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Houay Ho

Hydro power plant in Bolikhamxai, Laos. Approximate location 18.2606, 104.5625.

HydroBolikhamxaiLaos

Houay Ho is a 157 MW hydro power station in Bolikhamxai, Laos. It is operated by Suez Energy. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 157,179 homes (estimated). It ranks #6 of 20 Laos power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1999, it is around 27 years old — long-established. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, hydro supplies about 76.5% of Laos's electricity; the national grid averages 232 gCO₂/kWh (76.7% low-carbon) (2024).

157MW installed capacity
157,179homes powered (est.)
1999commissioned (~27 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1001049.

Capacity vs largest hydro plants in Laos

Nam Theun 2: 1,070 MW1kNam Theun 2Nam Ngum 2: 735 MW735Nam Ngum 2Theun Hinboun: 280 MW280Theun Hinb…Xekaman 3: 250 MW250Xekaman 3Houay Ho: 157 MW157Houay HoNam Ngum 1: 155 MW155Nam Ngum 1Xeset 1: 121 MW121Xeset 1Nam Lik 1-2: 100 MW100Nam Lik 1-2

Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by Suez Energy. All plants by this company →

Local climate & thermal context

This hydro plant converts the energy of falling or flowing water through hydro turbines. It sits in a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 18.3°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

22.9°Cannual mean temp
12heating degree-days (base 18°C)
1,791cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
486 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 18 °CJF: 19 °CFM: 22 °CMA: 24 °CAM: 26 °CMJ: 26 °CJJ: 26 °CJA: 26 °CAS: 25 °CSO: 23 °CON: 21 °CND: 18 °CD26 °C

Heating degree-days here run 100% below the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.

Climate heat-demand index: 13/100 — this site sits in the bottom third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.

In colder climates, uninsulated hot equipment (boilers, turbines, valves, steam lines) loses proportionally more heat to ambient air — exactly the loss Inzonex modular insulation is designed to cut.

Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #5 largest hydro power plant of 19 in Laos by capacity.

Laos has 19 hydro power plants in this dataset, together about 3,109 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 18.2606, 104.5625 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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