寮國邁向「亞洲電池」之路：電網佈局的地緣政治經濟分析

Laos’Path Towards Becoming the“Battery of Asia”: An Analysis of Geographic Political Economy of Electrical Grid

寮國是東協十國唯一內陸國與最貧窮國家，然而，寮國政府做了一件正確的事情，就是善用水力資源來發電，訂定「亞洲電池」目標，試圖透過電力出口來賺取外匯與改善人民貧窮問題，以脫離低度開發國家之列。實際上，寮國擁有優越的地理位置與豐沛的天然資源，如何逐步邁向亞洲電池，則是相當有趣的議題。是故，本文以「地緣政治經濟」檢視寮國如何透過電網佈局成為亞洲電池，最後發現，第一，寮國在適當時機，利用法律政策調整，吸引國際組織與FDI協助發展電網，奠定亞洲電池基礎；第二，寮國以電網出口電力賺取外匯獲得打破空間侷限機會，進而重塑空間範疇；第三，偏鄉及農村的離線電網促進電力普及與改善人民生活，進而提升社經影響力；第四，寮國加入東協電網，將電網範圍擴及至新加坡而成為名符其實的亞洲電池；第五，寮國雖以水力發電為主，但火力發電廠的出現，意味著寮國並非著重可再生能源，而僅是利用國內資源賺取外匯。

Laos is the only landlocked country and the poorest country among the ASEAN countries. However, the Laos government has done one right thing, which is to make good use of hydropower resources to generate electricity, set the goal of being the“Battery of Asia,”and try to earn foreign exchange and improve people's poverty through electricity exports in order to escape from the list of least-developed country. In fact, Laos has a superior geographical location and abundant natural resources. How it will gradually move towards becoming the“battery of Asia”is a very interesting topic. Therefore, this article uses“geopolitical economics”to examine how Laos became the“battery of Asia”through the layout of its electrical grid. Finally, it is found that, first, Laos used legal and policy adjustments at the right time to attract international organizations and FDI to assist in the development of the electrical grid, laying the foundation for the battery of Asia; second, Laos earned foreign exchange by exporting electricity from the electrical grid to gain opportunities to break through spatial limitations and thus reshape the scope of space; third, the offline electrical grid in remote and rural areas promoted the popularization of electricity and improved people's lives, thereby enhancing socio-economic influence; fourth, Laos joined the ASEAN electrical grid and expanded the scope of the electrical grid to Singapore, becoming a veritable battery of Asia; fifth, although Laos mainly relies on hydropower generation, the emergence of thermal power plants means that Laos does not focus on renewable energy, but only uses domestic resources to earn foreign exchange.