Southern Provinces Rural Electrification II Program

The principal objective of the proposed SPRE II program is to expand rural electricity service in the central and southern provinces of Lao PDR through grid extension and off-grid electrification. Initial proposals call for 50,000-75,000 households to be provided with electricity access via EdL’s grid-connection component and another 18,000 households to be provided with electricity access via an off-grid component utilizing solar, village hydro, distributed engine-generator sets, and other mini-grid technologies. SPRE II will also advance the power sector reform agenda in critical areas such as completing the commercialization of EdL, continuing the process of tariff policy reform for the EdL grids, and developing innovative implementation models for scaling-up the rural electrification process, including establishment of a Rural Electrification Fund. As with SPRE I, the broader development objective is to provide rural communities with access to good quality, affordably priced electricity services in an efficient and sustainable manner, in line with the GOL’s goal to connect 60% of rural households by 2005, 70% by 2010, and 90% by 2020. SPRE II will build on the positive results of SPRE I, both in terms of its physical components and in terms of its dual-track approach to rural electrification, which utilizes the grid extension capacity of EdL and the now demonstrated off-grid development capacity of the Ministry of Industries and Handicrafts’ (MIH) Division of Electricity.