Accompanied by the friendly steps of high-level visits from China and Laos, PowerChina, which has been deeply rooted in Laos for thirty years, has achieved fruitful cooperation in Laos through diversified layouts in hydropower, new energy, urban construction, and digitalization, weaving a picture of China Laos cooperation spanning mountains and seas.

The cascade of one river lights up thousands of households

On the Nam Ou River in northern Laos, a seven stage cascade hydropower station fully invested and built by PowerChina stands tall. This is also the first overseas full basin hydropower project of a Chinese enterprise, with a total installed capacity of 1.272 million kilowatts and a storage capacity of approximately 1.7 billion cubic meters. As of the end of May 2026, the cumulative power generation of the project exceeded 22.5 billion kilowatt hours, and the first and second phase units operated smoothly for 3813 days and 2354 days respectively. Relying on the unified development and control mode of the entire basin, the project balances power generation and revenue generation with flood prevention and disaster reduction, consolidating Laos' industrial foundation for building Southeast Asian batteries.

Seven level power stations are scattered among the mountains, providing a continuous supply of electricity to light up the urban and rural areas of Laos. The project will simultaneously repair roads and bridges, properly resettle immigrants, and improve supporting infrastructure, so that the development dividends can benefit grassroots people.

Green electricity goes out of the mountains, cross-border expansion and innovation

Based on the mature foundation of hydropower, PowerChina continues to layout green new energy in Laos. Mengsong 600MW mountain wind power is the first wind farm in Laos and the largest single wind power project in Southeast Asia, also winning the first cross-border transmission of new energy in Asia. The project is located in a mountain range of kilometers to 2200 meters, equipped with 133 4.5 MW wind turbines. The construction team has overcome the difficulties of deep mountain construction, rainforest climate, and cross-border transportation of large items. The 84 meter wind turbine blades have been transported to three countries and put into operation. The project generates an average of 1.72 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually, reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 35 million tons throughout the entire cycle, delivers clean electricity directly to Vietnam, and leverages Laos' local resource advantages.

In addition, the enterprise is entrusted to prepare the national new energy development plan for Laos, continuously implement new projects, and promote the iterative upgrading of the local energy structure.

Railway traversing mountains, intelligent water empowerment

The 1035 km long China Laos railway is a friendship link between the two countries. PowerChina undertook nearly a fifth of the lines, undertaking 185 km construction and box girder prefabrication and erection at Wanrong Beam Yard. The route passes through mountains and rivers, with complex geological conditions. The construction team has repeatedly set construction records by overcoming difficulties, winning the Luban Award for the section and the locomotive award for the team, which confirms China's strong construction capabilities.

The railway has been operating safely for 1640 days until the end of May 2026, with a freight volume exceeding 83.2 million tons and a passenger volume of nearly 73.38 million people. The construction party has synchronously implemented measures to benefit and assist the people along the railway line, achieving infrastructure connectivity, economic and trade connectivity, and people to people connectivity.

Relying on digital empowerment, the Nan'ou River water situation measurement and reporting platform has been put into operation, covering a watershed of 25600 square kilometers. Multiple types of hydrological monitoring stations have been set up, using Beidou+GPRS dual link transmission, with measurement and reporting accuracy reaching Class A standards, and a full chain hydrological control system has been established.

The Southern Europe River Basin Integrated Control Center is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, coordinating the operation and maintenance of seven power stations, playing a key central role in reservoir optimization and flood control command, and shining the benchmark business card for overseas full industry chain operation of Electric Power Construction.

From power plants and wind farms to railway lines, PowerChina has not only implemented physical projects. Over the past thirty years, relying on the Lancang Mekong Cooperation to implement public welfare projects such as drinking water, Chinese language teaching, and skill training, local employment has been cultivated to cultivate local talents. In the event of disasters, rapid rescue and relief efforts have been carried out, and small and micro livelihood projects have gained recognition from local people. Keywords: the Belt and Road news, Laos PowerChina

The year 2026 coincides with the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Laos and the good year of China Laos friendship. Taking advantage of the trend of deepening cooperation along the the Belt and Road, PowerChina will continue to base itself on Laos, deeply cultivate green energy, cross-border infrastructure, transnational power cooperation and localization construction, create more projects benefiting people, green and friendship, and help the China Laos community of common destiny move forward steadily.Editor/Gong Ziwei