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Laos Nam Ngum 3 Hydropower Station

Nan'e 3 Hydropower Station

Laos Nam Ngum 3 Hydropower Station
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  • Laos Nam Ngum 3 Hydropower Station

Southern Russia3The hydropower station is currently the largest hydropower station project undertaken by Chinese companies in Laos, and it is also one of the key projects in Laos' national5overall development plan, with the owner being the Lao National Power Company. The hydropower station is a comprehensive hydropower hub project that mainly generates electricity and also takes into account economic benefits such as aquaculture and tourism. The design installed capacity is3units160megawatt hydro-generating units, with a total installed capacity of480megawatts. The total contract value is approximately12.9US dollars, with a total construction period of72months, and a commissioning period for the first unit of70months.

 

Southern Russia3The hydropower station is located in Sainambun Province in central Laos, on the Nam Ngum River, a tributary of the Mekong River in Laos, upstream of the Nam NgumNam Ngumhydropower station1upstream80km,the dam site is approximately200kilometers from Vientiane, the capital. Upon completion of this project, Laos' power generation capacity will be significantly increased, making a significant contribution to the development of the domestic economy and improving the lives of the people.

 

Southern Russia3The hydropower station hub project includes dams, spillways, and water diversion power generation systems. The hydropower station's dam is a concrete-faced rockfill dam with a maximum dam height of210meters. The dam crest length is460m,the crest elevation is730m,the crest width is8.0meters, the dam axis length is518.5meters, and the total fill volume is1154.57million cubic meters, making it the highest concrete-faced rockfill dam in Southeast Asia and Laos. The diameter of the power generation water diversion tunnel is7.5m,and the length is11.5km,with a total reservoir capacity of14.11billion cubic meters.

 

Among them, the water diversion tunnel passes through several high mountains and ridges, and the geological conditions are extremely harsh, being called a "Geological Museum" by geological engineers.

 

Judging from this project, this place is a group of geologically complex caves, and the cavities and gullies are interconnected.

The harsh reality still lies before everyone: the project encountered the quicksand section with the greatest excavation difficulty. According to geological drilling and detailed analysis, there are silt sections, quicksand sections, and completely weathered sections as long as80meters.

Southern Russia3Although the quicksand layer in the water diversion tunnel is not that serious, its karst landform determines the excavation difficulty of the entire tunnel in the limestone section.

Southern Russia3The difficulty of advancing the quicksand layer in the hydropower station project is unprecedented. Experts finally determined that the quicksand layer section80meters is not only quicksand but also cave groups and surface collapses, transforming into the most difficult excavation section encountered in Laos and also by Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina) in the Laotian market20years.

"That silt quicksand layer should be more serious than this one, but this one has cave groups, making the already difficult excavation of quicksand more complicated."