Renewable energy production

Laos held a “groundbreaking” ceremony on Wednesday for a $3.5 billion hydropower dam on the Mekong River that is opposed by environmentalists and some neighbouring countries because of the possible impact on livelihoods, fisheries and agriculture. But it was unclear when actual construction of the contentious ...

The US yesterday criticised Laos for announcing it will begin building the 1,285-megawatt Xayaburi dam on the Mekong River today without studying its potential effects on Cambodia and Vietnam. A spokesperson from the US State Department in Washington said the government was concerned construction of the ...

Sketchy details that fail to specify when construction of the Lower Sesan 2 hydro dam will begin, or name the Chinese company involved, have villagers fearing for their future, representatives and environmental groups say. Since the Council of Ministers announced on Friday it had signed off ...

Laos has given the go-ahead to build a massive dam on the lower Mekong river, despite opposition from neighbouring countries and environmentalists. A formal ceremony marking the start of full construction at Xayaburi would be held on Wednesday, the government said. ...

The United States on Monday criticized a decision by the struggling Asian nation of Laos to build the first dam across the mainstream of the Mekong River, a project that environmentalists warn could affect tens of millions of livelihoods and trigger a dam-building spree along ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has said that the company responsible for building the Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng province will be in charge of constructing homes for thousands of villagers that will be displaced according to a statement Friday by the Council of ...

Officials in Laos announced that construction of the controversial Xayaburi dam will begin with a kickoff ceremony at the construction site Wednesday. Protests from human rights activists and environmental groups have delayed the project for 18 months, but the joint Laotian and Thai project is apparently ...

The government approved the Lower Sesan 2 dam project in Stung Treng province without any prior consultation with the most affected communities in Sesan district, where at least 5,000 people stand to be displaced, rights groups and villagers said yesterday. A study published earlier this ...

The Council of Ministers on Friday signed off on the Lower Sesan 2 dam project in Stung Treng province, despite long-standing criticism leveled against the project by environmental groups who say it would adversely affect 100,000 people as a consequence of reduced access to fish. The ...

Cambodia’s government has approved a controversial hydroelectric dam on a tributary of the Mekong River. The joint venture involves Cambodian, Chinese and Vietnamese investment of $781m (£488m) and is due to be completed within five years. The project in northern Stung Treng province is known as Lower ...

The Finnish government will investigate multinational consulting and engineering firm Pöyry over its involvement in Laos’s Xayaburi dam project, a letter obtained by the Post yesterday reveals. According to the letter from Finland’s Ministry of Employment and the Economy, dated October 16, a complaint filed by ...

The inking of a €300 million contract for water turbines, and job advertisements marked “urgent” appear to be the latest signs that Laos is powering forward with the Xayaburi hydroelectric dam project on the Mekong River. Assurances the $3.8 billion project was on hold pending further ...

Scientists and international experts fine-tuning the design of the Xayaboury dam have unveiled a scale model of the planned run-of-river structure to ensure the most efficient level of sediment flushing. The 1:120 scale model simulates actual hydrologic flows and water velocities in the Mekong River at ...

Even as its controversial Xayaburi Dam project is still drawing protest from Mekong river downstream countries such as Cambodia, Laos has inked a deal with South Korean firms to build and operate another large hydropower plant on the Mekong River network. According to the Phnom Penh ...

Better communication from authorities in Cambodia and Vietnam might have prevented the deaths of villagers and the destruction of homes in Ratanakkiri at times when water has been released from Vietnam’s Yali Falls dam, researchers said yesterday. Speaking at a national workshop about the Yali Falls ...

The Asian Development Bank is considering providing funds to a controversial 400 megawatt dam project in Laos that could have adverse impacts on the Mekong River in downstream Cambodia. Conservation group International Rivers wants the Lao government to pull the plug on the $1 billion Xe ...

Laos has contracted firms to build and operate another significant hydro-power plant on the Mekong River system, adding to the existing furor over potential effects on downstream countries such as Cambodia from the controversial Xayaburi dam. The contracts, reportedly worth $1 billion, are for a series of three dams making ...

Some questions remain about whether hydro dams on the upper Mekong River in China exacerbated conditions during Cambodia’s devastating drought of 2010, environmental groups say, as China’s dam program powers ahead. When the first power-generating unit was switched on last month at China’s giant 262-metre tall ...

The Federation of Cambodian Rice Millers Association in Battambang province will establish a biomass-generated electricity plant in Battambang, an insider said. The plant will cost up to US$10 million and generate 10 megawatts of electricity. Phou Puy, president of the Federation of Cambodian Rice Millers Association (CRMA) and the ...

French companies are considering plans to invest in a tram system providing comfortable public transport for residents of Phnom Penh, an official said Friday Kuy Koung, spokesman for Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said the project was discussed during a meeting between Foreign Minister ...

Authorities are preparing to evacuate more than 150 families from Banteay Meanchey province’s O’Chrou district, should flooding in the area get worse due to heavy rainfall and runoff from a dam that opened its gates in Thailand on Monday. The families’ homes are already affected by ...

Due to rising water level in Thailand’s reservoirs caused by heavy rainfall, the Thai government announced the opening of a dam in Sa Kaeo province, located about 20 km from the Cambodian border. This decision will potentially affect 10,000 Cambodian families in Poipet, Serei Sophorn ...

Thai authorities yesterday opened a dam near the Cambodian border, a move that could worsen flooding and affect thousands of people in Banteay Meanchey province, according to Cambodian officials. Mr. Vanda [vice president of the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM)] said the excess water ...

China’s dam building spree on the upper Mekong River raises new tensions over water resources Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang obviously had China in mind when he warned recently that tensions over water resources are not only threatening economic growth but presenting a source of conflict Cambodia, ...