Vietnam to Build Additional 30 Small Hydropower Plants by 2014
Vietnam will have additional 15 to 30 small hydropower plants with a combined capacity of 250 MW in the 2009-2014 period, according to a feasible study of a project on renewable energy development for the phase recently approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Each plant will have a capacity of 30 MW, VietNamNet daily reported.
The project costs US$318.05 million in total, including US$202 million in soft loans of the International Development Association (IDA) under the World Bank (WB), and US$ 2.27 million in non-refundable aid of the Australian government.
Under the Vietnam’s national renewable development strategy, the country will strive to make renewable energy account for 3 per cent of the national total commercial electricity output by 2010, for 5 per cent in 2020 and for 11 per cent in 2050.
Currently, many small-sized hydropower plants in Vietnam are facing difficulties in electricity sales as power transmission grids to connect electricity to the national grid have not yet been built, a source from the Ministry of Industry and Trade said.
The country is predicted to face a severe power shortage of 10.3 billion kWh this year. (VietNamNet)
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