Envision in line for 600MW ‘cross-border’ Laos-to-Vietnam onshore wind farm

Chinese turbine maker Envision has signed a letter of intent (LoI) to supply turbines for the 600MW Monsoon Monsoon (600MW) OnshoreSekong Province, Laos, Asia-Pacific Click to see full details project in Laos. 

It claims the Monsoon wind farm is due to be the largest in south-east Asia.

The project is planned for a site across Laos’s southern Sekong and Attapeu provinces, but developer Impact Energy Asia Development Limited (IEAD) has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with utility Vietnam Electricity, which is based in the neighbouring country of Vietnam. The PPA, signed in July last year, will require construction of a new 500kV transmission line to central Vietnam.

Nat Hutanuwatr, managing director of IEAD described Monsoon as the “first and largest” cross-border project in the region. 

The pan-ASEAN nature of the project is reinforced by IAED’s owners, who comprise Hong Kong’s Impact Wind Investment Limited (55%) and Thailand-headquartered BCPG Public Company Limited (45%).

Under the terms of the LoI, Envision is due to supply 133 of its EN-171 wind turbines rated at 4.51MW to the project. Prototypes of this turbine have been in operation since last December with a 6.5MW version also planned, and ramping up of serial production now under way.

Monsoon’s developers expect to reach financial close on the project and begin construction this year. It is planned to begin commercial operations in 2025.

The wind farm’s  capacity could eventually be more than doubled.

Impact Electrons Siam Company Limited (IES), the IEAD subsidiary that has been developing Monsoon since project inception in 2011, has won permission from the Lao government to conduct a feasibility study and environmental impact assessment for a new 1GW wind farm, dubbed Xekong. In February this year Keppel Infrastructure Holdings, Impact Electrons Siam and Envision signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the potential expanded capacity.