Nam Taep Dams Hydropower Info by Hobo Maps - Go to Hydropower Projects Page - - Home

Nam Taep Hydropower projects are also called Nam Thep and Nam Tep.

The Nam Taep (river) in Houaphan Province of Lao PDR is a main tributary of the Nam Sam (river) which flows into Vietnam.

Nam Taep 1 and Nam Taep 2 Hydropower projects are close together and located near Ban Nam Taep and Ban Nameuang in Xam Tai (Sam Tai) District of Houaphan Province.

See the bottom of this web page for notes about a possible Nam Taep 3 hydropower project.

Satellite image below shows Nam Taep 1 & 2 Dams locations in approximate area of coordinates Nam Taep 1 - 20°03'50.5"N 104°20'40.1"E (20.064036, 104.344477) and Nam Taep 2 - 20°02'21.0"N 104°18'11.0"E (20.039152, 104.303067). In year 2026 available old satellite images don't show any activity or structures at the above locations.

The original owner of the projects is Nam Taep 1 & 2 Hydropower Co., Ltd. (a member of Malaysian-based OHP Group).

Financing for the projects was in part obtained from Bank of China Malaysia.

In 2020, Serba Dinamik Holdings Berhad, through its wholly owned subsidiary Serba Dinamik International LTD, entered into an engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contract to build Nam Taep 1 and Nam Taep 2 Hydropower projects for US $66.2 million.

Nam Taep (Thep) 1 and 2 Hydropower Projects are cascade power stations (one above the other) on the Nam Taep (river) which is a large tributary of Nam Sam (river). Nam Taep (river) is located in the western area of Sam Tai District and flows into the Nam Sam (river).

Nam Taep 1 and Nam Taep 2 Hydropower projects started construction in July 2018 and were originally expected to be completed by January 2022 but the pandemic-related border closures and transport difficulties may have caused delays.

Nam Taep hydropower projects on lower left corner of map below:

Nam Taep Dams 1 & 2 locations and drainage basins in image below:

Nam Taep 1 project is designed with 3 Francis synchronous turbine-generator sets rated at 5 MW each for 15 MW total capacity.

Nam Taep 2 project is designed with 2 Francis synchronous turbine-generator sets rated at 7.5 MW each for 15 MW total capacity.

Each project is expected to produce about 75 GWh production annually.

Nam Taep 1 reservoir has a catchment area of 613 square km with five hundred thousand cubic meters of water storage capacity. From the reservoir, a headrace tunnel is designed to drop about 75 meters to a power station downstream from the main dam.

Nam Taep 2 reservoir has a catchment area of 351 square km with 8 million cubic meters of water storage capacity. From the reservoir, a headrace tunnel is designed to drop about 200 meters to a power station downstream from the main dam.

Project site images below are from OHP Group website at start of construction but we aren't if the images are of Nam Taep 1 or 2 or maybe both.

Two power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Electricite du Laos (EDL) were executed in 2017 for the purchase of the electrical output generated from Nam Taep 1 and 2 facilities over a period of 28.5 years.

----------

NAM TAEP 3 ??

On 15 October 2026 we have new info about a Nam Taep 3 hydropower project that may or may not be related to Nam Taep 1&2 hydropower projects. A Lao guy named Baoxamtai posted on Facebook a picture of a partially-completed dam structure with a message in Lao language that Google translates into English as “The 3rd hydropower dam in Sam Tai District is currently under construction at Ban Nam Taeb”.

Seems likely this dam image below may be for a Nam Taep 3 hydropower project. A Lao man Tee Xeong responded to the Facebook posting saying he did survey work at that project in 2017 for a Malaysian company.

Our web search found that a Malaysian company was the owner in 2018 of a Lao Corporation called Nam Taep 1,2,3 Hydropower Company Limited. So we see there was a Nam Taep 3 project in the plans along with Nam Taep 1&2. The relevant dates and involvement with a Malaysian company match nicely for all 3 projects but there seem to be complications with ownership and long delays in development progress. Ownership of a Nam Taep 3 project may be different than that for Nam Taep 1&2.

If the above dam photo posted on Facebook was taken recently maybe things are starting to get back on track. We already have construction images for Nam Taep 1&2 and some details but for a possible Nam Taep 3 project we have no details or information at all.