Southeast Asia’s largest hydroelectric power station has begun operating to help ease an electricity shortage in fast-growing Vietnam, an official said on December 19.
The first of six turbines at the Son La station is now connected to the national power grid, said Hoang Trong Nam, director of the plant’s management board.
The two-billion-dollar plant with a capacity of 2,400 megawatts is expected to be fully operational in 2012, three years ahead of a target set by the National Assembly.
Nam said about 100,000 people, mostly from ethnic minority groups, have been relocated to make way for the reservoir, which stretches across the three provinces of Son La, Lai Chau and Dien Bien in northwestern Vietnam.
Initial plans for construction of an even larger dam were scaled down after deputies in the National Assembly had raised concerns about the human and environmental costs of the project, including its safety in an earthquake-prone mountainous region.
The European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (Eurocham) has estimated that the fast-growing country needs infrastructure investment of US$120 billion over the next five to 10 years, much of it in the energy sector.
Vietnam draws more than one-third of its electricity from hydropower but suffers periodic blackouts and is trying to diversify its power sources.
With electricity demand grows by 14 percent Vietnam has recently signed a deal worth an estimated 5.6 billion dollars with Russia for Vietnam’s first nuclear power facility.
