Nam Ngiep 1 Hydropower Project【The Kansai Electric Power Company、Obayashi Corporation】
Representative： Takayuki Kimura（Obayashi Corporation, Asia-Pacific Regional
Headquarters, General Manager of Civil Engineering ConstructionDepartment）
Member：47（The Kansai Electric Power Company 18、Obayashi Corporation 29）
The Nam Ngiep 1 Hydropower Project (hereinafter referred to as “Project”) is a BOT(Build Operate Transfer) project funded by the independent power producers
including Kansai Electric Power, Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
International and Laos Holding State Enterprise. It is located approximately 130km
northeast of Vientiane, the capital of Laos. The Project scope comprises theconstruction of two dams and power stations (Main Dam / Main Power Station 272MW,
Re-Regulation Dam / Re-Regulation Power Station 18 MW) in the middle basin of theNam Ngiep River. The Project asset will ultimately be transferred to the Governmentof Laos after 27 years of commercial operation.
Laos is sometimes known as the battery of Southeast Asia as they have abundanthydropower potentials. Many IPP projects have been built with the objective of sellingelectricity to Thailand in view that the demand for power has increased rapidly as
Thailand has achieved sustainable economic growth since the 1990s. Under suchcircumstances, Kansai Electric Power decided to participate in this project as it wished
to be involved with the objective of exporting its energy infrastructure technology
overseas. In 15 years after its development, the development started its commercial
operation and has since greatly contributed to the economic development ofSoutheast Asian countries.
Obayashi Corporation was privileged to be responsible for the construction of theMain and Re-Regulation Dams, including the general civil /building works such as roadconstruction, diversion tunnel construction and powerhouse construction etc. All
Other associated electrical & mechanical and hydro-mechanical works were also
managed by Japanese Contractors. This was an all-Japan involvement project with acomprehensive system for quality and schedule control.
The power generation from the Main Power Station caters for the electricity demandof neighboring Thailand whereas the power generation from the Re-Regulation PowerStations contributes largely to the industries and economic development of Laos.
Being a BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) project, the Project will ultimately betransferred to the government of Laos free of charge after 27 years of management
and operation. Besides contributing to the development of new power sources, theProject will also serve to provide relevant training ground for local engineers during
its course of operation and maintenance throughout the 27 years.
The reservoir area was a residential area of the Hmong tribe, a minority ethnic group,
whose livelihood depends mainly on hunting, harvesting and burning fields in themountains for their crops. Aiming to build a sedentary lifestyle based on paddy
farming, the Project scope included implementing livelihood improvement programs
such as vocational training for the residents to learn additional skills that provide
opportunity for additional sources of income that contributed to an overall
improvement of the living standards of residents. The experience of resettlement ofresidents gained in this project become one of the key models for adoption in future
projects.
The Project achieved the world's highest level of high-speed construction by adopting
the slope layer method and by introducing advanced and systematic quality control

in the RCC concrete placement of the Main Dam. The required quality such as strengthand watertightness has also been secured at a high level.
On the grouting works of Main Dam, the Project developed a new method which
combined and utilized the advantages of the Japanese conventional grouting method
and the standard grouting method adopted in overseas project. While still ensuring
the same grouting quality as the conventional grouting method in Japan, the newmethod however achieved about seven times faster grouting speed than that of theconventional grouting method in Japan.
For these achievements, the Project was awarded the Japan Society of Civil Engineers
2020 Year Technology Prize and Paper Prize, the Japan Society of Dam Engineers
2020 Technology Prize, and the Japanese Society for Rock Mechanics 2020 TechnologyPrize. The sterling achievements of this Project have been mentioned and publishedin numerous academic papers of the related academic societies and specialized
journals.
With the above-mentioned all rounded achievements that sets a new benchmark for
future developments, the Project deserves an award in the field of international
contribution and recognition.

Main Dam

Site Visit by Lao National

Impounding Ceremony

University Studentof Main Dam