US$1.7 billion coal power plant set for Sekong

• 19 June 2020
• Construction Focus
• 6496 Views

Singapore energy firm Evolution Power Investment Corporation (EPIC) has recently received approval from the government of Laos PDR to develop a US$1.7 billion thermal power plant in southern Laos’ Sekong province. The plant will reportedly generate 1,000 MW and will likely be powered by domestically extracted coal, according to a report in by ASEAN Today in early June.

Power generated from the new plant will reportedly be exported countries nieghbouring Laos PDR including Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

The announcement of this new Sekong plant came about just after Cambodia signed a “Coal Power Exporting Deal” with Laos nine months ago.

According to the deal, Cambodia agrees to buy a total of 2,400MW of power, of which 1,800 MW is generated by a coal power plant run by Xekong Thermal Power Plant Company Limited, and the other 600 MW from a plant run by TSBP Sekong Power and Mineral Company Limited.

The same source gave an estimation of Lao’s coal reserve potential at around 600–700 million tons, of which the majority is Lignite, one of the world’s most polluting sources of energy.

Responding to criticism on how the Laos PDR government can benefi from the project when taking environmental impacts and cost into account, Laos firm Khounmixay Bridge and Road Construction and Repair Company (KMX), which has recently signed an agreement with EPIC to conduct a feasibility study for the project explained that it depends on the application of technology.

“Thermal power has and will play an important part in the power generation mix for the ASEAN region… it is critical that the latest technologies be used to minimise such impact,” said KMX Vice President Khamthanh Phommathat.

While the new Sekong coal power project goes forward and KMX is carrying out the feasibility study, questions over the environmental impacts and the availability of information about the plant, raised since the ‘Laos – Cambodia Coal Power Deal’ was signed last year, still echo among stakeholder groups.

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