Hydropower dams

Rapid growth in the number of dams along the Mekong River is transforming Southeast Asia’s energy, food, transportation, security, and ecological networks. Eleven hydropower dams now span the river’s mainstream before it leaves China, with hundreds more dams planned or under construction in the other ...

The construction of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand’s (Egat) hydropower plant at Pha Juk dam in Uttaradit’s Muang district is progressing as planned and should meet its targeted commercial operation date of December 2022, Thidet Iam-sai, deputy director-general of engineering and power plant construction ...

Recent weeks have seen new developments in the ongoing tension over the Mekong river and its waters, as the river basin faces ecological crises and its waters play an ever-larger role in geopolitics.Thailand has announced that it is reconsidering its decision to purchase power from ...

The government threatened on Tuesday not to buy electricity from Sanakham dam in Laos after it learned the project might affect the Mekong River.“The country’s territory is our paramount concern,” Somkiat Prajamwong, secretary-general to the Office of National Water Resources, said on Tuesday after a ...

The latest reports from the Lower Mekong Basin are cause for growing concern that another period of drought will succeed that of 2019, affecting Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Expected rainfall from late May through June and July has not arrived, and the level of ...

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon urged authorities concerned to discuss and find ways to mitigate the possible environmental impact from the Sanakham Dam project in Laos in the upcoming scheduled public hearings.“[The committee] is concerned about the impact of the dam, as it is located ...

On July 23, 2018, the villagers of Attapeu, a sleepy town in southern Laos, suffered their worst nightmare when the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy hydropower dam suddenly burst, unleashing massive torrents of water that swallowed local villages, killing 71. More than 7,000 were made homeless.The survivors lost ...

Two years ago this month, the villagers of Attapeu in southern Laos encountered their worst nightmare when the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy hydropower dam, which was under construction, failed. Massive torrents of water swept through several villages, causing 71 deaths, heavy damage to properties and left around ...

A dam planned for construction by Laos on the Mekong river will have negative impacts not only on Lao villages but also in nearby Thailand, a coalition of Thai environmental groups says, adding that the government in Bangkok should cancel plans to buy electricity from ...

Thai residents living in eight northeastern provinces along the Mekong River are opposed to Laos’ plans to construct a new hydropower dam on the Mekong River over fears it will threaten the river system, where seasonal flooding supports fisheries and regional agriculture.The protest comes as ...