Nam Ou 5 Dam Hydropower Info by Hobo Maps - Go to Hydropower Projects Page - - Home

Nam Ou 5 hydropower project is located in in Samphan district, Phongsaly Province, Lao PDR on the Nam Ou (river) about 215 km upriver from the junction with the Mekong River and 44 km above the Nam Ou 4 dam site.

Nam Ou 5 dam images below:

Nam Ou 5 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, EDL GEN 15%..

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

Nam Ou 5 began operating in May 2016. Some of the Nam Ou cascade projects have franchise periods of 25 years while others have 29 year periods.

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.

Nam Ou 5 location at coordinates 21°24'39.6"N 102°20'38.4"E (21.411, 102.344) per image below:

Nam Ou 5 powerhouse has three 80 MW Francis turbines producing 240 MW output with estimated annual capacity of 977 GWh.

Toshiba Hydro Power (Hanzhou) was selected as the turbine supplier for the hydro power project.

Nam Ou 5 has a 74 meter high roller compacted concrete (RCC) gravity dam.

Nam Ou 5 reservoir has a catchment area of 10,270 square km. with total capacity of 335 milllion cubic meters and 142 million cubic meters Active Storage Volume regulating capacity.

The reservoir is 53.2 km long and covers an area of 17.2 square km.

The gross head of the project is 49 meters.

Nam Ou 5 has some seasonal regulation capability. Nam Ou 7 is the only one of the seven Nam Ou dams to have significant annual regulation capability.

Nam Ou 5 powerhouse images below:

Nam Ou 5 control room image below:

Nam Ou 5 project images below:

Nam Ou Dams 5, 6 & 7 may have transmission line connections for export of their output (or part of it) to Vietnam as seen in 2030 planning maps below. But we don't know if any Power Purchase Agreements have been signed yet.

Nam Ou 5 connects to transmission line for export to Vietnam in map below at upper right side. See enlarged version HERE.