GMS Power Trade (Laos) Project

closed

The objective of the Greater Mekong Sub-region Power Trade Projects is to enhance power trade within Greater Mekong Sub-Region (GMS) with a view to also bringing affordable grid-based electricity to selected provinces in Cambodia through import of power from Lao PDR and Vietnam. Overall, the Project has the following main components: Component 1: Development of cross-border 115 kV Transmission Line linking Lao PDR (Ban Hat) and Cambodia (Stung Treng) to facilitate import of lower cost electricity from Lao PDR to displace higher cost diesel-fueled generation sources in Cambodia; Component 2: Development of cross-border 115 kV Transmission Line linking Vietnam (Tan Bien) and Cambodia (Kampong Cham) for bilateral power exchanges, beginning with imports of lower cost electricity from Vietnam to displace diesel-fueled generation in Cambodia, and leading over the long term to the transfer of surplus hydropower from Cambodia to Vietnam; Component 3: Development of the Xeset 1 to Saravan segment of the proposed 115 kV Transmission Link that would eventually interconnect electricity grids from (western) Thailand through (southern) Laos to (southern) Cambodia; Component 4: Development (feasibility, design, building, commissioning) of a modern Load Dispatch Center (LDC) for Lao PDR to facilitate regional power trade. An LDC, from a regional perspective, is essential for bringing: (i) voltage and frequency control; (ii) system protection and reliability; and (iii) technical information on exchange and dispatching, up to the minimum standards required for security of the grids in neighboring countries that are connected, or will be connected, to Electricite du Laos (EdL's) system. By doing so, development of grid-to-grid interconnections and the security of a future integrated GMS power grid would be enhanced; and Component 5: TA activities in support of: (i) development, through a regional perspective, of feasibility study for hydropower generation for facilitating regional power trade; (ii) consulting services for project implementation; and (iii) consulting services for institutional strengthening.