Nam Ngum 3 Hydropower Project

Description

Construction of a 480 MW hydropower complex centred on a 210 m concrete-face rockfill dam on the Nam Ngum River, with three 160 MW generating units and associated tunnels and grid connections. The project is among Laos’s largest Chinese-financed hydropower investments.

History

The original international sponsor consortium formed in 2009, but EDL later took control. China Eximbank signed the USD 1.161 billion loan in 2015 and construction began in November 2015. Delays pushed operation far beyond the original 2022 target.

Finance