State-owned EdF pulled out as a key buyer of power from the hydroelectric dam on Thursday, dealing a blow to Indochina’s biggest dam project and raising questions
over who will take their place or if the project will even proceed.

“This raises some questions over the future of the project. EdF was more than just the main investor, they were also the lead technical agency,” said Peter Stephens, World Bank’s regional spokesman.

EdF’s power purchase deal was crucial since it would have been used by French and Thai investors as collateral to secure a loan guarantee from the World Bank and financing from other creditors such as France’s development agency.

“The World Bank has always viewed this project as one with significant risks and with great complexity,” Stephens said.

EDF International, a unit of EdF, holds a 35 percent stake in project operator Nam Theun 2 Power Co (NTPC), while Thai construction contractor Italian-Thai Development holds 15 percent. EdF was planning to sell the power to Thailand. Thailand’s Electricity Generating Plc (EGCO) and Electricite du Laos each hold 25 percent of the project.

Thai Energy Minister Prommin Lertsuridej said Friday his country still wants to buy power from Laos’s long-delayed Nam Theun 2 hydroelectric power project, but would wait only one more year before looking elsewhere after the lead developer quit the project, Dow Jones reports.