The international engineering group Andritz has been selected by the Lao CH. Karnchang Company to supply the electro-mechanical equipment for the 1,470 MW Luang Prabang run-of-river hydropower plant project, located about 25 km north of the city of Luang Prabang (northern Laos). The contract will come into force in January 2023 and commissioning of the hydropower plant is scheduled for the end of 2029. The power plant is expected to generate around 6.5 TWh/year of electricity and will also provide power to neighbouring Thailand.
Andritz’s scope includes design, manufacturing, supply, transportation, erection, testing and commissioning of seven large Kaplan turbine-generator units rated 203 MW each and three smaller units rated 18 MW each, including transformers, governors, control, excitation and protection and SCADA systems as well as the electrical power and associated auxiliary systems.
At the end of 2020, hydro represented around 80% of Laos’ installed capacity with 7.8 GW and 71% of its power generation with 28.5 TWh. The country has more than 3 GW of hydro capacity under construction and more than 12 GW under development.