Thailand may have to buy 9,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity from Laos this year to meet its rising demand.

Illustrative image (Source: pattayamail.com)

The volume is nearly 30 percent higher than the 7,000 MW the country currently buys annually from Laos, as agreed in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in 2007 which expired in 2015.

Sources from Bangkok said senior officials of the two sides are working on details of a new MoU, which is expected to be signed in the second half of this year.

If the discussion on the MoU’s details progresses and finishes on time, it will be signed at the ASEAN Summit meeting in September this year.

Laos is dubbed as “the Battery of Asia” given it has an abundant hydropower potential with an estimated combined capacity of about 200,000 MW a year.

(Source: VNA)