Electricity infrastructure
Generation and distribution facilities
Xayaburi dam nearly half done
Construction of the Xayaburi dam on the Mekong River in Laos is almost half finished, the developer behind it has said. ...
Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/xayaburi-dam-nearly-half-done
Villagers in the dark over dam relocation
Communities living close to the Lower Sesan II dam site in Stung Treng province have called on the government to publicly disclose what compensation they will receive. Logging continues as the area is cleared ahead of construction, but those who will be forced to leave their ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/villagers-dark-over-dam-relocation
Dam promises are ‘a facade’
With regional consultations on Laos’s Don Sahong dam expected to commence soon, the developers are violating pledges to postpone construction, which is being undertaken by a Chinese company associated with several controversial hydropower projects, the Post has learned ...
Daniel Pye and Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dam-promises-are-%E2%80%98-facade%E2%80%99
Malaysia's Wah Seong in 10-year power deal with Cambodia
Wah Seong Corporation Bhd’s subsidiary will be selling 48,000 MW of power per annum over 10 years to Cambodia’s power company. Wah Seong said on Friday its subsidiary PMTI Energy (Cambodia) Co Ltd had signed a power purchase deal with the Electricité Du Cambodge to sell ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=ZTNmM2VkMTNmMDI
Dam ‘redesign’ a mystery
Amid a lawsuit and a chorus of dissent, developers of the first lower Mekong mainstream hydropower project, the massive Xayaburi dam, have quietly submitted a long-anticipated, multimillion-dollar redesign plan, the Post has learned. What exactly has been changed about the 1,260-megawatt dam, which environmentalists contend will ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dam-%E2%80%98redesign%E2%80%99-mystery
Metfone eyes sites in Areng
In what could be the latest sign that authorities are pushing ahead with the Areng Valley hydropower dam, Vietnam Military Telecommunications Group has sent engineers into the valley in Koh Kong province to scout for locations where its local subsidiary, Metfone, could build mobile phone ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/metfone-eyes-sites-areng
No protest permission needed: CCHR
A prominent rights group on Monday wrote to Minister of Interior Sar Kheng, calling on him to remind ministries and local authorities that demonstrators do not require their permission to hold public gatherings. ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/no-protest-permission-needed-cchr
Laos halts construction project of controversial Don Sahong hydropower dam: envoy
Laos has suspended the construction project of controversial 260-megawatt Don Sahong hydropower dam on the lower Mekong River following requests from other countries, newly-designated Laos ambassador to Cambodia Prasith Sayasith said Tuesday. ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/140819/laos-halts-construction-project-controversial-don-sahong-hyd
6th Chinese-built hydropower dam in Cambodia starts operation
The sixth Chinese-built hydropower plant, located in the Koh Kong province of southwestern Cambodia, has begun producing electricity after more than four years of construction, the China National Heavy Machinery Corporation (CHMC) said in a statement on Thursday. CHMC started to develop the 246-megawatt Tatay River Hydropower Plant in 2010. The dam comprises three generators, each capable of producing 82 megawatts, the statement said. ...
People's Daily Online News Staff
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/n/2014/0814/c90777-8769756.html
Mekong hydropower could conflict with other benefits: Kerry
US Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday that hydropower development along the Mekong River could conflict with other benefits. “You have this tension between the purposes, unless they’re approached thoughtfully and correctly,” he told foreign ministers from the Lower Mekong Initiative gathered in Nay Pyi ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=ZDBkZDVhOTQxOTA
Croc release at dam site planned
A conservation group may release 20 baby Siamese crocodiles into the Areng Valley amid an ongoing stand-off between villagers and a Chinese firm over the construction of a controversial hydropower dam in Koh Kong province. Tuy Serey Vathana, country directory at Fauna and Flora International, said ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/croc-release-dam-site-planned
Cambodia’s hydroelectric question: China power and the environment
Discussion about hydroelectric power plants in Cambodia tends to focus on two aspects, both negative. One is an overdependence on Chinese investment, and the other is a relatively disproportionate focus on the environmental impacts of hydroelectric power. Chinese Influence Most hydroelectric power plants in Cambodia are associated ...
