Key hydropower plant in northern Vietnam becomes fully operational

The last turbine of a major hydroelectric plant in Vietnam's Lai Chau border province, whose total investment amounts to 1.6 billion U.S. dollars, has become operational, its investor announced on Thursday.

The third turbine with capacity of 400MW was put into operation on Wednesday, its investor, the state-owned group Electricity of Vietnam said, noting that construction of Lai Chau hydroelectric plant with total capacity of 1,200 MW with investment of 35,700 billion Vietnamese dong (1.6 billion U.S. dollars) was complete one year ahead of the schedule.

The first and the second turbine became operational in December 2015 and June 2016, respectively, while the third turbine was scheduled be put into operation in 2017.

Lai Chau hydroelectric plant is the third biggest hydropower plant on Da River in northern Vietnam, after Son La and Hoa Binh plants.

Becoming operational since December 2012, Son La hydroelectric plant with capacity of 2,400 MW in Son La province has generated an average output of over 10 billion kW of electricity each year, nearly one-tenth of Vietnam's total electricity output in 2012. Endit