The project provides financing to grid-connect the Lai Chau hydropower plant on the Black River (Song Da) in northern Vietnam. To this end, a roughly 160km-long, 500 kV high-voltage transmission line was built from Lai Chau to Son La, and the switchboard plant in Son La was expanded accordingly. As a result, the Lai Chau hydropower plant, still under construction at the time, was connected to the Vietnamese interconnected grid in order to supply high-demand centres predominantly located in northern and central Vietnam. The FC financing was not used to fund the construction of the Lai Chai hydropower plant, although this is nonetheless considered a related project – especially in terms of environmental and social factors.
