Nam Ou 1 Dam Hydropower Info

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Nam Ou 1 dam image below looking downriver:

Nam Ou 1 dam image below looking upriver:

The Nam Ou 1 hydropower project started construction in 2016 and commenced commercial production in November 2019.

Nam Ou 1 Dam is located on the Nam Ou (river) about 18 kilometers upriver from where the Nam Ou joins the Mekong River at Pak Ou town. Satellite image below shows the location at coordinates - 20°08'57.8"N 102°19'02.8"E (20.149384, 102.317435).

Nam Ou 1 was the last in a seven-dam cascade built on the Nam Ou by Nam Ou River Basin Hydropower Company Ltd. (Nam Ou Power Co., Ltd.) (sometimes referred to as “Nam Ou Power”). Nam Ou Power is a joint venture between China’s Sinohydro Corporation (85%) and the Lao state electricity corporation, Électricité du Laos (EDL) (now EDL GEN) 15%.

Sinohydro Corporation is a subsidiary of Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina).

The Nam Ou cascade hydropower project is a series of seven hydroelectric dams along the Nam Ou (river) in Phongsaly and Luang Prabang provinces of northern Lao PDR. The project is managed by PowerChina and the Lao government under a build, operate and transfer (BOT) agreement signed in April 2011.

Some of the Nam Ou cascade projects have franchise periods of 25 years while others have 29 year periods.

Nam Ou 1 Dam photo below taken Oct. 2020 from Highway 13. The concrete dam has a height of 52.5 meters.

The feasibility study report of this project was approved by the Lao Government in February, 2014. The EIA report was approved by the Lao Government in October, 2014. In August, 2014, the first draft of the PPA Agreement was submitted to EDL. We are not sure if or when a final PPA was executed.

An agreement was reached in August 2021 to export 840 MW of the output from the seven Nam Ou projects to Electricity Vietnam (EVN). Not sure at this time which plants are involved or how the power will be transmitted to Vietnam. Now it seems that this agreement has been terminated.

Electricity generated by the Nam Ou cascade hydropower projects was planned to be sold to EDL for domestic consumption which includes power for portions of the Lao-China Railway electric system but in year 2024 there is not enough domestic demand in Laos for all of the 7 project's output.

The Nam Ou 1 project has 180 MW installed capacity from 4 turbines with annual output capacity of 710 GWh.

Total estimated cost for Nam Ou 1 project was 381 million US dollars.

The Nam Ou 1 reservoir has a length of 35.4 km and covers an area of 9.6 square km. It stores water 307 meters above sea level and has total capacity of 89 million cubic meters with regulating capacity of 22 million cubic meters.

Images below show the Nam Ou 1 dam in views upriver on the Nam Ou.