Power plans helps save energy

The national programme on electrical energy efficiency and conservation, enacted over the last five years, has recorded a 30 per cent higher return than targeted.

Cities and provinces throughout the country have conserved more than 4 billion kWh, said deputy minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong at a meeting to review the programme’s implementation yesterday.

The ministry’s programme covered the 2006-10 period following the Prime Minister’s instruction on electric saving in production and consumption. More than 1.18 billion kWh was saved this year alone, equal to 1.4 per cent of total consumption.

The energy saving was meaningful, said Vuong, as it has been facing challenges due to prolonged droughts and erratic weather conditions.

The last five years saw a remarkable increase in electric consumption with the demand for power growing by 13.7 per cent yearly, double GDP growth. Average electric consumption per person almost doubled in the past five years, with each person consuming more than 980kWh per year.

The ministry has inspected more than 500 key enterprises and audited the accounts of electrical energy in 300 enterprises to develop a standard management system on efficient energy usage.

To achieve the programme’s target, almost all provinces and cities issued their own instruction on promoting the implementation of efficient electrical energy usage and set up local steering committees for the project.

The Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality in the last five years has completed 17 standard categories to be applied for the efficient energy usage.

The promotional work for the programme was through collaboration between the ministry and media throughout the country, according to Vuong.

The deputy minister, however, pointed to shortcomings in the programme’s implementation. One of them was that large power consumers in the fields of industry, construction and small – and medium-enterprises are still using backward technology, which used large amounts of energy, as they could not afford to invest in more modern equipment. Moreover, a number of enterprises were not fully aware of the energy saving and that had resulted in an ineffective implementation of the programme in some places.

The programme was not effectively implemented in State-run offices and companies which lacked strict supervision, especially where leaders exhibited little responsibility.

To better save energy, said Vuong, relevant ministries and sectors needed to complete the legal framework for the practice of efficient energy usage during this year, prompting the issuance of documents to instruct the implementation of the Law on Energy Efficiency and Conservation which would be approved by the National Assembly earlier this year.

The deputy minister proposed the relevant ministries and sectors complete their requirement for energy efficiency standards and inform major energy consumers. Major provinces and cities should actively develop plans for energy efficiency and conservation, said Vuong, and insert the programme into their socio-economic development strategy. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam electricity, Vietnam energy, Vietnam power shortage