Monsoon Wind: Southeast Asia’s Largest Onshore Wind Farm Begins Construction in Laos

0
17

Reading Time: 1 minutes

Monsoon Wind is Laos’ first wind project and the region’s first cross-border wind power plant. It is Southeast Asia’s largest onshore wind farm.

The 600-MW Monsoon Wind project, owned by Thailand-based Impact Energy Asia Development, has just begun construction. The location is in southeastern Laos, in the provinces of Sekong and Attapeu, at a height of 1,200-1,600 metres (3,937-5,249 ft) above sea level.

For the next 25 years, the 133-turbine wind farm will sell its power to state-owned Vietnam Electricity. It will transmit the renewable energy generated to central Vietnam through a 500kV transmission line.

Mitsubishi Corp of Japan said this month that it and other owners had obtained $692 million in funding for Monsoon Wind. The overall project cost, according to Monsoon’s website, is $950 million.

Southeast Asia’s largest onshore wind farm is scheduled to come online in 2025.

Hydroelectricity now accounts for 70% of total power generation in Laos, while at least ten onshore wind projects totaling 3.6 gigatonnes are in the development stages.

ALSO READ  SMC Secures Contract For Offshore Resources On Sofia Offshore Wind Farm

Laos, a landlocked country with an export-oriented energy strategy, is eager to position itself as the “battery of Southeast Asia.” It is one of the major hydroelectricity suppliers in Asia. Nikkei Asia notes that “Around 80% of the power generated in Laos is sold to neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam, accounting for 30% of the country’s total exports. Laos began power exports to Singapore in 2022 and began developing transmission facilities in January to supply electricity to Cambodia.”

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.