What’s new: The construction of a massive renewable energy base by the China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN Group) in Laos is scheduled to begin in June, marking the start of the largest single new energy project in Southeast Asia.

The project will become the first overseas clean energy base to send electricity back to China.

The first phase will be a 1 million-kilowatt photovoltaic project. It will start simultaneously with the building of China Southern Power Grid’s China-Laos 500 kilovolt transmission line for transferring the power to China, according to Zhang Chaoqun, president of CGN Energy International Holdings Co. Ltd., the overseas clean-energy business unit of CGN Group.

With a planned power generation capacity of 1.7 billion kWh per year, the project is expected to ease electricity shortage in South China’s Yunnan province and increase supply to the broader southern regions through the West-to-East power transmission network operated by the Southern Grid, Zhang said.

Background: CGN signed an agreement with the government of Laos to develop a renewable energy base in the north of the country in September. It will incorporate wind, solar, hydro and energy storage capabilities, and will transfer power generated in Laos to Yunnan.

Power exports have formed a vital part of landlocked Laos’ development strategy. Lao Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines ChansaVath Bounpha said this week that Lao intends to become the “battery” of Southeast Asia, focusing on the development of solar and wind power.

CGN Group, one of China’s top nuclear plant operators, has been pushing aggressively into the renewable energy industries in recent years.

CGN Energy International, which operates CGN Group’s non-nuclear clean energy businesses overseas, has a controlling stake in working and future power installations with a total capacity of 13.63 million kilowatts across 16 countries including Malaysia, France, Brazil, South Korea, Laos, and South Africa. The company’s total overseas assets exceeding 80 billion yuan ($11 billion).