Environmental Criteria for Hydropower in the Mekong Region - WWF

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The Current Status of Environmental Criteria for Hydropower Development in the Mekong Region: A litterature compilation 1.2 Lao PDR While the Lao PDR power system is also at an early stage of development it has advanced further than Cambodia. Currently 41% of households in Lao PDR are now electrified and the Government has committed itself to increasing electricity access to 90% of households by 2020, based primarily on grid extension and hydropower development Beside Viet Nam, Lao PDR has the largest hydropower potential of the four lower Mekong Basin (LMB) countries on the many upland tributaries feeding into the Mekong River system which have a combined potential of 13,000 MW. Because of its geographic location and mountainous nature yielding hydropower potential, Lao PDR also views itself as being at the hub of power trade with markets in Thailand and Viet Nam. Nam Theun II, for instance, is the first significantly large hydropower project for cross-border trade in the GMS. The primary markets for Lao PDR are Thailand and Viet Nam. These markets are large compared with the potential supply from Lao PDR and trade is therefore constrained by price and supply capability rather than demand. Opportunities are also influenced by other factors that include progress in establishing regional 500 kV transmission interconnections and the timing and nature of power market reforms within GMS countries. Lao PDR has nine hydropower projects in operation around the country accounting for 2% of the country's hydropower potential. Three hydropower projects are under construction, or soon to start including: Se Xet 2 (76 MW) due in 2008, serving markets in Lao PDR/Thailand; Nam Theun 2 (1,088 MW) developed as an IPP to serve markets in Thailand starting in 2009. NT2 is the largest project in Lao PDR and is significant to the Mekong system as it will account for 12% of the active storage capacity in the Mekong Basin when it is operational; and Nam Ngum (615 MW and IPP) to serve markets in Thailand from 2011. Domestically, the power system in Lao PDR is divided into four unconnected supply areas, and a number of smaller supply areas. Domestic electricity demand has been 4
The Current Status of Environmental Criteria for Hydropower Development in the Mekong Region: A litterature compilation growing at a high rate of 13% in the 1990s, and Lao PDR has the lowest tariffs in GMS. The policy in Lao PDR is to develop hydropower, as reflected in the Electricity Law (1997) that prioritizes investment in hydroelectricity. The Law specifies the various IPP and private sector financing models to encourage domestic supply and export, and sets out licensing arrangements. The Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts (MIH) of Lao PDR is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the power policies of the Government that are established by the Prime Minister’s Office (where the Lao National Energy Committee is located). Electricity du Laos (EdL) is presently responsible for generation from its own plant, transmission and distribution but also purchases from IPPs. Various models for further restructuring the power sector are under consideration with a view to clearly separating the functions of regulation, energy policy and sector oversight, utility operation on a commercial footing (by EdL) with a view to future privatization, and rural electrification. The Power System Development Plan for Lao PDR (PSDP 2004) was the last major planning study to consider bulk generation and transmission options for domestic and export objectives. It noted that, as in other GMS countries, the opening of the sector to new financing models is fundamentally changing the way in which projects are planned and implemented. Entry points for environment criteria relevant to hydropower development in Lao PDR could thus include: - Up-front in the hydropower project selection process; 3 - In the licensing procedures and in IPP concession agreements, in terms of their responsibilities for environment mitigation and management; - Introducing assessment and provision for environment flows into the detailed design and operation of dams, incorporating physical provision for releasing different environmental flows, for example; - More broadly, because there was a significant investment in environment and social analysis as part of reaching a decision on Nam Theun II, consolidating these lessons and considering how they would inform environment criteria for other projects in Lao PDR would provide an important contribution to Lao PDR and also offer lessons to share with other GMS countries. Similarly, stakeholders in Lao PDR have had considerable exposure to the international hydropower debate after NT2, including the issues about participation in sector planning and project EIAs. In many respects NT2 has been a proving ground for the integration of environment issues in the power sector in Lao PDR but at a significant cost due, in part, to a lack of criteria for determining the acceptability or otherwise of environmental impacts at an early stage of project planning. It would be 3 Lao PDR has employed multi-criteria in ranking hydro projects for domestic supply and export that could serve as a model for other countries, and most important, enhancing the participation aspects. 5
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Environmental Criteria for Hydropower in the Mekong Region - WWF

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