Laos Dams

[Lone Rider]

Work on the Pak Beng Mekong Dam (approximate coordinates N19.84998 E101.02309 or about 5 km. west from the new bridge over the Mekong) has started. While on my way back from Laos I tried to have a look but the staff of the Chinese construction company were very unhappy to see me. They could not stop me at the start of the road at the new bridge as there is a village (Ban Pakngeuy) along the road but once past the village they blocked the road with a big truck and forced me off the road. So just a picture of the concrete access road under construction and hopefully later some pictures of the construction work on the dam.

View attachment 47030
The access road under construction

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Location of the Pak Beng Mekong dam in relation to the new Mekong bridge

According to KPL Newspaper of today, work on the dam will start next year (early 2017)with completion foreseen in 2023 - source: http://kpl.gov.la/En/Detail.aspx?id=14942

Pak Beng Hydropower Project construction to begin next year

The construction of the Pak Beng Hydropower Project is expected to begin in early 2017, according to a senior official. The Pak Beng Hydropower Project is located in the upper reaches of the Mekong River in Pak Beng district, Oudomxay Province. It is one of the five mainstream Mekong projects in the northern territory of Laos, the Deputy Minister of Energy and Mining, Mr Viraphon Viravong said yesterday.It is a run-of-river project and is approximately 14-km upstream from the district centre. The total capacity will be 912 MW with average annual generation of 4.775 GWh, said the Director General of the Energy Policy and Planning Department, Mr Daovong Phonekeo."The purpose of this project is to utilise the great hydropower resources that Laos has been blessed with in order to produce power for domestic supply and export," Mr Daovong said yesterday in Vientiane Capital during a meeting with editors from National Television, Pasaxon, the Vientiane Times, the Lao News Agency and relevant sectors.

Construction is expected to be complete by 2023 with commercial operations beginning in early 2024. The Pak Beng Hydropower Project is located on the Mekong, so it will adhere to the principle of the 1995 Mekong Agreement, especially the process of prior consultation, which will require at least six months before decisions can finalized on development, Mr Viraphon said.

 

[Lone Rider]

Was passing by the Nam Ou 1 HPP site a few weeks ago and work has now started in earnest. Just some pictures:

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Road 13 N and the offices of SinoHydro which builds the dam

Lao Officials Tell Chinese Company to Take Down Illegal Wall Along Major Roadway


A motorcyclist rides along Route 13 beside a brick wall built by a Chinese company in northern Laos' Luang Prabang province, July 2016.

Lao officials have asked a Chinese construction company to destroy a brick wall it illegally erected along a major roadway as part of a dam project in northern Laos’ Luang Prabang province, a provincial transportation official said. The wall extends from a bridge across the Nam-Ou River on which the company has built the Nam-Ou 1 dam. The Chinese Nam-Ou Dam Company Ltd. erected the 600-meter (1,970-foot) long, two-meter (6.6-foot) high wall in Pak-Ou district in 2015 much closer to highway Route 13 than the distance stipulated by law, said Fasanan Thammavong, director general of the Public Works and Transport Department in Luang Prabang.

The areas on both sides of national main roads are reserved for possible future expansions and upgrades, and nothing can be built on them, he said. “We informed the Ministry of Energy and Mines to cooperate with the Chinese [company] to strictly implement the law pertaining to national highways by destroying the wall because there must not be any buildings within 25 meters [82 feet] on either side of the roadway,” Fasanan told RFA’s Lao Service on Wednesday.

“The Chinese company that constructed the dam has not respected the rule of law,” he said. Provincial authorities have ordered the company to destroy the wall along the part of the main road which is under the provincial administration of the Luang Prabang Public Works and Transport Department, he said. The national main road is under the administration of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport. “The provincial public works and transport department had a meeting and told the company to stop building the wall, but the company still insisted on building it because it said the area is included in its land concession,” he said.

Reported by RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Ounkeo Souksavanh. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. - Lao-officials-tell-chinese-company-to-take-down-illegal-wall-along-major-roadway

Note LR - Not sure if the 25 meter limit where no buildings are allowed along roads is also valid for villages.


