Laos banks on wind energy to power renewables push

Rising from verdant ridge lines of southern Laos, 133 Chinese-built wind turbines help power Vietnam’s surging growth and represent part of a regional rush to diversify energy sources. “The view is beautiful. They’re bigger than trees,” 23-year-old Toukta Phonsala said inside her wooden stilt house in Dak Wai village, her baby bouncing on her lap. Hydroelectric dams have proliferated across Southeast Asia in recent years, but production drops off in the dry season and critics lament the...