Finnish firm Pöyry has been awarded the owner's engineering services contract from Phonesack Group for its 650MW hydropower project in Laos.
The financial aspects of the contract were not disclosed by the parties.
Named as Nam Theun 1, the hydropower project is scheduled to begin commercial operation by 2022 end. Pöyry has been involved the project since 1995, taking care of the necessary technical consultancy and basic engineering services like Social and Environment Impact Assessment, Feasibility Study among other assignments.
Nam Theun 1 is located about 33km upstream of the Nam Kading River’s convergence with the Mekong River in Central Laos, 270km from the country’s capital Vientiane.
It has been marked as a significant project under the Lao and Thai Power development plan. Once commissioned, Nam Theun 1 is expected to serve the electricity needs of both Laos and Thailand.
Pöyry energy business group president Richard Pinnock said: "Delivering clean, renewable energy projects like this can aid economic growth and social progress and help alleviate poverty in developing countries. This project further strengthens Pöyry's position as one of the world's leading hydropower engineering consultancies.”
Since 2014, the lead developer of the project, Phonesack Group has been supported by the Finnish consulting and engineering firm.
The new contract to Pöyry will be continuation of the previous tasks related to the early works of the project. Currently, Pöyry has been assigned to complete the Owner's Engineer services for the implementation along with handling the Environmental and Social Mitigation Measures till the project is completed.
The Laos contract adds up to the last month’s engineering services assignments secured by the Finnish firm for the 750 / 400 kV Air-Insulated Switchgear (AIS) Szabolcsbáka substation in Hungary.