China Eximbank provides $404.6 million loan for 338MW Stung Russey Chrum Hydroelectric Power Plant Construction Project (Linked to Project ID#66059)

On January 8, 2010, Huadian Power International Corporation and China Eximbank signed a cooperation agreement, which outlined the terms of financing for the 338MW Stung Russey Chrum Hydroelectric Power Plant Construction Project. Then, on July 1, 2010, China Eximbank and China Huadian Lower Stung Russei Chrum Hydroelectric Project (Cambodia) Company Limited [中国华电额勒赛下游水电项目(柬埔寨)有限公] — a special purpose vehicle and project company owned by Huadian Power International Corporation — signed a $404.6 million loan agreement for the 338MW Stung Russey Chrum Hydroelectric Power Plant Construction Project. The borrowing terms of the loan are unknown; however, it is known that Sinosure provided insurance, and Huadian Power International Corporation provided a precompletion guarantee. The total cost of the public-private partnership (PPP) project was $578 million, and it was financed according to a debt-to-equity ratio of 70:30. China Eximbank provided debt financing. Huadian Power International Corporation provided the equity financing (as captured in Project ID#66059). The project involved the construction of a 338MW hydroelectric power plant. More specifically, it involved an Upper Scheme (2×103MW) and a Lower Scheme (2×66MW) Station, with a total power generation capacity amounting to 338MW. The Upper Scheme Station is a diversion-type hydropower station consisting of the dam, water inlet at the left bank, water diversion tunnel, surge tank, pressure conduit, and powerhouse, etc. The maximum height of the dam designed is 124m. A new reservoir is formed with a water surface of 12,938,000m2 and the power density is 15.92W/m2. The designed available water head for the power generation is 134m. The expected annual electricity generation of the upper scheme station is 732,500MWh and the net annual power supply to the gird is 652,700MWh. The Lower Scheme Station is a diversion-type hydropower station consisting of the dam, water inlet at left bank, water diversion tunnel, surge tank, pressure conduit, and powerhouse etc. The diversion system is situated in the left bank of the river with a total length of 2,064m, and the powerhouse is located 5km down to the lower scheme dam. The maximum height of the dam designed is 58.5m. A new reservoir is formed with a water surface of 1,067,000m2 and the power density is 123.71W/m2. The designed available water head for the power generation is 86m. The expected annual electricity generation of the upper scheme station is 465,700MWh and the expected net annual power supply to the gird is 414,900MWh. The power generated by the project is routed to 230/115kV O-Saom Substation. To do so, the project sought to install a 25km 230kV transmission line to Phnom Penh power grid. The project also sought to equip in total 4 sets of 0.4kV/400kW back-up diesel generators to supply 2 dams and 2 powerhouses in case of emergency. 4 monitoring meters were to be installed at the upper scheme station and the down scheme station respectively to monitor the electricity supplied to the grid and delivered from the grid to the proposed project, which will be in compliance with relevant Cambodian regulations. The project also involved the installation of 2 sets of the turbine/generator units with an individual capacity of 103MW at Upper Scheme Station, and 2 sets of the turbine/generator units with an individual capacity of 66MW at Lower Scheme Station, adopting the conventional hydropower technology which will be manufactured by Zhejiang Fuchunjiang Hydropower Equipments Co., Ltd in China. The project site is approximately 57 km northeast of Koh Kong town to first Dam (22km by water along koh pao and 35km by road) and 196 km of southwest from Pursat province, located in Pak khlang commune situated in the Mondol Seima District in Koh Kong Province. The geographical coordinates of the project are as follows: Lower scheme powerhouse: 103°04′49″E, 11°45′11″N; Lower scheme dam: 103°04′58″E, 11°47′08″N; Upper scheme powerhouse: 103°06′09″E, 11°49′24″N; Upper scheme dam: 103°06′33″E, 11°51′04″N. The main construction contractors were China Gezhouba Group Co., Ltd., China Water Conservancy and Hydropower (Eighth Engineering Bureau) Co., Ltd., China Water Conservancy and Hydropower (16th Engineering Bureau) Co., Ltd., China Hydropower Construction Group (15th Engineering Bureau) Co., Ltd., and Guizhou Power Transmission and Transformation Engineering Company. A formal groundbreaking ceremony took place on April 1, 2010. However, project implementation did not commence until October 9, 2010. The construction of the upstream powerhouse and tunnel started on November 17, 2010. The construction of the downstream powerhouse and tunnel started on December 13, 2010. The construction of the upstream dam started on December 15, 2010. The construction of the downstream dam started on April 5, 2011. The power plant was put into production on December 28, 2013. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen officially inaugurated the Chinese-built 338-megawatt Russei Chrum Krom River hydropower dam on January 12, 2015. This project was implemented under a 35-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreement with the Cambodian Government. Per the terms of the BOT agreement, the electricity generated by the power plant is sold at a rate of 7.35 cents/kWh to state-owned Electricite du Cambodge, with the government earning about $12.5 million per year from tax revenues.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the Lower Stung Russei Chrum Hydroelectric Project, the 338MW Lower Stung Russey Chrum Hydroelectric Projec, or the 338MW Orussei Hydropower Power Plant Project. The Chinese project title is 鲁塞芝罗河水电站 or 额勒赛项目 or 额勒赛下游水电站 or 关于额勒赛下游水电站项目. The Khmer project title is ទំនប់វារីអគ្គិសនី ស្ទឹងឫស្សីជ្រុំក្រោម. 2. Some sources put the face value of the China Eximbank loan at $412 million. AidData relies on the more conservative value of $404.6 million, which is equivalent to 70% of the total project cost. 3. The Overseas Development Finance Dataset that Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020 identifies the Government of Cambodia as the borrower of the China Eximbank loan that supported this project. However, multiple official sources identify China Huadian Lower Stung Russei Chrum Hydroelectric Project (Cambodia) Company Limited, which is also known as China Huadian Lower Stung Russei Chrum Hydro-Electric Project (Cambodia) Co., Ltd., as the borrower.

Number of official sources

12

Number of total sources

30