The signing ceremony was witnessed by the Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc and the Laos PDR’s Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith. 

The Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) and Phongsubthavy Group of Laos on January 4, 2020 signed power purchase agreements (PPA) for the 69MW Nam San 3A and 45MW Nam San 3B hydropower plant projects in Hà Nội.

The signing ceremony took place as part of the 42nd Việt Nam – Laos Intergovernmental Committee and was witnessed by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc and Laos PDR’s Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith.

Nam San 3A and Nam San 3B hydropower plants have been operating with total installed capacity of 114MW and annual average electricity output of 364 million kWh/year for Nam San 3A, and 232 million kWh/year for Nam San 3B.

These are two out of 11 hydropower plant projects under the Nậm Mô Group of Hydropower Plant Projects being developed by Phongsubthavy Group in order to sell electricity to Việt Nam.

Power will be transferred through the 220kV transmission line which will be co-invested by Phongsubthavy Group for the section in Lao territory and EVN for the section in Việt Nam’s territory. The transmission line is scheduled to be completed in 2022.

In February 2019, the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and Laos Ministry of Energy and Mines completed the negotiations and signed the agreement on cooperation in development of electricity and mine projects during the official visit of the Vietnamese General Secretary, President Nguyễn Phú Trọng.

The power purchase agreement has been signed by Trần Đình Nhân, EVN General Director and Phongsavath Senaphuan, chairman of Phongsubthavy Group, in witness of Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Trần Tuấn Anh and Laos Minister of Energy and Mines.

On June 24, 2019, Phongsubthavy Group, the first power plant developer in Laos, signed a PPA with EVN for the Nam Sum 3 hydropower project located in Houaphan Province of Laos, with total capacity of 156MW, providing 626 million kWh per year.

Importing electricity from neighbouring countries, including Laos, is one measure taken to help Việt Nam meet electricity demand for socio-economic development.