Nam Ngum 5 Dam Hydropower Info by Hobo Maps - Go to Hydropower Projects Page - - Home

Nam Ngum 5 Hydropower dam and reservoir are located on the Nam Ting (river) in northern Lao PDR. The dam is located in Phou Khoun District of Luang Prabang Province and the powerhouse is in Phou Khout District of Xieng Khouang Province. 

Nam Ngum is pronounced like "Nam Nyum".

Nam Ngum 5 powerhouse is located 11.3 km east of Nam Ngum 5 dam structure and reservoir. The dam and reservoir are actually on the Nam Ting river that flows north, into which Nam Phat and Nam Sout flow. Most of the Nam Ting water flow is now diverted from the reservoir eastward to the powerhouse and only a small flow is allowed to continue through the dam structure into the Nam Ting river which flows northward to eventually join with the Nam Ngum river.

Is confusing for the project reservoir to be called the Nam Ngum 5 Reservoir when it is actually on the Nam Ting river and not even close to the Nam Ngum river. Better to say it is the reservoir on the Nam Ting that feeds water flow to the Nam Ngum 5 powerhouse 11.3 km away near the Nam Ngum river.

Nam Ngum 5 Powerhouse is located as shown in image below - Coordinates of the powerhouse are 19°21'35.8"N 102°42'44.0"E (19.359955, 102.712223).

Nam Ngum 5 Dam images below:

Nam Ngum 5 Power Project began operations in December 2012. The project owner is a joint investment between Power China Resources (85%) and EDL GEN (15%).

The project has 120 MW generating capacity from two Francis turbines of 60 MW each. Annual output is estimated at 507 GWh per year.

Sinhydro Company Ltd. from China was main contractor for the project. The power station began construction on October 1, 2008 and was officially put into commercial operation on December 2, 2012.

Financing for the US$ 200 million project was expected to come primarily from the National Bank of China or another Chinese government financial institution.

All the power generated from the Project is to be supplied to EDL for domestic consumption in accordance with a Take-or-Pay Commitment for a period of 25 years. After the end of the concession period ownership of the plant will be transferred to the Lao government.

The project includes a roller-compacted concrete dam, water-intake structures, a diversion tunnel 8.6 km long , a penstock 1.2 km long , a surge shaft 197 meters high, a tailrace tunnel 428 meters long and a booster station.

Nam Ngum 5 location in satellite image below:

Nam Ngum 5 location shown at low left part of topographic map below:

The project catchment area is 483 square km with an average annual flow of 22.8 cubic meters per second and an annual runoff of 719 million cubic meters. The 104-meter-high dam creates a reservoir that covers 15 square km at full supply level. The reservoir is planned to be flushed each year.

The main dam is situated downstream of the confluence of Nam Ting, Nam Sout and Nam Phat rivers.

Full supply level of the reservoir is to be at 1,100 meters above sea level.

Google Maps satellite imagery as of 2025 is very old and doesn't show the dam or reservoir so the coordinates may look wrong. Google Maps also has the Nam Ting river wrongly labelled as the Nam Xong.

Nam Ngum 5 reservoir satellite image below is from MapCarta.Coordinates of the dam structure are 19°21'24.9"N 102°37'18.2"E (19.356911, 102.621721).

Nam Ngum 5 dam & reservoir site images below:

The project headworks feature a 100.5-meter high roller-compacted concrete single-curve gravity arch dam and a 55-meter high intake structure. the water conveyance system includes an 8.73-kilometer water conveyance tunnel, a 174-meter high surge chamber, and a 1.19-kilometer pressure pipeline.

The powerhouse hub comprises a 53-meter deep semi-underground main and auxiliary powerhouse, switchyard and operation village. he tailwater structures include a tailwater gate shaft and a 475-meter long tailwater tunnel.

The design flood level is 1100 meters above sea level and the check flood level is 1101.84 meters above sea level. The normal reservoir level is 1100.00 meters, the dam crest elevation is 1103 meters, the dam base elevation is 1004 meters, the maximum dam height is 100.50 meters, and the dam crest width is 6.0 meters.

The dam design flood standard is a 1000-year flood with the check flood standard being a 10,000-year flood. The powerhouse design flood standard is a 100-year flood with the check flood standard being a 200-year flood.

Nam Ngum 5 dam images below:

Nam Ngum 5 area image below:

Nam Ngum 5 powerhouse site image below:

Nam Ngum 5 powerhouse area image below

Technical information of the Nam Ngum 5 Power Project shown below:

Nam Ngum 5 is located upstream of the Nam Ngum 3 Dam - in upper left part of map below:

Nam Ngum 5 project location below in Nam Ngum Basin image:

Nam Ngum 5 reservoir elevation of 1,100 meters above sea level as shown in chart below.

Nam Ngum 5 substation images below:

The developers report there was no resettlement resulting from the project and only 43 households of Ban Chim village were affected due to land occupation which includes paddy land, upland land and garden.

Nam Ngum 5 Hydropower Project was designed to qualify as a greenhouse-gas-reducing project under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol and receive carbon reduction credits that can be sold. The goal is to encourage and subsidize clean and green power production that will eliminate the need to build more dirty polluting power plants. The CDM application form can be viewed or downloaded HERE .

Content below from Nam Ngum 5 EIA PDF report