Energy
Electricity production
China dam claims should be studied, says rivers official
A new report that found China’s upstream dam management is responsible for dangerously low water levels and drought conditions along the Mekong River needs to be “studied”, according to a Cambodian National Mekong Commission official. The report, titled “Monitoring the Quantity of Water Flowing Through the ...
Khy Sovuthy
New study shows China caused drought in the Mekong, local experts must have control of their resources
“No fish. Nothing. We can only catch enough to eat ourselves. We fish through the night and all we catch is one or two skewers for cooking,” a Lao fisherman told Radio Free Asia earlier this year. He spoke to journalists on his boat on the Mekong River ...
Skylar Lindsay
OPINION: China's drain on Mekong
More water discharged from Chinese dams to the lower Mekong River in the dry season and less water in the rainy season. That means a reduction of drought and flooding in the lower Mekong countries. That was the ideal “cooperation” Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam ...
OPINION: The Mekong is the test of China’s leadership
The Mekong River originates in China and winds its way south, flowing through or past five other countries — Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam — before it empties into the South China Sea. The Mekong is the beating heart of the region, and while ...
BRAD GLOSSERMAN
Vietnam finally unveils new FITs for large-scale, rooftop, floating PV
The Vietnamese government has set new feed-in tariff (FIT) rates for utility-scale, rooftop and floating solar installations. The new purchase price for electricity generated by ground-mounted PV plants is $0.0709/kWh over a period of 20 years, and $0.0838/kWh for rooftop PV arrays. The government will also ...
Brian Publicover
Cambodia Halts Hydropower Construction on Mekong River Until 2030
Experts in Cambodia have welcomed the government’s recent halt on hydropower development on the Mekong River until 2030, but called on the government to focus on renewable energies. The spokesman for the Ministry of Mines and Energy’s General Department, Victor Jona, told VOA on Tuesday that ...
Leonie Kijewski
Mekong River dams could slice 0.3 pct off Vietnam's GDP: report
Hydropower dams on the Mekong River are expected to reduce Vietnam’s GDP by 0.3 percentage points due to their impact on fisheries and agriculture. A paper titled “Impacts of Mainstream Hydropower Dams on Fisheries and Agriculture in Lower Mekong Basin” on the open access journal Sustainability published by ...
Phan Anh
Loss of faith along the Ou river
I sat alongside the Ou river listening to the waves lap against the half-submerged Lat Tha Hae temple in Luang Prabang province, northern Laos. Grandpa Un paused from sweeping his riverside yard and spoke to me in a strong voice. “I was born here,” the ...
Ton Ka
Two Years on, Sesan’s Ethnic Communities Attempt to Restart Their Lives
SREKOR COMMUNE, STUNG TRENG PROVINCE — Fut Kheun has been keeping a close watch on the water levels at the Sesan II reservoir, in the remote Srekor commune of Stung Treng province. The ethnic Kreung villager is living close to the water at the reservoir, two ...
Sun Narin
450MW solar plant to be built in south-central Vietnam
A 450-megawatt solar plant, the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia, will be built in the south-central province of Ninh Thuan in Vietnam, it has been announced. According to a WAM report, construction of the solar farm in Phuoc Minh commune will start in the ...
Jason Saundalkar