Government and company officials attend the contract signing ceremony in Luang Namtha province.

Luang Namtha signs power grid contract

Luang Namtha province has signed a contract with PT Construction and Travel Co., Ltd. for the construction of a 22kW power grid and a 0.4kW power grid.
The first transmission line will be installed from Lang Pha village to the junction in Pha Ngua village, Long district.
The contract was signed recently at a ceremony attended by the Governor of Luang Namtha province, Mr Khamlay Sipaseuth.
Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Director of the Provincial Department of Energy and Mines, Mr Sengdeuan Simmanivong, said the grid would be built on the Laos-Myanmar border, with 21 villages, 858 households and 4,837 people along the grid corridor.
The survey and design of the grid took place in 2020 and 2022, the Ministry of Planning and Investment approved the project under the public investment plan.
The project will run from 2022 to 2026, with payments to be made from 2022 to 2025. The materials and equipment used for construction must be free from defects and must be accompanied by a certificate, the contract stated.
The materials used in construction must be transported to the construction site, and have a total value of at least 97.75 billion kip. The construction cost is 97.23 billion kip while the value of project management has been put at 514 million kip.
According to Electricite du Laos (EDL), Laos plans to strengthen power grid interconnections with neighbouring countries and transform its water resources into economic benefits to support the country’s efforts to become the “battery of clean energy” in Southeast Asia.
If Laos continues to improve its power grid infrastructure, it will help to increase sales of electricity to other Asean countries.
From 2021-2025, government plans to produce 1,807MW of electricity, with hydropower accounting for 57 percent of the total, coal-fired power 19 percent, and solar power 24 percent.
By 2030, it is planned that Laos will produce another 5,559MW of electricity.
Of the total, 77.59 percent will come from hydropower and the rest will come from solar, wind and coal-fired power plants.
Laos’ capacity for solar power is expected to range from 10,000MW to 15,000MW, while wind power potential is estimated at around 100,000MW.

By Times Reporters
 (Latest Update June 30, 2022)