Picture of Ban Khonkham right smack along Rd 13N and the Nam Ou with part of the new wall and the new bridge crossing the Nam Ou to the construction site of the dam.

 

[Lone Rider]

Work has also started on the Nam Ou 4 dam which is being built just a bit north of Mueang Khua (Khoua) on road 2E. Just a few pictures:

and a 180 degree panorama pictures of the construction site

The Nam Ou river is a bit brownish quite close to the dam construction site. Pictures taken from the bridge over the Nam Phak in Mueang Khua where the Nam Phak river joins the Nam Ou river

 

[Lone Rider]

Things don't always go to plan and the Xekaman 3 hydropower plant is a good example of what can go wrong.

The Xekaman 3 project is located along the border with Vietnam and can be reached via road 16 from Sekong - coordinates of the dam - N15.42518 E107.36305 and coordinates of the powerhouse are - N15.37511 E107.40661.

It has a 101.5 m. high concrete face rock fill dam. The penstock channeling the water from the reservoir to the powerhouse consists of the 6008 m. headrace tunnel with an internal diameter of 4 m. and a 43.3 m. high surge tank with an internal diameter of 12 m. The tunnel from the surge tank to the power house is called the penstock with a concrete lining and a steel lining. After the surge tank is the 182 m. long horizontal penstock, then a 171.83 m. high vertical shaft, connected to another 710.9 m. long horizontal penstock with an internal diameter of 3.2 m. After that there is an inclined 65.75 m. long open penstock connected to a vertical shaft 91.86m high with an internal diameter of 3.1 m. Then the horizontal penstock in 205.5 m. with internal diameter of 3.1 m. connected to the power house with an installed capacity of 250 MW. The hydropower project became operational in 2014-2015.

Unfortunately, the penstock was constructed through an ancient landslide area which had stabilized but, due to the construction activities, it became unstable again resulting in that in early 2015 the penstock broke. The penstock was repaired but about 10 days ago the penstock broke again resulting in a major landslide.


A picture of the powerhouse in better days

The same powerhouse after the landslide on 16 December 2016 when the penstock broke again resulting in a major landslide with now only the roof of the powerhouse sticking out of the mud

Source: Xekaman 3 dam and Vietrock 2015 Proceedings

 

[asiarider]

 

[Lone Rider]

The fish ladder is over the other side. This shot shows the ship lift side. They are using this several times a day at present, with accumulator devices that attract the fish.....

Here's an overview from 500 metres.

Some pictures of the Xayaboury Dam taken February 2017

The Xayaburi dam, with installed capacity of 1,260 MW, is the first one among 12 mainstream dams on the Mekong river. Located approximately 30 kilometers east of Xayaburi district, in northern Laos, this $3.2 billion dam is a controversial case: while Laos and dam-developers are steadily confirming that Xayaburi is a run-of-river (ROR) project, the dam’s water retention is 1-2 days, meaning it does not qualify as a real ROR dam. The preliminary construction of the dam began in early 2012. The dam itself was suspended shortly thereafter due to complaints from downstream countries Cambodia and Vietnam. After making modifications to the dam’s design, Laos started full construction with a ceremony on 7 November 2012.

According to the Lao government, Xayaburi is the “model for all dams in the mainstream Mekong river.” The dam’s developer, Thailand’s CH. Karnchang Public Company Limited, revealed that thus far the overall progress is 84%, and commercial operation is set to start in 2019. At the end of February 2017, thanks to an invitation from Lao PDR’s Ministry of Energy and Mines, a freelance correspondent with The Mekong Eye had a rare opportunity to visit the Xayaburi dam. Below, the correspondent shares some photos from inside the dam. And it’s noteworthy that, as the visit was controlled tightly, the visitors could only view the dam from an area high above site.

You can find the pictures here A-look-inside-xayaburi-dam/

 

[Lone Rider]

The 1285 MW Xayaboury Dam

Trials to generate electricity will start in October 2018 with completion of the hydro power project expected in 2019 where after the project will be fully operational with a major part of the electricity generated to be exported to Thailand.



Source: http://www.pakaad.com/9575/

 

[Lone Rider]

And a drone video from early 2018 of the Xayaboury Dam - copyright: kcr flyingcamera