Energy
Electricity production
Chinese media is misleading the public on the impacts of hydro in Laos
Last month, the New York Times ran a piece of propaganda and misinformation masquerading as news. The piece was entitled “Employment on Hydropower Project in Laos Delivers Better Lives,” and it was created and paid for by the China Daily, the English-language mouthpiece for the People’s Republic ...
Crocodiles Are Not Geckos: The Realities Of Run-Of-River Hydropower
Too often, proponents of a specific dam apply this faulty logic and tell decision makers that a crocodile is really just a gecko. For example, the debate on the Xayaboury Dam on the Mekong River in Laos—a massive dam that, in terms of environmental and ...
Jeff Opperman
Laos approves Tadsakoi hydropower plant
The government has given the green light to Tadsakoi Power Company Limited to build the Tadsakoi hydropower project in Sepon district, Savannakhet province. A concession agreement for the project was signed recently in Vientiane between Minister of Planning and Investment, Dr Souphan Keomixay, Deputy Minister of ...
Phetsamone Chandala
Emergency power plans impossible without price rises: official
Electricity prices need to rise before the government can move forward with plans to meet demand for next hot season, a senior Ministry of Electricity and Energy official says. With many areas of the country suffering from crippling power cuts, the ministry earlier this month announced ...
Kyaw Ye Lynn
Lao Authorities Allow Chinese Firm to Plant on Land Promised to Dam Collapse Survivors
A Chinese-backed firm is growing bananas on land promised by the government of Laos as compensation to survivors of a 2018 dam collapse that that has been described as the country’s worst flooding in decades, RFA’s Lao Service has learned. The disaster occurred last July, when ...
Interview: China’s Mekong Dam-building Mindset ‘Exported Downstream’ to Cambodia and Laos
The Mekong River extends for thousands of miles through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, supporting more than 65 million people who depend on it for food, transportation, and commerce. But development, mostly led by China, threatens to upset the delicate balance between local ...
Cambodia’s Dam Troubles, Power Woes Seen as Arguments For More Solar Energy Use
When the lights literally went out in many parts of Cambodia in February and stayed off in some areas during the following months, people immediately pointed their fingers at Prime Minister Hun Sen. They accused the mercurial autocrat who has ruled the country for more than ...
Opposition to Myitsone Dam Will Be Outgoing Chinese Ambassador’s Chief Legacy
It has been a busy week for the Chinese ambassador to Myanmar. Just a week after Beijing hosted the 2nd Belt and Road (BRI) forum, Hong Liang has been bustling around the government offices in Naypyitaw attending a series of meetings since Monday. So far, he ...
Nan Lwin
Environmentalist Warns of Long-Term Impacts of Reckless Hydropower Development
A prominent environmentalist has warned that hydropower-reliant countries will face significant negative impacts in the long-term and could see a repeat of the tragic bursting of the Xe Pian Xe Namnoy dam in Laos last July that killed dozens. Ian Baird, a professor at the University ...
Men Kimseng
Where Did All the Free-Flowing Rivers Go?
A map of the world’s free-flowing rivers shows a shrinking number can still meander as they please. New plans for hydropower will further constrain flow. Giant catfish once swam in the golden-brown waters of the Mekong River near the Thai village of Sob Ruak. But since ...
Jenessa Duncombe
