Energy
Electricity production
NGOs condemn dam power at COP21
Major hydropower projects like the large-scale dams under way in Cambodia’s waterways are a “false solution” to climate change, according to a global coalition of 300 NGOs who are calling on parties at UN climate talks in Paris (COP21) to bar such schemes from climate ...
Laos' first thermal energy plant marks start of power generation
Laos’ largest power producer, the Hongsa Mine Mouth Power Plant, which has a generating capacity of 1,878 megawatts, on 9 December celebrated the start of commercial operation. Two of the plant’s generators are fully operational while the third is set to come online early next year. Keep reading ...
Thai Government to mull power offer from Laos
Thailand will consider a proposal to increase the memorandum of understanding on the purchase of electricity from Laos from 7,000 megawatts to 10,000MW after committing to buy 3,316MW this year, Energy Minister General Anantaporn Kanjanarat said on 9 December. He was speaking after a ceremony to ...
Report slams dam payouts
Households displaced by the massive Lower Sesan II hydropower dam project in Stung Treng province are being under-compensated by as much as $80,000, according to a new study. The research, published by the Rivers Coalition of Cambodia and led by political aspirant Kem Ley, found that ...
Laos’s threat to the Mekong River
Sipandon – meaning 4,000 Islands – is an area of immense biodiversity, ecotourism and abundance of fish migration, but its survival is at serious risk from the hydropower Don Sahong dam, which is on the verge of construction. “If this special wetlands zone is protected, it ...
Gas accounts for smaller share
Thailand’s heavy dependence on natural gas for the power sector has been trimmed to 60% from 70% thanks to greater use of coal and renewable sources, says the Energy Policy and Planning Office (Eppo). The coal-fired Hongsa power plant in Laos has helped to increase the ...
Vietnam eyes renewable energy
Reducing the use of scarce natural resources through measurement of energy efficiency is critically needed to meet the energy demand of a growing economy like Vietnam, Vu Van Khiem, director general of the Ministry of Science and Technology’s National Office of the Southern Region, has ...
Solar power on the go
Mrs Kanittha Napaworakul thought it would be interesting if she could invent equipment to solve the problem of power outages during natural disasters. “There were bad weather phenomena happening in several countries, killing lots of people, and it made me think of what I would ...
Dams may worsen arsenic problem: study
A Stanford University study conducted in Cambodia has shed new light on the natural introduction of the poison arsenic into groundwater – an established problem in Cambodia that could be exacerbated by hydrological development, particularly dams, researchers say. According to a report on their findings, published ...
Dams slash Mekong fish stocks
More than 70 Vietnamese and international scientists and other experts and officials from ministries and international organisations discussed ongoing research into the impact of dams on the mainstream of the Mekong River at a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on 4 December. At the conference ...
