Completed Mixed AidData Chinese Aid

CDB provides loan for Northern Province Power Grid Project

$256.82M USD

Funder	China Development Bank (CDB)
Recipient Organization	Joint Venture of China Southern Power Grid (SCG) and Yunnan International Co., Ltd (YNIC)
Country	Lao People's Democratic Republic
Start Date	Jan 01, 2014
End Date	Jan 01, 2033
Duration	6,940 days
Number of Grantees	1
Roles	Recipient
Data Source	AidData Chinese Aid
Grant ID	`63620`

Grant Description

CDB provides loan for Northern Province Power Grid Project On March 28, 2013, China Southern Power Grid (南方电网云南国际公司 or SCG) and Électricité du Laos (EDL) — the state corporation of Laos that owns and operates the country's electricity generation, electricity transmission and electricity distribution assets — signed a $302,138,900 commercial (EPC) contract for the Northern Province Power Grid Project.

Then, with approval from EDL, Yunnan International Co., Ltd (YNIC) and SCG formed a joint venture to finance, develop, and construct the Northern Province Power Grid Project on September 22, 2013. China Development Bank issued a loan to the joint venture.

📋 Loan / Grant Terms

💰 Loan Amountare unknown

The purpose of the project was to put an end to the history of an isolated power grid operating in northern Laos, forming an integrated nationwide high voltage backbone grid. The project spanned four provinces: Louang Namtha, Phongsali, Oudomxay and Luang Prabang.

It supported four substations (Pak Mong 2 Substation, Namo 2 Substation, Luang Prabang 2 Substation and Bountai Switching Station) and five transmission lines (Luang Prabang 2～Pak Mong 2 T/L, Pak Mong 2～Nam Ou 2 T/L, Pak Mong 2～Namo 2 T/L, Namo 2 T/L～Bountai T/L, and Namo2～China-Laos Border T/L), with a total transforming capacity of 240MVA and a total length of 596 km.

SCG was the EPC contract responsible for implementation. Construction began on March 17, 2014. Then, on September 27, 2015, the project achieved successful synchronization and operation of three substations. The project was officially put into operation on November 29, 2015.

Then, on June 14, 2016, EDL officially signed a Service Agreement on Technical Support for Safe and Stable Operation of Electricite du Laos with Yunnan Power Grid Co., Ltd. and Yunnan International Co., Ltd.

Under the agreement, Yunnan Power Grid and Yunnan International agree to provide EDL with one-year of free technical training on the safe and stable operation of Laos’ power grids, so as to help EDL improve its capability of and technology for securing power grid operations.

📋 Staff Comments

This project is also known as the Northern Laos 230-kilovolt Power Grid Project and the Northern 230KV Power Grid.
The Chinese project title is 230千伏老挝北部电网工程 or 老挝北部电网工程 or 230千伏老挝北部电网项目 or 230千伏老挝北部电网EPC项目.
The face value of the loan is unknown. For the time being, AidData assumes that the loan was provided in the form of a buyer's credit and it financed 85% of the $302,138,900 commercial (EPC) contract cost. This issue warrants further investigation.

📚 Sources & References

230千伏老挝北部电网工程举行投产仪式
中国承建的230千伏老挝北部电网工程投运
南网230千伏老挝北部电网EPC项目成功投运
Northern Laos 230 kV Power Grid EPC Project, “一带一路”首个电网合作项目在老挝投产, 230千伏老挝北部电网项目
CSG Starts Ban Boun Tai 230-kV Switching Station Expansion Program in Laos
EPC Project of Laos’ Northern 230KV Power Grid Has Been Put into Operation: A Nationwide
Unified 230 KV Network Expected to Take Shape
Service Agreement on Technical Support for Safe and Stable Operation of Electricite du Laos Signed
Li Qingkui Holds Talks with Laos’ Deputy Prime Minister Somdy Douangdy, 2015 企业社会责任报告, 230kV Power Grid Project of Northern Laos, “一带一路”首个电网合作项目在老挝投产
Report on China-Laos Cooperation Opportunities under the Belt and Road Initiative in 2018 Loan applications and disbursements are still being received and processed as the projects continue to evolve. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation are in place to ensure project continuity.