Business
December 03, 2005
Vietnam building biggest hydropower project
The Electricity of Vietnam Corporation (EVN) Friday started to build Southeast Asia's largest hydropower project in Vietnam's northern province of Son La.
With the capacity of 2,400 MW, the Son La station will be able to generate 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually upon completion of a two-year construction, according to local afternoon Daily Saigon Times.
Total investment of the project will be 2.3 billion US dollars. Its reservoir is designed to hold a maximum of 9.26 billion cubic meters of water, and its dam will be 1,400 meters long and 138 meters high.
The station with six power-generating units will help alleviate the possible power shortage in years to come, control flooding and supply water for the Red River Delta downstream. The first generator will be in operation by 2010.
The paper quoted the chairman of Son La province as saying that the project will bring annual power sales revenue of 400 million US dollars.
Power demand has grown from 13 percent to 15 percent annually in recent years in Vietnam, where 60 percent of the power output come from hydroelectricity.
Vietnam's energy consumption is projected to reach 95 billion kWh by 2010, more than double the 46 billion kWh last year, according to the paper.
Source: Xinhua
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