Lao PDR Power Sector Vulnerability Assessment and Resilience Action Planhttps://resilient-energy.org/where-we-work/laoshttps://resilient-energy.org/@@site-logo/rep-logo.png
Lao PDR Power Sector Vulnerability Assessment and Resilience Action Plan
Technical Committee of the Energy Alternative Study for the Lao PDR...
USAID's Clean Power Asia program partnered with NREL to assess the power sector of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) vulnerability to natural, technological, and human-caused threats, and to develop a resilience action plan to address the highest-risk vulnerabilities.
To lead and inform these activities, an advisory group was established. It is composed of representatives of the Lao Ministry of Mines and Energy, the state-owned utility (Électricité du Laos or EDL), and the generation company (Électricité du Laos-Generation).
The NREL and USAID Clean Power Asia team worked with the advisory group and employed a participatory approach to assess power sector vulnerabilities and address the highest-risk vulnerabilities through effective resilience strategies that:
Emphasizes the unique context of the power sector in Lao PDR
Relies on extensive stakeholder engagement
Involves detailed review of the latest scientific research to support a vulnerability assessment
Draws on international best practices and expert input to develop resilience strategies and implementation action plan for the Lao PDR.
The Lao power sector is at risk from an array of natural, technological, and human-caused hazards that may interrupt the provision of electricity or lead to a chronic undersupply of power. A resilient Lao power system could thrive under changing conditions and withstand, respond to, and recover rapidly from the impacts of hazards. To address risks, policymakers, planners, and system operators of the Lao PDR conducted a power-sector vulnerability assessment (VA) and resilience planning process to safeguard their systems. The Lao PDR now has the opportunity to develop comprehensive policies and implement actions that increase its powersector resilience incrementally over time.
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) recognizes that access to reliable, secure, and affordable electricity is essential to powering economic growth and development and to becoming a major regional power provider. The Lao power sector is at risk from an array of natural, technological, and human-caused hazards, which may interrupt the provision of electricity or lead to a chronic undersupply of power. A resilient Lao power system could thrive under changing conditions and withstand, respond to, and recover rapidly from the impacts of hazards. To address these risks, policy-makers, planners, and system operators of the Lao PDR have conducted a power sector vulnerability assessment (VA) and resilience planning process to safeguard their systems. The Lao PDR now has the opportunity to develop comprehensive p
USAID Clean Power Asia conducted an assessment of the Lao PDR power sector’s vulnerability to climate and non-climate natural hazards and to human and technological hazards. The vulnerability assessment (VA) involved extensive stakeholder engagement with a VA Advisory Group of high-level power sector decision makers and a broader, more diverse Power Sector Stakeholder Group. In August 2018, the VA team met with the VA Advisory Group to identify the most important hazards to the sector and to determine an appropriate scope for the VA. Then, in a three-day VA workshop, the VA team and the Power Sector Stakeholder Group collaborated to assess hazards to the sector, describe their impacts, and identify and assess priority vulnerabilities. Through this VA process, the Power Sector Stakeholder Group and the VA team determined that extreme precipitation, flooding, landslides, and extreme temperatures pose the greatest risks to power sector activities and expose important vulnerabilities.
This work presents a stakeholder-driven power sector resilience action plan for the Lao PDR (resilience action plan). The resilience action plan provides strategies to address the high-risk vulnerabilities identified in a vulnerability assessment conducted in anticipation of this resilience action plan. Participants in an extensive Lao PDR power sector stakeholder engagement process concluded that extreme precipitation, extreme temperatures, flooding, and landslides pose the greatest hazards to the power sector. This report reviews the high-risk vulnerabilities that stakeholders identified in the vulnerability assessment and discusses the actions to address these high-risk vulnerabilities in detail.
In 2018, stakeholders from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) engaged in a collaborative process to assess power sector vulnerabilities and develop a resilience action plan. Outcomes and lessons learned provide a useful case study in power-sector climate adaptation planning that can serve as a model for other hydro-dependent developing nations.
An overview of the vulnerability assessment process and initial results from a power sector stakeholder workshop, "Engaging Stakeholders in Resilience Action Planning for the Lao PDR Power Sector."
Power Sector Resilience Planning: To Ensure Reliable, Secure, Safe, and Affordable Electricity Supplies (Lao translation)
This platform is developed, in part, by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Funding provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
LAO POWER SECTOR VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT AND RESILIENCE ACTION PLAN
