Electricity production

As investment in hydropower and construction projects ramp up, ecosystems along Southeast Asia’s longest river are paying the price. At more than 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles), the Mekong is Southeast Asia’s longest river. It runs through six countries, providing food and income for more than ...

The tiny Southeast Asian nation of Laos champions itself as “the battery of Southeast Asia,” exporting hydroelectricity to its neighbors as it seeks to exit the ranks of least developed countries. Keep reading ...

In the wake of the tragic collapse last month of an auxiliary dam of the Xe-Pian-Xe-Namnoy hydropower project in southern Laos, the Lao government on Aug 7 announced a major review of hydropower projects   ...

Save the Mekong, a coalition of non-governmental organizations, community-based groups and concerned citizens within the Mekong region, issued a statement on Friday announcing their intention to boycott the Mekong River Commission’s (MRC’s) Prior Consultation for the proposed Pak Lay dam. Pak Lay is the fourth dam planned ...

The Lao government and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, are conducting a basin-wide Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) of renewable energy development in southern Laos’ Xekong River Basin. According to local online newspaper Vientiane Times on Sunday, it is the ...

At more than 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles), the Mekong is Southeast Asia’s longest river. It runs through six countries, providing food and income for more than 70 million people. But the integrity of the river, and therefore of the livelihood of the people who depend on ...

With electricity demand in Vietnam growing 12 percent annually, the Vietnamese government has set a goal to generate 265 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity by 2020 and 570 billion kWh of electricity by 2030. This is to meet the surging demand for power resulting from ...

The collapse of a dam at the Xe Pian Xe Namnoy hydropower project in Laos was tragic. Immediate assessments say that 39 people died, many suffered injuries and thousands were left homeless, with their means of income lost for the foreseeable future. Beyond these numbers, ...

The disaster has brought into focus the ambitious agenda of Laos, one of the region’s poorest countries, to turn itself into “the battery of Southeast Asia” by building dozens of hydroelectric dams on the Mekong River and its tributaries and selling power to neighboring countries. ...

Decision to continue work on two huge dams calls into question how serious the government is about reviewing numerous multibillion-dollar hydropower projects after last month’s disaster. Keep reading   ...