Laos will develop more renewable energy so that it makes up 30% of total energy use within 2025, according to the Ministry of Energy and Mines.
A consulting firm is being selected to draft the master plan, said Anousak Phongsavath, deputy director-general of the ministry's Institute of Renewable Energy Promotion.
The types of energy in focus are wind, solar, biomass, biogas, waste, ethanol and biodiesel, he told the Clean Power Asia 2013 forum in Bangkok yesterday.
The country has already made a head start by growing jatropha in the South for biodiesel production.
It also co-developed ethanol with Mitr Phol, Thailand's largest sugar producer, with a mill in Laos.
Mr Anousak said the first stage will focus on biofuel to reduce the country's dependence on imported fuels. The tentative plan is to make 10% ethanol petrol and 5% biofuel diesel.
Other types of renewable energy will make up around 20% of total energy consumption.
He said Laos will also generate one megawatt of solar power for 30,000 houses located in remote areas off the power grids, a project supported by the World Bank since 2001.
The programme is expected to be finished within next year.
Around 84% of the population have electricity and the proportion should reach 90% by 2020.
The renewable energy development plan would get US$1.8 billion in financial support from the private sector over the next 12 years.
In the first phase, Laos expects to see renewable energy makes up 10% of total energy use in 2016 as the government is attempting to encourage the public awareness.
The plan is part of the country's mission to leave the poorest countries list by 2020, he said, as reducing fuel imports will help cut its deficit.