Energy

Electricity production

Four years after Laos’ worst dam catastrophe, survivors still live in limbo

Four years after a dam collapse that caused Laos’ worst flooding in decades, survivors who lost everything say they are tired of waiting for the government to provide them with new homes and arable land. On the night of July 23, 2018, billions of cubic feet ...

RFA Lao; Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong

Laos dam leaks normal, says Thai partner

Reported leaks at the sides of the Nam Theun 1 Hydropower dam under construction in Laos were not a cause for concern and were normal when a dam began storing water, Electricity Generating Plc president Thepparat Theppitak said on Monday. EGCO, a subsidiry of the Electricity ...

YUTHANA PRAIWAN

Mekong dams must release less water in dry season to preserve habitats, experts say

Abnormally high-water levels in the Mekong River at the end of May indicate that dams on the river must release less water during the dry season to protect the ecosystem, experts said at an online panel Monday.  Rain levels during the dry season this year have ...

Eugene Whong for RFA

Mekong Delta eyes rapid development of renewable energy

The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta will need to optimise its natural conditions to develop renewable energy and attract investment in the sector to mitigate the impacts of climate change, experts have said. The region has much potential for renewables like wind, solar and biomass, they said. It has a ...

Xuan Hiep and Viet Dung

Laos Needs Improved Hydropower Safety Legislation: Energy Minister

Lao Minister of Energy and Mines, Mr. Daovong Phonekeo, says enacting a specific law to ensure dam safety is a vital part of the country’s efforts to achieve sustainable energy development. Minister Daovong told the National Assembly on Thursday that while there are regulations and standards controlling ...

Latsamy Phonevilay

For Thai fishers facing dwindling catches, a Lao dam looms large

In the rustic old town of Chiang Khan on the Mekong River, a tourist haven in northeastern Thailand’s Isaan region, local fishing communities now live in fear of a proposed dam that threatens to devastate their livelihoods. The $2 billion, 684-megawatt dam would sit just 2 ...

Tom Fawthrop

Running on fumes: Fuel importers denounce new forex policy

As Myanmar’s military leaders relaxed with family members in Pyin Oo Lwin and Nay Pyi Taw for this year’s water festival in April, a crisis was slowly building in the waters off Yangon. Oil tankers from Singapore were bobbing in the Gulf of Mottama, refusing to ...

FRONTIER

Beijing fiddles with the water taps that control Southeast Asian economies

Southeast Asian nations are eyeing Beijing nervously as it fiddles with the water taps that control their economies. But their citizens are alarmed at failed fish migrations and wildly fluctuating river levels. Now they’ve taken their anger to the world. After four years of drought, the ...

Jamie Seidel

A win for Kru Ti and the Mekong River

Over the past 20 years, Niwat Roykaew, a teacher, activist and founder of the Chiang Khong Conservation Group in Chiang Rai province has been campaigning to bolster the grassroots movement he initiated to protect the Mekong River, a crucial lifeline for countries in the Mekong ...

PASKORN JUMLONGRACH

Diplomacy is indispensable to manage the Mekong

Milton Osborne mischaracterises the Mekong River Commission when writing last month in The Interpreter that the regional organisation “ignores reality”. To say we were “celebrating” the health of the river at our Mekong Day event on 5 April overlooks the fact that on that day I continued ...

ANOULAK KITTIKHOUN

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