Power Projects Sped up

On September 8, 2016, after visiting some power plants in the Duyen Hai Thermal Power Centre based in Tra Vinh province, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung heard detailed reports on power shortages in the south and directed solutions to overcome.

 

According to the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), power systems in the northern region and the central region always supply enough electricity and have backup sources, but the southern region is short of 10-15 per cent of total power demand. EVN will have to actively mobilise oil-fuelled power sources in the south (about 5 billion kWh) from 2017 and maximally mobilise oil-fuelled power sources in 2018 and 2019 (8.5 billion kWh a year).

 

Therefore, according to EVN, the most urgent solution is building a 500-kV line from Vung Ang to Doc Soi to Pleiku to increase the electricity transmission capacity from the north into central region by about 5 billion kWh a year. “Once put into operation by 2019, it will ease power shortages in the south and reduce the reliance on oil-fuelled power generation,” said EVN President Duong Quang Thanh.

 

Besides, the timely commissioning of southern thermal power plants such as Vinh Tan 1, Long Phu 1 and Song Hau 1 will play a particularly important role in ensuring the balance of electricity supply and demand in the 2017 - 2020 period. If one of these projects is delayed, the south will fall short of electricity right in 2019.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung stressed that sufficient electricity supply for industrialisation and socioeconomic development in the coming years is vital. Developing thermal power in Mekong Delta provinces is the most suitable solution in addition to increasing the transmission capacity of North - South power line.

 

He asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the Vietnam National Coal, Mineral Industries Holding Corporation Limited (Vinacomin) and the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) to follow the Prime Minister’s directions and urgently complete the preparation for the construction of 500 kV Vung Ang - Doc Soi - Pleiku line. In addition, it is important to pick up the pace of the construction of power projects in the southern region, even in the central region, to quickly bring into operation thermal power plants in the Mekong Delta as Duyen Hai, Long Phu, Song Hau, Tan Phuoc, Long An, Bac Lieu and Vinh Tan; minimise the use of oil to run power plants; pace up the production progress of Gas Project in Block B (in 2021); and prepare the construction of gas-fired power plants in Quang Nam and Quang Ngai provinces.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Dung also agreed with EVN’s proposal to import electricity from the greater Mekong sub-region.