Laos has a power system dominated by renewable capacity and hydropower generation. In 2024, renewables made up 86% of installed electricity capacity, while renewable sources supplied 76% of electricity generated in 2023. The figures below distinguish capacity, output, resource potential, household access, and cross-border electricity trade.
Contents
- Installed renewable capacity
- Electricity generation and utilisation
- Renewable energy consumption
- Hydropower plants and resource potential
- Solar, biomass, biogas, wind, and geothermal potential
- Grid access and electricity infrastructure
- Exports, imports, and utility performance
Installed renewable capacity
The IRENA energy profile recorded 12,023 MW of total installed electricity capacity in Laos in 2024. Renewable sources accounted for 10,370 MW, compared with 1,653 MW from non-renewable sources. That distribution made renewables 86% of installed capacity and non-renewables 14%.
Hydropower was the central technology, with 10,189 MW installed in 2024. Solar accounted for 58 MW and bioenergy for 123 MW. The same IRENA profile recorded 0 MW of wind capacity and 0 MW of geothermal capacity. It also noted that hydropower represented 85% of renewable capacity.
Capacity increased during 2024, although the technology changes were not uniform. Total electricity capacity rose by 50 MW, or 3.6%. Renewable capacity increased by 62 MW, or 4.1%, and hydropower capacity increased by 64 MW, or 4.2%. Solar capacity increased by 72 MW according to the IRENA energy profile. These reported changes should be read as the profile’s annual capacity figures rather than as a calculation of a single construction pipeline.
| Capacity measure | Laos statistic | Measurement period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total installed electricity capacity | 12,023 MW | 2024 | IRENA energy profile |
| Renewable installed capacity | 10,370 MW | 2024 | IRENA energy profile |
| Hydropower capacity | 10,189 MW | 2024 | IRENA energy profile |
| Solar capacity | 58 MW | 2024 | IRENA energy profile |
| Bioenergy capacity | 123 MW | 2024 | IRENA energy profile |
| Non-renewable capacity | 1,653 MW | 2024 | IRENA energy profile |
Electricity generation and utilisation
Laos generated 49,004 GWh of electricity in 2023, according to the IRENA energy profile. Renewable generation contributed 37,004 GWh, while non-renewable generation contributed 12,000 GWh. Renewables therefore supplied 76% of generation and non-renewables supplied 24%.
Hydropower and marine generation reached 36,387 GWh in 2023, equal to 74% of total electricity generation. Solar generation was 96 GWh, and bioenergy generation was 521 GWh. Bioenergy supplied 1% of generation in the profile. The generation figures show the difference between capacity and output: hydropower was the largest source by both measures, while solar had a much smaller generation total despite its reported capacity increase during 2024.
The IRENA profile gives capacity-utilisation figures for 2023. Hydropower and marine had 43% utilisation, solar had 19%, bioenergy had 48%, and fossil fuels had 83%. These are source-specific utilisation measures for 2023 and should not be treated as the share of national electricity generation.
The World Bank Climate and Development Report describes a strong seasonal pattern. Laos’s generation in the wet season was one third higher than in the dry season, and Laos imported energy from neighboring Thailand during the dry season. The report also placed Laos’s hydropower capacity at 14,800 MW in its 2022–2023 context. That figure comes from a different source and context than the 10,189 MW hydropower capacity in the IRENA 2024 profile, so the two numbers are not interchangeable.
Renewable energy consumption
Renewable energy consumption in Laos reached 328 petajoules (PJ) in 2022, according to the IRENA energy profile. The profile reported 309 PJ in 2021, 284 PJ in 2020, and 253 PJ in 2017. These are consumption figures, not electricity-generation figures, and they cover renewable energy use across the energy system.
The 2022 end-use distribution was led by households. Households accounted for 53% of renewable final energy consumption, industry accounted for 27%, and other sectors accounted for 20%. Transport accounted for 0% in the same IRENA breakdown. The percentages describe the sectoral distribution of renewable final energy consumption in 2022; they do not represent the share of each sector in total national energy use.
The Lao PDR Renewable Energy Development Strategy was intended to support biofuels, small power, solar, biomass, biogas, wind, and other alternative fuels for transportation, according to the ADB renewable strategy page. The IEA Laos country page reports that the strategy targeted a 30% renewable share in total energy consumption by 2025. The ADB energy sector assessment also reports a target of 30% renewable energy in total energy demand by 2025. These are policy targets, not measurements of the achieved 2025 share.
Hydropower plants and resource potential
The Lao PDR National Strategy on Climate Change 2023 reported 93 operating power plants above 1 MW. Together, those plants had 11,661.12 MW of installed capacity in 2022 and generated 58,700.61 GWh per year. The same source counted 81 hydropower plants with 9,615.14 MW of total capacity, generating 45,703.25 GWh per year.
