Lao People’s Democratic Republic, with the total land area of 236,800 km², is located in the Mekong sub-region and shares a land border with Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. In 2018 the country population is 7.1 million people. The GDP (PPP constant price 2011) is USD 42.71 billion in 2018, growth 5.7% from previous year [1]. Even though Laos is landlocked country, despite it has plenty of large hydro resource. The country has known as “Battery of Mekong region”, currently export its electricity to all neighbours.

The country also managed to boost its installed capacity to 9.15 GW as 12 new power plants kickstarts commercial operations. As of 2018, most of primary energy comes from coal (60.7%), followed by hydropower 30% and oil 18%. Hydropower is a significant resource in Laos, with 22.5 TWh electricity generated in 2018. However, the national electrification rate was 94.2% in 2017. The purchasing rate of electricity in Lao PDR is 0.07 USD/kWh and consumed on the average of 724.3 kWh per capita [2].

[1] National account with conversion value of WDI
[2] Country official data