Laos to become major exporter of electricity in ASEAN

• Sommana Yan
• 3 April 2023
• International News
• 2373 Views

Laos has been becoming a major source of electricity in ASEAN as it has been selling electricity to its neighbouring countries on a large scale.

Laos earned more than 1.76 billion USD from electricity export in 2022, up 7.5% from last year, the country’s media reported. For 2023, the Lao Government has set a target of generating at least 51,134 million kWh, equivalent to more than 41.32 trillion LAK (2.4 billion USD), up 71.77% from this year.

There are 90 power plants across the country with a total capacity of 11,000MW, including 77 hydropower, eight solar, and four biomass power plants, along with one coal-fired power plant.

Laos is trading electricity with Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, and China. The export of electricity is considered a contribution to realizing the ASEAN power grid initiative.

In particular, Vietnam has become one of Laos’s three largest investors, with a total capital of over 5.3 billion USD. Meanwhile, Lao has been selling 100 MW of electricity to Singapore since last June through the power transmission networks of Thailand and Malaysia.

Photo credit to Bangkok Post

• Energy and Environment