Sim Vireak
http://thediplomat.com/2014/07/cambodias-hydroelectric-question-china-power-and-the-environment/
‘A threat to Cambodia’s sacred forests’
In southwest Cambodia, at the foot of the Cardamom Mountains, is a single dirt road that meanders through the heart of the pristine Areng valley. Ten miles down this road, villagers have set up an encampment to stop a hydroelectric dam project that they fear ...
New York Times News Staff
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/opinion/a-threat-to-cambodias-sacred-forests.html
Cambodia is perfectly positioned to become a solar powerhouse
Phnom Penh’s first solar-powered building looks for all the world like a cube of colored Lego blocks dropped in a factory lot on the city’s industrial outskirts. Covered in some 1,350 solar panels — including large panes of multi-colored solar glass — the three-story building ...
Sarah Goodyear
http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/water-war-weapon-syria-cities
Officials ‘take cut’ of dam compensation
Officials involved in negotiating compensation offers between the developers of the Lower Sesan II dam and affected villagers have kept a portion of the money paid out to 12 families for themselves, according to an official. Duong Pov, Stung Treng provincial administration director, claimed that a ...
Phak Seangly and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/officials-%E2%80%98take-cut%E2%80%99-dam-compensation
Delay Sesan dam: villagers
Villagers who will be displaced if the controversial Lower Sesan II dam is built called on the developers yesterday to postpone construction for five years, allowing time for a comprehensive resettlement scheme to be devised. But a government official dismissed their request as “beyond the pale”, ...
Phak Seangly and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/delay-sesan-dam-villagers
Thai court agrees to hear lawsuit over controversial Xayaburi dam in Laos
A top court in Thailand agreed on Tuesday to hear a lawsuit brought by villagers against the country’s decision to purchase power from the planned Xayaburi mega dam in neighboring Laos, which green groups say could threaten the region’s environment and food security. Overruling a lower ...
Parameswaran Ponnudurai
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/lawsuit-06242014170128.html
Army creates new platoon in Areng Valley
The army created a new platoon on Monday to guard an area near the Areng Valley in Koh Kong province, where hundreds of ethnic minority residents have fiercely resisted plans by a Chinese company to build a hydropower dam that would flood their ancestral lands. The ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/army-creates-new-platoon-in-areng-valley-62198/
Company launches energy-efficient light program
A South Korean company on Monday completed a $100,000 energy-efficient street light initiative in Pursat province, and said it will now invest $100 million to construct a factory to manufacture the lights, officials said. The Global Digital Media Group Co. Ltd. installed 200 light-emitting diode (LED) ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/one-china-policy-stymies-citizenship-scam-62210/
NGO says work on Don Sahong dam under way
A conservation group has said its recent trip to Laos revealed that construction on a controversial hydropower dam decried by neighbouring Mekong countries is already under way. International Rivers representatives visiting the proposed site of the 260-megawatt Don Sahong Hydropower Project earlier this month say they ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ngo-says-work-don-sahong-dam-under-way
Energy Minister to be questioned in parliament over Se San 2 dam construction
Energy Minister Suy Sem will answer in the National Assembly (NA) on Thursday this week over the construction plan of Se San 2 dam in Stung Treng province, according to a press statement by the General Secretariat of the National Assembly. ...
The Cambodia Herald New Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=ZDNlZWE0MjhjNjQ
Residents left in dark again
Residents in the vicinity of Kab Ko market in Phnom Penh’s Chamkarmon district found themselves fumbling in the dark yet again yesterday on the second consecutive day of hours-long power outages. According to locals, electricity to the street failed around noon on Wednesday and was restored ...
Sen David and Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/residents-left-dark-again
Laos draws ire of neighbors with Mekong River dam plans
Laos will push ahead with its ambition to become the “battery of Southeast Asia,” planning a Mekong River dam that has drawn opposition from neighbors and threatens to involve China and the U.S. Four Mekong River nations are scheduled to meet June 26-27 in Thailand to ...
Bloomberg News Staff
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-06-03/laos-draws-ire-of-neighbors-with-mekong-river-dam-plans
Japan firm buys share of new power plant
In what looks to be a concerted push into the Southeast Asian energy sector, Japanese import and export conglomerate Marubeni Corporation has acquired a large stake of Cambodia’s power generation infrastructure. In a Tokyo Stock Exchange filing dated June 2, Marubeni announced it had purchased a ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/japan-firm-buys-share-new-power-plant