Laos-based 600 MW wind power project to trial Vietnam supply in Dec

Laos’s 600 MW Monsoon wind power project is nearing completion and set to begin trial operations late December, its investor informed buyer Vietnam Electricity (EVN) Wednesday.

The project progress update reported to EVN noted that the operational timeline was earlier than the investor’s previous estimation of February 2025.

The investor called on EVN, the National Electricity System and Market Operation (NSMO) under Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade as well as power trading units under EVN to further facilitate the project’s progress, focusing in particular on power purchases and quality checks.

EVN deputy general director Nguyen Tai Anh said that the national utility and the NSMO would discuss changes in the legal framework to ensure the project’s deadlines.

The wind power project, the first one in Laos and one of the biggest in Southeast Asia at the moment, is invested in by a consortium comprising firms from Thailand, Hong Kong, Laos, the Netherlands, Japan and Singapore.

Notable stakeholders include Thailand’s Impact Electrons Siam Group and BCPG Public Company Limited, Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation, and Laos’s SMP Consultation Sole Company Limited.

Located in the Laotian provinces of Sekong and Attapeu, the $950-million project features 133 wind turbines and a 22-kilometer transmission line crossing the Vietnam-Laos border.

EVN has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with project investors.

Mitsubishi had said in April 2023 that shareholders had raised $692 million for the Monsoon wind power project, which will serve Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia.

The first cross-border renewable energy project in Southeast Asia plays a central role in a plan formulated by the governments of Vietnam and Laos to transmit 5,000 MW of electricity from Laos to Vietnam by 2030, Mitsubishi said.