The national hydropower development potential was estimated at 23,000–26,000 MW in that strategy. This is a potential range, not installed or currently operating capacity. The strategy also reported 377.3 km³ of estimated annual surface water resources. About 95% of national territory lies in the Mekong River Basin, and Laos contributes 35% of Mekong surface water flow.
The water figures provide context for hydropower development but measure different things. Annual surface water resources were estimated at 377.3 km³, while total water withdrawal was approximately 4,260 million m³ per year. Agriculture accounted for 93% of withdrawal, industry for 4%, and municipal use for 3.1%. These shares describe water withdrawal, not the electricity mix.
Solar, biomass, biogas, wind, and geothermal potential
The National Strategy on Climate Change 2023 estimated that biomass, solar, biogas, geothermal, and wind resources together could generate 2,068 MW of electricity and 889 kilotonne of oil equivalent (ktoe) of heat. Within that combined estimate, biomass potential was 938 MW of electricity and 227 ktoe of heat. Solar potential was 511 MW of electricity and 218 ktoe of heat, while biogas potential was 313 MW of electricity and 444 ktoe of heat.
The strategy separately listed solar thermal potential at 216 MW, geothermal potential at 59 MW, and wind-farm potential at 40 MW. These are resource-potential estimates and do not mean that the same amounts were installed. For comparison, the IRENA profile recorded 58 MW of solar capacity and 0 MW of wind and geothermal capacity in 2024.
The ADB energy sector assessment estimated Lao PDR’s solar potential at 4.4 kWh/m²/day, with a range of 3.6–5.5 kWh/m²/day. It identified rice straw, rice husks, sawdust, and corn cobs as biomass resources. These measurements and resource descriptions indicate available conditions and feedstocks; they do not quantify operating generation from each resource.
Grid access and electricity infrastructure
The National Strategy on Climate Change 2023 reported that Laos had 148 electrified districts and 8,450 electrified villages by 2021. It gave a household electrification rate of 95% by 2021. In a separate nationwide electrification ratio, the strategy reported 100% of districts and 93.3% of villages electrified by 2021. Because the source presents these as separate measures, the district, village, and household figures should not be collapsed into one rate.
Laos had 63,563 km/cct of power lines nationwide in the strategy’s infrastructure data. The network included 626 km/cct of 500 kV lines, 2,637 km/cct of 230 kV lines, 7,213 km/cct of 115 kV lines, 34,626 km/cct of 22 kV medium-voltage lines, and 20,441 km/cct of 0.4 kV low-voltage lines.
The country had 74 power stations nationwide in 2021. These included eleven 230/115/22 kV stations, sixty-two 115/22 kV stations, and one T-Off 230 kV station. The strategy also reported eleven stations at 230/115/22 kV in the transmission and distribution network. These station counts are infrastructure counts for 2021, not counts of generating plants.
Exports, imports, and utility performance
The World Bank Climate and Development Report reported that Laos exported 37,538 GWh of electricity in 2023, around two thirds of total generation. It ranked Laos as the 17th largest electricity exporter in the world in 2023. The U.S. Commercial Service Laos Energy Sector materials state that Laos sold electricity to six countries and earned over $2.6 billion from electricity exports in 2024, while spending more than $177 million on seasonal electricity imports.
WITS World Bank trade data recorded 2023 electrical-energy imports from Laos of $103.66675 million to Thailand, equivalent to 1,691,290 thousand kWh. China imported $5.93440 million, equivalent to 105,443 thousand kWh, and Vietnam imported $5.43395 million, equivalent to 50,590 thousand kWh. These are partner-specific 2023 trade figures and should not be substituted for the World Bank report’s national export total.
EDL-Gen’s 2024 AGM invitation reported total operating installed capacity of 1,736.72 MW at the end of 2024. Wholly owned hydropower plants contributed 717 MW, while EDL-Gen’s IPP shareholdings contributed 1,019.72 MW. Its wholly owned plants generated 2,558.17 GWh in 2024, IPP shareholdings generated 4,411.48 GWh, and total electricity generation was 6,969.65 GWh.
The same AGM materials reported budgeted 2024 revenue of LAK 2,835.16 billion and actual revenue of LAK 3,003.28 billion. The materials state that actual revenue beat forecast by 5.93%; electricity-sales revenue beat forecast by LAK 27.10 billion, other income by LAK 78.18 billion, and share of profits from associates and joint ventures by LAK 62.84 billion.
The EDL-Gen materials also refer to 2023 planning figures: 13 wholly owned hydropower plants with 944 MW of installed capacity, 18 IPPs with 1,075.22 MW combined capacity, and a 2024 total power-generation plan of 7,893.54 GWh. The planned total electricity-sales figure was 7,842.02 GWh. These planning numbers describe forecasts, whereas the 6,969.65 GWh figure is reported 2024 generation.