The Lower Sesan II Hydropower Plant, constructed by Huadong Engineering Co and Sinohydro Bureau 8, both subsidiaries of POWERCHINA, was put into operation on Oct 21, 10 days ahead of schedule.
The 400-megawatt hydropower plant, situated on the Sesan River in northeastern Cambodia's Stung Treng province, is the kingdom's biggest hydropower dam.
The plant is expected to produce 1.97 billion kilowatt-hours per year and its 6.5-km-long dam is now the longest in Asia.
It uses eight sets of 50,000 kW bulb tubular-flow units made in China, and its rated head and stand-alone capacity are at the forefront globally for this type of unit.
The first unit of the plant was put into operation on Dec 9, 2017. All eight are now operational and running stably.
The project is based on a concessional build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract and is part of an energy cooperation project built by China Huaneng Group. The plant is a major energy infrastructure facility in Cambodia, a key project under the framework of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, and a good example of China-Cambodia cooperation on energy.
Upon its completion, the plant will be able to generate more than one fifth of the total electricity required in the kingdom, filling its power supply gap and reducing the cost of power consumption.
Thanks to Huadong Engineering Co's optimized design scheme, based on numerous research and experiments, about 170,000 cubic meters of concrete, 900,000 cubic meters of earth rock excavation, and 1.43 billion cubic meters of earth rock filling, with a total value of some $20 million, were saved during construction.
The Sinohydro Bureau 8 employed many local people and greatly improved the local employment rate. According to the developer, more Cambodian people are expected to be hired during the franchised operation period.
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The 400-megawatt Lower Sesan II Hydropower Plant, the Chinese-built biggest dam in Cambodia, starts operating on Oct 21. [Photo/POWERCHINA] |
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Employees of Sinohydro Bureau 8 at a celebration for the full operation of the Lower Sesan II Hydropower Plant's eight units on Oct 21. [Photo/POWERCHINA] |
