Lai Chau Hydropower Plant

Operation of Lai Chau HPP has increased total installed capacity of hydropower plants on the main course of Da river up to over 5,500MW, supplying over 23 billion kWh to national power grid annually.

This hydropower plant deployed new layouts to minimise equipment blocks from lower floor areas to speed up construction, and it used Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) to reduce the necessary quantity of cement content to 60kg per 1m3, and increase the fly ash content up to 160kg per 1m3 concrete.

Creativity in dam construction during the flood season lead to shortening the schedule, while the ratio of “hot joint” of RCC reached approximately 98%, with only about 1% of “warm joint” and 1% “cold joint” or “super cold joint”.

The design maximizes energy dissipation; Overflow spillway consists of six bays with the largest gate size in Vietnam – 14.5mx20m (width x height). Two blocks of overflow spillway and low level flow are independently arranged to facilitate RCC construction but are still hydraulically convenient;

Contribution to the region
The project expands the scope of power coverage to remoted and mountainous areas; connecting the National Power System to the furthest area of the North West region. The project helps in upgrading over 100km of roads in the region, forming some of the 100km navigation route from the project headworks area up to Mu Ca commune near the Vietnam – China border. The project also develops the inter-provincial traffic network, rural traffic system;

Additionally, along with generating jobs and opportunities within the local economy, the plant has become the large budget income source for Lai Chau and Dien Bien provinces.

Sustainability 
The plant contributes to downstream control flood, using the resources effectively for Son La and Hoa Binh reservoirs. Approximately 350,000 tons of fly ash – the disposal material from thermal power plants has been used for the project.

The annual clean output is 4.7 billion kWh which reduces significantly amount of carbon emission against a coal-fired thermal power plant.