Ch Karnchang, Laos sign MoU for study of dam on Mekong River
Ch Karnchang announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) last Friday with the Lao government to conduct a feasibility study of the construction of a US$1.7-billion (Bt59 billion) run-of-river dam on the Mekong River.
Anukool Tuntimas, executive vice president for human resources and general administration, said in a statement submitted to the Stock Exchange of Thailand that from a preliminary study, Ch Karnchang found the Sayaboury Hydroelectric Power Project would have an installed capacity of up to 1,260 megawatts. That is about twice the capacity that the Nam Ngum 2 Dam, also in Laos, will have. The Nam Ngum 2 Dam is being constructed by Southeast Asia Energy (SEAN), an associate company of Ch Karnchang. After completion of construction, the Sayaboury Dam will generate about 6,000 gigawatt hours of electricity per year for sale to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat), while the Nam Ngum 2 Dam will generate about 2,200GWh and cover a catchment area of about 280,000 square kilometres. "It's expected that the construction cost of the said project will be about $1.7 billion to $1.8 billion, with the company the main contractor," Anukool said. Revenues from sale of electricity to Egat are expected to be not less than $300 million a year, while the operation and maintenance costs will be about 3 per cent of revenues, he said. The feasibility study will take not more than 30 months, and construction should commence in early 2011 and be completed and generate electricity for sale to Egat in the last quarter of 2015. Earlier, the company had informed the stock exchange that SEAN, its associate company, signed an MoU with the Lao government to study and develop the Nam Bak I and Nam Bak II (Nam Chia) Project for a feasibility study of around 18 months. The Nam Bak I and Nam Bak II Project will generate about 1,080 kilowatts of electricity per year, or about half the capacity of the Nam Ngum 2 Project, with a total project value of $400 million and a concession term of 30 years, including the construction period. The project is located 15 kilometres from the Nam Ngum 2 Project. Furthermore, the Nam Bak Project will increase the energy to the Nam Ngum 2 Project by about 250kW a year by diverting water from the project to the Nam Ngum 2 Reservoir. SEAN expects this project to enhance capacity for maximum benefit in a short period of time and start generating electricity in 2013, he said.
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