Energy
People’s network takes on China over Mekong
Local residents and environmentalists spent the weekend having a hot debate with the Chinese Embassy about Beijing’s utilisation and management of the Mekong River. While the embassy accused Thai media of spreading false information on China’s development projects in Southeast Asia’s longest rivers, the Thai Mekong ...
Gov’t to reduce reliance on hydro
The government will prioritise renewable energy development rather than hydroelectric power, Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) director-general Keo Rattanak has said. Private sector insiders have hailed the decision, saying investment in solar power would make the Kingdom’s manufacturing sector more competitive due to lower prices. Speaking at a ...
Thou Vireak
Govt sits idly by as China churns up the Mekong
Recently, a coalition of civil society groups, which has monitored development on and along the Mekong River, issued a frightening statement. Fluctuations of river flows during the past three decades have been at record highs, they said. That is a big deal for people whose livelihoods ...
Nauvarat Suksamran
Parliament approves power projects
The National Assembly yesterday unanimously approved plans by SPHP (Cambodia) to invest in a new hydroelectric dam in Pursat province, as well as plans by Schnei Tech to build solar farms in Pursat and Kampong Chhnang province. Since power cuts began in March across the country, ...
Ben Sokhean
Thai industrial group powers up 2 huge Vietnam solar farms
B. Grimm Group, Thailand’s oldest industrial group, has won a race against time to begin operating two of Southeast Asia’s largest solar farms, both located in Vietnam. The two plants came online last month and will raise the share of solar in B. Grimm’s energy portfolio to nearly ...
Peter Janssen
Flood Warning as China Opens Floodgates on Mekong River Dams
Villagers living near the Mekong River in Chiang Rai Thailand and Laos are finding it difficult to cope with sudden releases of water from dams upstream in China. More than 200 families living in Laos’ Bokeo province have suffered because of sudden increases in the height ...
Villagers in Laos and Thailand Suffer as China Opens the Floodgates on Mekong River Dams
Villagers living near the Mekong River in Thailand and Laos are finding it difficult to cope with sudden releases of water from dams upstream in China. More than 200 famililes living in Laos’ Bokeo province have suffered because of sudden increases in the height of the ...
Lao Government Begins Plan to Inspect 55 Dams One Year After PNPC Disaster
The Lao government is embarking on an plan to inspect all 55 dams in the country nearly one year after the collapse of a saddle dam that caused a disaster described as Laos’ worst flooding in decades. The disaster occurred on July 23, 2018, when a ...
Myanmar launches first solar power plant
The Minbo Solar Power Plant project, hailed as a triumph by some Myanmar people and the Thai investors who supported this first phase, was celebrated with an opening ceremony on Thursday. The plant is Myanmar’s first renewable energy and solar power project, and viewed by many ...
It’s not just melting glaciers that endanger the Mekong and its region
Recent reports of a rapid diminishment in the size of the glaciers that feed the great rivers of Asia, including the Mekong, have received wide coverage, not least because they are accompanied by striking visuals. What is happening at the other end of the river in the ...
Milton Osborne