Dry rivers spell power shortage

Deputy Hoang Trung Hai has called for relevant ministries to take timely action to mitigate the impact of the record low water levels in many rivers across the country, particularly the Hong (Red) River in the north.

According to the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA), since last June, lower river flows attributed to climate change had reduced drastically the amount of water stored in the Hoa Binh, Tuyen Quang and Thac Ba reservoirs. It was calculated to stand at between 35 to 65 per cent lower than average.

The reservoirs were estimated to lack about 2 billion cubic metres of water compared to last year, resulting in an electricity deficit of 600 million kwh, the ERA forecast.

Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment was asked to speed up the completion of the parallel operation procedure of Hoa Binh, Son La, Thac Ba and Tuyen Quang reservoirs and establish the automatic monitor system to collect the water resources parameters.

The ministry was also asked to proactively co-operate with their Chinese counterparts to collect details about the upstream flow, and work with the Ministry of Industrial and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to adjust the procedure to regulate the water flows.

The MARD would also act to enhance the role of the riverhead protective forests and apply economical irrigation methods.

New electricity sources

The electricity industry would get a boost in efforts to meet increasing power demands thanks to the debut of the Southern Power Corporation (EVN SPC) and HCM City Power Corporation (EVN HCMC), said deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai yesterday, April 20.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the launch of the two power companies, Hai said the new model of a corporation used by the two new companies would spur the improvement of service quality across the electricity industry while also helping to meet increasing demand for power.

Hai said that the two corporations played an important role in supporting the development of the nation’s key economic city.

He stressed that new business models should be implemented at the same time as reform of management, staff training and implementation of new technology. There was also a need to form a new business culture, he said.

Along with efforts needed to deal with the impact of adverse weather conditions on electricity production, the industry still had to guarantee supply to run businesses in a wide range of sectors.

“Therefore, electricity corporations should closely co-operate with provinces to work out the best solution for electricity supply during the dry season,” said Hai.

EVN HCMC covers 24 districts with 1.67 million clients while EVN SPC manages a 110kv grid as well as a lower voltage grid and is responsible for providing power in 21 cities and provinces in the south. EVN SPC plans to reach 5 million customers with total revenue of VND27 trillion (US$1.4 billion) by the end of this year. The corporation is also the investor of the Ha Tien – Phu Quoc Submarine Cable Network. The cable project, with total investment of VND1.3 trillion ($68.4 million), aims to provide electricity for Phu Quoc Island by 2012.

EVN HCMC and EVN SPC, affiliates of the Electricity of Viet Nam Group, are established as part of the Government’s efforts to decentralise its power to help increase transparency in the electricity sector.

Viet Nam News

Tags: Vietnam electricity, Vietnam energy, Vietnam power shortage