Laos power cuts persist as electricity exports surge

Laos is exporting most of the electricity it produces while homes, hospitals and clinics face repeated power cuts, exposing strains in the country's ageing domestic grid despite its push to become the “Battery of Southeast Asia”.

The landlocked country sells electricity to neighbours including Thailand and Vietnam. The World Bank said Laos exported about two-thirds of its generated electricity in 2023, and a former technical expert at state utility Electricite du Laos estimated the share is now about 80 percent.

Official data show annual electricity exports rose from 12 terawatt-hours to 38 terawatt-hours in the decade to 2024. The government said exports brought in $2.65 billion in 2023.

In Vientiane, a doctor in a public hospital pediatrics emergency department said blackouts have often affected the children’s centre over the past three to six months. The doctor said a ventilator stopped during one outage before generator power was available, and that a recent blackout after an electrical fire cut power to X-ray, ultrasound and ventilator equipment.

A staff member at a health clinic said outages happen two to three times a week, usually with advance notice. The staff member said the clinic has no generator and reconnects power from a nearby store during cuts.

Grant Hauber, an Asia adviser at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said transmission lines from many power projects are dedicated to overseas customers and are not connected to domestic consumers.

Much of Laos’s distribution grid dates back to the 1970s and is under pressure from urban development, tourism, infrastructure growth and rising air-conditioning use. In rural areas, a single fallen tree can cut power to one or more villages when backup lines are not available.

The government says almost all of Laos’s eight million people now have access to electricity, up from 15 percent in 1995. But Electricite du Laos is dealing with large debts linked to grid expansion and consumer subsidies.

Hydropower accounted for 80 percent of production as of 2024, and supply falls during the dry season from March to August. A recent World Bank report said electricity production has fallen short of domestic demand and export contracts several times, leading Laos to import energy at significant cost.

Thailand remains Laos’s main export market, while Vietnam has recently increased imports, including through the Monsoon Wind project. Energy from that project is destined for Vietnam rather than local consumers, according to the former Electricite du Laos expert.