The Hongsa Power Plant (3x626MW), which was constructed by China National Electric Engineering Co., Ltd. (CNEEC), was inaugurated in Laos' northern Xayaboury Province on Wednesday, a representative of CNEEC told Xinhua on Thursday.
The project is currently the first and largest coal-fired power plant project in Laos, which comprises coal mines, transmission lines and power plant.
The inaugural ceremony was attended by Vice President Bounnhang Vorachit, Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad and governor of Xayaboury Province, minister for energy and mines as well as energy minister of Thailand, among others.
During the ceremony, officials from Laos and Thailand expressed their gratitude for the hard work and great efforts made in constructing the plant.
The plant comprises three 626-megawatt generators. The investment in the project reached 1.68 billion U.S. dollars with CNEEC as the EPC contractor.
During the ceremony, Jin Chunsheng, president of CNEEC, said his company would continue to make contributions to regional energy industry development.
As a key project in energy cooperation framework agreement between Laos and Thailand, the power plant will deliver most of the electricity to Thailand's national network via 500KV transmission lines and the remaining to Lao national network via 115KV transmission lines.
Great attention has been paid to this project by both Laos and Thailand. Lao President Choummaly Sayasone together with several other senior officials has visited Hongsa during construction of the project.
The Hongsa Power Plant project was launched in 2005 with official signing of EPC contract in 2009. Site geological investigation and site leveling started in 2010, while EPC contract took effect on March 1, 2011. In October 2011, earth excavation was officially commenced. After years of efforts, Unit 1 and Unit 2 have been put into commercial operation with successfully synchronization of Unit 3.
This project has created abundant jobs for local residents, improved their living condition and promoted local economy.
Following the successive synchronization and power generation of all units, the power plant project will help ease the power shortage in Laos and Thailand.
