Project in Brief

The Nam Theun 2 Hydroelectric Project, or NT2, is an industrial and development investment owned by private shareholders and the Lao Government, backed by commercial lenders and international financial institutions including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. It is described by the Lao Government as “an essential part of the country’s development framework” that “is likely to provide the first real possibility for Laos to gradually reduce its dependence on Official Development Assistance”.

The Project’s industrial potential comes from a gift of nature: the abundant water on the Nakai Plateau in Khammouane Province, central Laos, and the 350 m height difference between the Plateau and the Gnommalath Plain below. The power of this water, channelled down a tunnel drilled through the karst mountain, can generate an average 6,000 GWh of electricity per year. The majority of this electricity will be exported to Thailand, earning the Lao government an average of US$80 million per year over the first 25 years of the Project’s operation.

This revenue, in addition to the investments made by the Nam Theun 2 project developers, will allow the Lao government to fund poverty reduction efforts not just in Khammouane, but across the whole country.

Nam Theun 2 has been design to incorporate a complete set of economic, environmental and social programmes to mitigate its effects on local people and ecosystems, and to improve living standards in the areas over entire Project area. These programmes cover catchment, reservoir and downstream areas, and have been designed in consultation with local villagers, under international guidelines and recommendations form various international financial institutions.