The plant’s third turbine is scheduled to generate electricity by the end of August 2011 with the rest expected to come online in late 2012.

Son La Hydroelectric Power Plant is the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia. It was designed with a total capacity of 2400MW from its six turbines. The plant should provide over 10.2BkWh of electricity for the national power grid each year after the project is completed.

Construction of the plant in the mountainous northern Son La province’s Muong La district started five years ago. Investment in the project totals more than VND42T (US$2B).