China Eximbank provides overseas investment loan to 600MW Shweli 1 Hydropower Plant Construction Project

The 600 MW Shweli 1 Hydropower Plant Project is located in in Muse District and Shan State, about 23 km from the PRC-Myanmar border. It is the only hydropower plant operating on the Shweli river in Myanmar. Its exact locational coordinates are 23.699, 97.506422. 400 megawatts (67%) of the power plant’s 600 megawatts are reportedly consumed in Myanmar, and 200 megawatts are exported to PRC through a double circuit 220 kV transmission line. Following the Government of Myanmar's inability to secure funding for the project, Yunnan Joint Power Development Co. (YUPD) was established as a joint venture in August 2006 by Huaneng Langcang River Hydropower Co., Ltd. (50% ownership stake), Yunnan Hexing Investment and Development Co., Ltd. (34% ownership stake), and Yunnan Union Resources & Engineering Co. Ltd. (16% ownership stake). Then, on May 22, 2007, YUPD and Myanmar Ministry of Electric Power jointly established Shweli I Hydropower Co. (SHPC), with Yunnan United Power Development Co., Ltd. holding 80% of the shares and Myanmar’s Ministry of Electric Power holding 20% of the shares (see Project ID#49904). With the approval of the Government of Myanmar, the Shweli I Hydropower Plant was developed on a BOT (build-operation-transfer) basis. The BOT agreement was signed on December 30, 2006. In accordance with the Joint Venture Agreement, Myanmar can use 15% of the electricity generated from the power station for free. The validity of the franchise right is 40 years. The total cost of the project was RMB 3.2 billion RMB, of which RMB 2.96 billion was invested by Chinese parties. Huaneng Langcang River Hydropower Co., Ltd. reportedly received a loan to support its investment in YUPD. It is also known that China Eximbank issued an overseas investment loan (境外投资贷款) for the 600MW Shweli 1 Hydropower Plant Construction Project, which is likely the loan that Huaneng Langcang River Hydropower Co., Ltd. received to support its investment in YUPD. The Shweli 1 HPP has a 47 meter high concrete gravity dam that diverts water through a headrace tunnel to the powerhouse some 9.5 km downstream. The 10 km long reservoir created by the dam is also small and narrow (about 120 m wide on average) inundating 1.3 km2 and storing 24 hm3. It is equipped with six, 100 MW power generation units. Sinohydro Corporation Limited was the EPC contractor responsible for implementation. On December 10, 2006, the project realized river closure. Then, on September 5, 2008, the first power generation unit was put into operation. In April 2009, the last power generation unit was put into operation. The project was ultimately completed on May 16, 2009.

Additional details

1. The project is also referred to as 600 MW Shewli-1 Hydropower Plant Project or Ruili Dam Project or Ruili River Hydropower Station I Project or Ruilijiang I Hydropower Station Project. The project is referred to as 瑞丽江水电站 or 瑞丽江一级水电站 in Chinese. 2. Given that RMB 2.96 billion was jointly invested in YUPD by three Chinese parties, Huaneng Langcang River Hydropower Co., Ltd. holds a 50% ownership stake in YUPD, and China Eximbank has a policy of using overseas investment loans to finance up to 70% of the cost of an overseas investment, AidData has estimated the face value of the loan (i.e. the transaction amount) by first calculating 50% of RMB 2.966 billion (RMB 1.483 billion) and then calculating 70% of RMB 1.483 billion (RMB 1.0381 billion). Project ID#49904 records the Chinese equity investment. 3.
Shweli 3 Hydropower Plant is likely financed by France, a Public Private Partnership MOU was signed for the project between Electricte De France and the Ministry of Electric Power in 2015.

Number of official sources

11

Number of total sources

25