Nam Ou 2 Dam Hydropower Info by Hobo Maps - Go to Hydropower Projects Page - - Home

Nam Ou 2 hydropower project is located on the Nam Ou (river) in Nam Bak district of Luang Prabang Province. The dam is 53 km upriver on the Nam Ou from where it joins the Mekong and 35 km upriver from the Nam Ou 1 dam.

Nam Ou 2 dam images below:

The Nam Ou 2 hydropower project started construction in 2012 and commenced commercial production in 2015.

Nam Ou 2 was built by Nam Ou Power Co., Ltd. (Nam Ou Power) which is a joint venture between Power-China Resources Ltd. (PowerChina) (85%) and the Lao state electricity corporation, Electricite du Laos (EDL) (now EDL GEN) (15%).

Construction of the project was managed by Sinohydro Corporation, a subsidiary of Power China.

The Nam Ou cascade hydropower project is a series of seven hydroelectric dams along the Nam Ou (river) in Phongsaly and Luang Prabang provinces of northern Lao PDR. The project is managed by PowerChina and the Lao government under a build, operate and transfer (BOT) agreement signed in April 2011.

Some of the Nam Ou cascade projects have franchise periods of 25 years while others have 29 year periods.

Satellite images below show the Nam Ou 2 dam location at coordinates 20°23'17.0"N 102°26'58.4"E (20.388056, 102.449556).

An agreement was reached in August 2021 to export 840 MW of the output from the seven Nam Ou projects to Electricity Vietnam (EVN). Not sure at this time which plants are involved or how the power will be transmitted to Vietnam.

The remainder of the electricity generated by the Nam Ou cascade hydropower projects will be sold to EDL for domestic consumption which includes power for portions of the Lao-China Railway electric system that went into operation in late 2021.

Nam Ou 2 has a concrete gravity dam with a low head gated barrage integral power station. The dam structure is 49 meters high and 352 meters long.

The powerhouse has three sets of 40 MW bulb turbines and generators for installed capacity of 120 MW and is able to generate about 502 GWh output annually.

The Nam Ou 2 reservoir has a length of 67.3 km and covers an area of 15.7 square km. It has total capacity of 121 milllion cubic meters and Active Storage Volume regulating capacity of 25 million cubic meters. The reservoir catchment area covers 22,159 sq. km.

Nam Ou 2 hydropower project facility image below:

Nam Ou 2 control room images below:

Nam Ou 2 powerhouse interior images below:

Nam Ou 2 resettlement area image below:

The Nam Ou 2 hydropower project affected 24 villages. Old HatKhip Village was affected by construction. HatPhang was affected by high levels of inundation and construction. Additionally, there were two villages affected by medium levels of inundation, two villages affected by low levels of inundation, and the remaining 17 villages only experienced impacts upon land and other assets.