VIENTIANE • Laos could become the battery of Asia, and its abundant natural resources, which include hydropower and food resources, will help it build links with the rest of the region, says Lao businessman Phanthachith Inthilath. He is the chairman of Intra Corporation Sole Co, a renewable energy company that is supporting the country's desire to become the powerhouse of Asia. "Even though Laos is a land-l ...

The latest of four meteorological events, Tropical Storm Sonca, have government officials in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam monitoring reservoirs and electricity production facilities, including water discharged from the 1,920-MW Hoa Binh hydropower plant, the largest hydropower project in the region. Tropical Storm Sonca is the fourth major storm to hit Vietnam this year and earlier this month, Tropi ...

Royal Dutch Shell and SoftBank are among several global groups considering bidding for Equis Energy, Asia’s largest independent renewable energy producer valued at up to $5 billion, sources familiar with the matter said. Japanese trading companies, global pension funds and buyout firms are also in the fray to buy Singapore-based Equis, the sources said, at a time when many Asian governments are expanding th ...

LISTED AboitizPower Corp. said on Tuesday it plans to set aside up to $500 million over the next five years to invest hydro power projects in Southeast Asia, particularly in Myanmar, Indonesia, and Vietnam. In a television interview, Aboitiz President and Chief Operating Officer Antonio Moraza also said the company will finish the construction of one hydroelectric plant before the end of the year and plans ...

The Three Gorges and Gezhouba, two of China’s top hydropower plants, have closed capacity by as much as two-thirds, state media said, as torrential rains across the south triggered drastic steps to ease pressure on the Yangtze River. The Chinese government has meanwhile disbursed 700 million yuan (S$142.3 million) in emergency aid to four provinces in the south and east to help them deal with widespread flo ...

Much has been written about the building of hydropower dams in the upper reaches of the Mekong River, especially Lancang River in China, and their role in causing droughts in the Mekong delta region in Vietnam. Many environmental and social activists claim Chinese dams have reduced the water flowing in the delta, seriously harming rice cultivation and allowing saltwater to flow into the delta. Let us object ...

There has been a lot of talk about hydropower in Central Asia since the start of May, and not just from the usual quarters. Perhaps it's just officials watching the melting snows of spring and envisioning lights coming on in homes and factories across their countries, but hydropower seems to be a hot topic lately. Of course, it's always been a big issue in mountainous Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, where the im ...

Voith and China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG) enhance their cooperation in the hydropower business Berlin, Germany: On 1 June 2017, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and German Chancellor Angela Merkel together witnessed Mr. Lu Chun (Chairman of China Three Gorges Corporation) and Dr. Hubert Lienhard (President and CEO of Voith Group) signing an agreement in Berlin, Germany, which enhances their further strategic ...

The tandem of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and Repower Energy Development Corp. has started constructing a three-megawatt (MW) hydropower plant in Lalawinan, Quezon. Pure Meridian Hydropower Corp. (PMHC), the joint venture firm, will spend P700 million to build the project, which will generate over 200 jobs during construction  –  mostly hired from the local community. Once completed, total annual power ge ...

For the past two decades, China has been in the midst of an unprecedented dam-building boom, developing over 300 gigawatts (GW) of hydropower. But coal-fuelled development in many of its cities has left them choking from air pollution and lent urgency to alternatives such as solar, wind, nuclear and hydropower. China has the world’s largest potential hydropower resource and could develop around 540 GW, as p ...