Energy
Vestas delivering Vietnam’s tallest turbines in Mekong Delta wind project
Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas is elevating its status in Vietnam’s energy market. The company has secured an order for 67 MW of wind capacity in two projects. Vestas says the turbines ordered will be the tallest in the country with hub heights of about 162 meters (close ...
Rod Walton
China's dams exacerbated extreme drought in lower Mekong: Study
Southeast Asian countries would have likely experienced a much less severe drought last year if it were not for China’s dams, a new study says, prompting a pushback from the intergovernmental Mekong River Commission (MRC). The 4,000-km (2,485-mile) Mekong is one of the world’s longest rivers – ...
Leonie Kijewski
At-cost power bills get ministry nod
The Energy Ministry approved a plan on Thursday to charge mid-sized and large businesses for electricity at cost instead of mandatory minimum pricing from April to June, another relief measure to help shuttered companies with their power bills. The decision came after calls from the Federation ...
YUTHANA PRAIWAN
‘Us’ vs ‘them’: The politics dictating the rise and fall of the Mekong
Cracked riverbeds, empty fishing nets and, snaking its way through the parched landscape, a beautifully clear, blue-tinted river. This was the view of the mighty Mekong River earlier this year, when record-low water levels revealed a striking vulnerability to the main artery of Southeast Asia, a ...
ANDREW HAFFNER
Southeast Asia’s hydropower boom grinds to a halt as COVID-19 stalls projects
Incomplete and prospective hydropower dam projects in Southeast Asia, particularly along the Mekong River and its tributaries, are at risk of major delays and shutdowns as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts major industries, energy markets and worker safety. The government of Laos has already ordered a temporary ...
Jack Board
Science Shows Chinese Dams Are Devastating the Mekong
Eleven massive dams straddle the mighty Mekong River before it leaves China and flows into Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and on into Vietnam. Yet I have long been skeptical that China could use those 11 upstream dams, massive as they are, to turn off the ...
BRIAN EYLER
China dam claims should be studied, says rivers official
A new report that found China’s upstream dam management is responsible for dangerously low water levels and drought conditions along the Mekong River needs to be “studied”, according to a Cambodian National Mekong Commission official. The report, titled “Monitoring the Quantity of Water Flowing Through the ...
Khy Sovuthy
New study shows China caused drought in the Mekong, local experts must have control of their resources
“No fish. Nothing. We can only catch enough to eat ourselves. We fish through the night and all we catch is one or two skewers for cooking,” a Lao fisherman told Radio Free Asia earlier this year. He spoke to journalists on his boat on the Mekong River ...
Skylar Lindsay
OPINION: China's drain on Mekong
More water discharged from Chinese dams to the lower Mekong River in the dry season and less water in the rainy season. That means a reduction of drought and flooding in the lower Mekong countries. That was the ideal “cooperation” Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam ...
OPINION: The Mekong is the test of China’s leadership
The Mekong River originates in China and winds its way south, flowing through or past five other countries — Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam — before it empties into the South China Sea. The Mekong is the beating heart of the region, and while ...
BRAD GLOSSERMAN