Nam Theun 2 Hydroelectric Project

 Figure 1: Nam Theun 2 Hydroelectric Project  Reservoir

As a landlocked country, Lao PDR’s trade relationships with other countries are extremely limited. Therefore, one of the only ways Laos can improve and develop its economy is through using its rivers and mountains as an advantage and building dams on them. The largest investment ever in Laos, the Nam Theun 2 Hydroelectric Project, was designed in an economic, environmental, and social safeguard and is expected to greatly contribute to the socio-economic development of the country.

In 2005, Nam Theun Power Company (NTPC), a company owned by the Lao Government and other Thai corporations which aims to ‘power the future,’ decided to build a hydroelectric dam primarily to export electricity to Laos’s neighboring countries, especially Thailand. And today, the finished dam stretches over the Nam Theun River in Khammouane province in the Southern Laos.

Due to the project, more than 6,200 people from 17 villages were relocated to new habitats where they have access to better home accommodations, roads, water pumps, toilets, education, and health facilities. By this, the NTPC expects to double the annual family income in 2005 from $410 to $820 by 2012.

NTPC has launched Watershed Management Protection Authority (WMPA) specifically for protecting the watershed and other areas around the reservoir. Illegal logging, which was commonly seen before, is now forbidden in the 4,106 km² protected area under strict management with better resources supplied from the project. Also, wild animals, especially the endangered Asian Elephants, found near the flooded area are relocated to new habitats that provide them with artificial mineral licks. Some specific experiments have shown that none of the fish species living in the reservoir are extinct.

Figure 2: Nam Theun 2 Hydroelectric Project Site

Figure 4: Old Houses

 Figure 5: New Houses Created by NTPC (1)

Figure 6: New Houses Created by NTPC (2)

 Figure 7: Old School

Figure 8: New School Created by NTPC  

 Figure 9: New Health Clinic Created by    NTPC

Just like the solar power system, hydro power plants do not produce any water or air pollution and thereby do not contribute to Global Warming. This Dam converts the movement and the fall of water through gravity into electricity without releasing any hazardous emissions. Also, its long-run, large reservoir emits 20 times less greenhouse gas than a similar sized gas-fired power plant, and releases about 30 percent less than a coal-fired power plant over a century period.

 Figure 10: Nam Theun 2 Hydroelectric Project Plan

            Figure 11: Nam Theun 2 Hydropower Dam

The Nam Theun 2 Hydropower dam was finished constructing this year, in 2009, is ready to commission an average of 5,900 GWh of electricity annually. Not only does this project help improve economy in Lao PDR, but it is also expected to contribute a huge role in developing sociology. It fact, hydropower is one of the most environmentally-friendly ways to create electricity!