Winds of change: Laos looks up for renewables push

Hydroelectric dams have proliferated across Southeast Asia in recent years but experts say wind energy is now set to take off.

Laos' 600-megawatt Monsoon Wind Power Project, the first such cross-border project in Asia, began operating in August 2025. (Photo: AFP)

SEKONG, LAOS: Rising from verdant ridgelines in southern Laos, 133 Chinese-built wind turbines help power Vietnam’s surging growth and is part of a regional rush to diversify energy sources.

“The view is beautiful. They’re bigger than trees,” 23-year-old Toukta Phonsala said inside her wooden stilt house in Dak Wai village, with her baby on her lap.

Hydroelectric dams have proliferated across Southeast Asia in recent years, but production drops off in the dry season and critics lament the ecological impacts.

Experts say wind is now set to take off, and point to Laos’ 600-megawatt Monsoon Wind Power Project, which began operating in August 2025, as a bankable case study.

CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less Spanning an area the size of Singapore, the US$700 million scheme is the first cross-border wind project in Asia and the largest wind farm in Southeast Asia.

Built by a Chinese state firm and owned by a Thai-led consortium, it sells electricity exclusively to Vietnam’s national grid via dedicated transmission lines.

Manufacturing hub Vietnam, Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing economy, was already importing hydropower from Laos, its poorest neighbour.

But “the economics are moving in favour of wind”, said Tristan Bellingham, technical programme lead at nonprofit EnergyLab Asia.

“Similar to hydro 20 to 30 years ago, there’s a bit of a rush to secure concessions and development rights” for new wind projects, he said.

Laos already hosts 90 hydropower plants and there are dozens more in neighbouring nations, leaving few optimal sites remaining.