With plans for cross-border electricity grids growing in the region, Laos is banking on hydropower exports to earn revenue. But a recent deal to also sell coal power generated in Laos to Cambodia has sparked environmental concerns over this trade.

Last month, Cambodia's state-owned utility firm Electricite Du Cambodge signed a 30-year deal to buy coal power from two producers with a combined capacity of 2,400 megawatts (MW) situated in Laos' Xekong province. The two companies - Xekong Thermal Power Plant Company and TSBP Sekong Power and Mineral Company - will start supplying power from 2024.