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EDL to interconnect national power grids
Electricite du Laos (EDL) plans to interconnect its two independent regional power grids to become one national grid managed by its own load dispatching centre.
“Laos is divided into three regions – north, central and south – for the purposes of the power sector. However, this involves two physically separated grids,” EDL Managing Director Mr Khammany Inthirath said on Friday.
Mr Khammany was addressing a consultative workshop in Vientiane on the future development of the power sector.
“There is a northern grid which extends down to Savannakhet province and another that covers down to Saravan province,” Mr Khammany explained. “Only 22kV transmission lines currently connect both grids.”
EDL Transmission and Substation Department Director Mr Khen Thepvongsa said yesterday that a study of the 115kV power grid interconnection project was completed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency last year. The project will be supported by the Japanese government.
“The project will cost an estimated 304 billion to 320 billion kip (US$38 million to US$40 million),” Mr Khen said, adding “It may start next year or in 2013, and be completed in 2014.”
Mr Khen said that once the project is completed and the power grids are linked, the need to import energy will be reduced, while electricity supply will be boosted because the single grid will link to all power plants in the country.
According to a handout at the workshop, EDL also aims to create significant high-voltage interconnections with Thailand, Vietnam, southern China and Cambodia.
The handout notes that Laos, with its vast hydropower potential, will ultimately become a ‘regional generation hub' for the proposed interconnected Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) power grid.
EDL Electricity Department Director General Mr Viraphonh Viravong said the interconnected high-voltage transmission infrastructure is necessary to enable flexibility and reliability in the dispatching of energy from connected independent power producers to demand centres.
The government envisions Laos as a major power supplier in the GMS area, facilitating energy transfer within a regulated regional framework.
“But to do this, in addition to a regulated environment, an enormous amount of hardware – substations and transmission lines – is necessary, which requires an equally enormous amount of financing, which, unlike water in this region, is not abundant,” Mr Viraphonh said.
The government had commissioned several studies as part of its master plan for system expansion at various stages and has been continuously reviewing the development plan to suit current developments, at the GMS regional and national levels. While the system expansion plan is in place, sources of financing for various transmission projects are not yet clear.
At present, EDL manages two independent 115kV power grids, each connected to neighbouring countries' power grids at different locations. Power interchanges, both exports and imports, take place along these interconnections, depending on the area-wise demand-supply balances.
vientiane times
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