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Developers ink tariff agreement for Borikhamxay dam
Two energy developers from Japan and Thailand on Monday signed a tariff Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Electricite du Laos (EDL) for the Nam Ngiep 1 hydropower project.
The two developers are Kansai Electric Power Co Inc (Kansai) from Japan and EGAT International Co Ltd (EGATi) from Thailand.
Kansai and EGATi also aim to sign a power purchase agreement (PPA) with EDL within 18 months of signing the MOU, according to a press release circulated at the signing ceremony.
The ceremony was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Energy and Mines, the Japanese Embassy to Laos, EDL, Lao Holding State Enterprise (LHSE), EGATi and Kansai.
The principle contents of the tariff MOU were the duration of the project operation period, the unit price for the energy generated and basic terms and conditions of the PPA, the press release stated.
Currently the developers are negotiating a concession agreement, construction contract and loan agreement, and getting a certificate of environmental and social impact assessment from the government.
The project site is located in Borikhamxay province, 150km northeast of Vientiane. It uses water from the Nam Ngiep river, a tributary of the Mekong.
The developers aim to start project construction this year, with a commercial operation date of 2018, according to the press release.
The project will have an investment of about 8 trillion kip (US$1 billion). Kansai will be the largest shareholder, with 45 percent, while EGATi will hold 30 percent and LHSE will hold 25 percent.
The project is a dam type hydropower plant with a total capacity of 290 megawatts (MW). The majority of the energy generated will be exported to Thailand, with a portion saved for domestic use in line with the national electricity export policy.
An EGATi representative, Mr Somboon Arayaskul, said the tariff MOU with EDL is further testimony to their successful cooperation.
Mr Somboon said they began negotiating the terms and conditions last April for a re-regulating power station project with a capacity of 18MW.
Kansai representative Mr Hidehiko Yukawa said the re-regulation power plant is located about 7km downstream of the main power plant. The re-regulation power plant will control the peak discharge from the main power plant to a uniform 24 hour flow in order to “supply stable energy all day in all seasons and also conserve the natural environment in the Nam Ngiep River,” he said.
The project has been planned on a Build-Operate-Transfer basis by a private company, targeted to sell electricity to EGAT and to EDL for 27 years, the press release noted.
Generated energy will be transmitted to the Nabong substation and exported to Thailand across the Mekong River.
A 115kV transmission line will be routed from the powerhouse of the re-regulation dam to the Pakxan substation in Borikhamxay province.
vientiane times
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