Ban Koum Dam Hydropower Info by Hobo Maps - - Go To Hydropower Projects Page - - - HOME
The Ban Koum Dam hydropower project is in a planning stage in 2026. The dam is to be located on the mainstream Mekong river a few kilometers upriver from Pakse in Southern Laos. The project is about 10 km above the confluence of the Mun/Chi River with the Mekong. The project at one time was also known as the Salavan Dam.
The dam structure would be entirely in Laos near the Thai-Lao border but increasing the Mekong surface level upriver behind the dam might cause impacts in both countries.
Concept image of what Ban Koum Dam would look like below:
Ban Koum Hydropower Project is to be near Ban Koum Noi, Sanasomboon District, Champasack Province, Lao PDR and also near Tha Long Village, Huai Phai Sub-district, Khong Chiam District, Ubon Ratchathani Province, Thailand.
Original project sponsors were Italian-Thai Development Co., Ltd and Asia Corp Holdings Ltd. and the Lao government. Italian-Thai seemed to be restructuring in 2024 and had other unrelated issues in 2025 that may affect its continuing involvement.
Proposed location on Mekong river below is at coordinates 15°25'06.0"N 105°35'12.0"E (15.418333, 105.586667):
The project powerhouse is to be located beside the spillway and have total installed capacity of 1,872 MW from 26 bulb turbines at 72 MW each. Estimated annual output may come to 8,012 GWh.
Navigation locks will be located on the right bank of the Mekong River and a stream fish pass structure on the left bank.
The dam structure would be 780 meters long and 53 meters high with a rated head of 19 meters.
Spillways are to be of reinforced concrete with 22 radial gates, each 20.0 meters wide and 25.5 meters high.
The project would have a reservoir with a surface area of 133 square km and have 15 million cubic meters live storage. About 86% of the reservoir would be confined within the historic channel of the Mekong.
Both the Pak Chom and Ban Koum trans-border hydropower projects face challenges due to potential cross-border impacts. A Memorandum of Understanding may be needed between Laos & Thailand to clarify how surveys and cross-border impacts will be handled.
On 17 February 2022 the governor of Ubon Ratchathani Province stopped a private company from surveying an area for the dam project out of concern it could harm bilateral ties with Laos and it would be better to not proceed until an MOU is issued.
As of year 2026 it seems the project has not submitted a request to the Mekong River Commission to start the Procedures for Notification of Prior Consultation and Agreement (PNPCA) six month prior notification procedure.
Proposed statistics for Ban Koum Dam project below:
Ban Koum hydropower project would not usually be operated on a peaking basis but rather have stable and continuous output.
The project has pumped irrigation systems planned for a total of 7,870 hectares to be potentially irrigated in both Thailand and Laos.
The Ban Koum Hydropower project location is shown at upper left side of map below:
Ban Koum relocation impact image below:
