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Lao southern electrical grid further expanded

Xinhua, October 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

Laos has expanded its southern electrical grid to remote areas with help from Chinese companies, local daily Vientiane Times reported on Wednesday.

The Electricite du Laos (EDL), the Lao state corporation that owns and operates the country's electricity generation, transmission and distribution assets, continues to expand its network with the installation of 115kWh transmission lines and substations linking Phin district, Savannakhet province, some 380 km southeast of capital Vientiane, to Saravan province, some 480 km southeast of Vientiane.

EDL Director General Boun-oum Sivanpheng said on Saturday during the official opening ceremony that the project is part of efforts to ensure that 95 percent of people in rural and remote areas had access to electricity by 2020.

The project is 120 km in length with 323 poles and three main substations between the two provinces.

Construction began in 2014 with a concession granted to the China Machinery Engineering Corporation under a loan from China's Import-Export Bank.

Boun-oum said the project would play an important role in transmitting electricity from central hydropower plants to southern regions, especially the Seno Special Economic Zone.

Laos' electrical grid includes 6,510 km of transmission lines which are used for distributing electricity for export and domestic consumption.

Minister of Energy and Mines Khammany Inthirath said the network expansion was important for national economic and social development. Laos has built 40 power plants producing electricity with a total installed capacity of 6,300 MW and could generate 33,000 gwh of electricity a year, he said.

Some 20.4 percent of the power generated is consumed in Laos while 79.6 percent is exported.

At present 86.5 percent of villages in the country can access electricity for consumption with 91.5 percent of families able to access permanent electricity supply.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines 2016-2020 strategy plans to develop 35 energy projects which will push Laos' installed capacity to 10,000 MW, allowing it to generate 60,000 GWh of electricity annually. Endit