Fewer power cuts from next week

Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN) expects the power supply to improve and gradually stabilise from next Thursday, July 8.

The improvement follows the fixing of “technical failures” at the Cam Pha, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh and Son Dong thermal plants in the north and higher water levels in reservoirs, it says in a statement posted on its web site.

The State utility says the four power stations will now resume working.

The capacity of the Cam Pha power station is 600MW; the Son Dong 220MW while the combined productivity of Hai Phong and Quang Ninh plants is 1,800MW.

The statement says that with rain increasing in the north, the southern provinces entering their rainy season and lower demand for electricity than during the first half of this month, the hydropower plants can generate more electricity.

The result is a likely 5-7 per cent reduction in power outages.

The statement says EVN will mobilise all power resources, including those from independent producers, importers and the reserves from major consumers, to ensure sufficient electricity for production and to minimise power outages.

EVN will also work all its hydropower plants at as high a capacity as possible – depending on water levels in reservoirs – and avoid suspension of operations that could cause system failures.

The utility has also delayed the maintenance and repair of its generators and turbines and asked local power companies to encourage enterprises to use diesel generators for production.

Local power companies should also disseminate information that will raise public awareness about the need to understand the difficulties within the power industry and support the Government’s energy-saving policies and the efficient use of electricity, the statement says.

The EVN subsidiary, the Ha Noi Electricity Corporation, has also pledged not to cut power during university entrance examinations that begin Sunday.

EVN supplied a total of 5.5 billion kwh during the first 20 days of June and the average daily productivity of 276 million kwh was 8.6 per cent higher than for the same months of last year, the statement says.

But it satisfied only 90 per cent of demand for consumption and production.

The latest power outages have damaged production and both rural and urban daily life.

The director of northern Bac Giang Province’s Agriculture and Rural Development Department’s Animal Husbandry Division, Duong Thanh Tung, said that many livestock breeding farms were facing numerous difficulties because of unexpected outages.

A stable supply of electricity was required to maintain the normal growth of cattle and poultry, ensure hygiene and prevent disease, he said.

An example was the Vo Van Minh’s family which has 4,000 fowls in Hiep Hoa District’s Hung Son Ward.

Normally, it had six incubators in operation.

Now only three machines were working with just 70 per cent of the chickens hatched compared with the previous 90 per cent.

Prolonged heat and regular outages have raised the price of ice in central Thanh Hoa Province’s Quang Xuong District from VND5,000 at the beginning of summer to VND20,000 last week.

More heat

The National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasts says the heat will continue in the central provinces in early July with temperatures reaching 39 degrees Celsius.

Rainfall is likely to total just 10-20mm causing the drought continue.

Prolonged heat and drought have caused many forest fires with 20 reported from Ha Tinh Province while 58ha of forest in Nghe An Province has been destroyed.

Tags: Vietnam electricity, Vietnam energy, Vietnam power shortage