Asia’s poorest countries ...

Preliminary findings from a soon-to-be released report have reinforced dismal projections for the future of Cambodia’s fisheries if 11 planned mainstream hydropower dams are built on the Mekong River. Presented on 21 October at the Greater Mekong Forum on Water, Food and Energy in Phnom Penh, the ...

The lower three Mekong Countries, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam as well as environmental groups, have expressed concern about the Don Sahong dam’s impact on the environment, movement of fish and water quality and flow. The project has yet to be approved by the Mekong River Commission, ...

A delegation of Lao officials will visit two neighboring countries to inform them about the commencement of construction work on a controversial 260-megawatt hydropower dam on the Mekong River, a Lao official with knowledge of the issue said on 14 October. Three lower Mekong countries – ...

The National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting has reported unusual flooding in the Red River in northern Vietnam since 11 October following heavy inflows from China, where massive volumes of water have allegedly been discharged from dams.   Though there has been no human casualty, the flooding has ...

Villagers who had to leave their homes to make way for the Xayaboury hydropower plant project are now earning more money, thanks to income-generating activities and employment opportunities offered by the project. For instance, one indicator shows that the annual average income per family in Nator ...

Lao Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad is confident the run-of-river Don Sahong dam in Champassak province will be a success after learning more about the processes involved in the scheme. Mr Somsavat went to the project site in southern Laos on 11 October after visiting Cambodia to ...

Vietnam must improve the management of its numerous reservoirs to protect the rights and interests of residents in the downstream areas, and to optimise the efficiency of its water management and hydropower projects, experts said during a conference on the subject last week. Experts said the ...

After beginning in 2012, the construction of the US$3.5 billion Xayaboury dam is now about 50 per cent complete, according to a report by Vientiane Times. When it becomes operational in 2019, about 95 percent of the 1,285-megawatt electricity produced will be sold to Thailand.  The dam, ...

CPI Yunnan International Power Investment Company has recalculated its spending on the suspended Myitsone hydropower project, and is waiting for the Myanmar government to approve the figure.  CPIYN is the majority shareholder in Upstream Ayeyarwady Confluence Basin Hydropower Company, the dam’s developer. The calculation was made in ...