A major milestone has been reached at the 480MW Nam Ngum 3 Hydropower Project in Laos, with the successful start of reservoir impounding marking a decisive step forward for one of the region’s significant hydropower developments.
This week, SINOHYDRO GROUP LIMITED and POWERCHINA successfully completed the highly complex closure of the diversion tunnel gates — a critical operation paving the way for reservoir filling and the next phase of project commissioning.
Representatives from Artelia joined the impounding ceremony alongside project owner Électricité du Laos, celebrating a key achievement after years of collaboration on the scheme.
Quentin Bercher, COO for Hydropower and Dams at Artelia, described the moment as a significant milestone following eight years of involvement in the project together with Ducos Xavier and the wider delivery team.
During the reservoir impounding phase, Artelia will continue to play a central technical role through close monitoring of dam behaviour using Wizart, the digital dam monitoring solution developed by Artelia Digital Solutions.
The Nam Ngum 3 project is expected to strengthen Laos’ renewable energy generation capacity and reinforce the country’s position as a major hydropower producer in Southeast Asia.
