Kurt Tran

Vietnam chalks out response to power woes

With a massive electricity shortfall looming this dry season, Vietnam’s monopoly state power utility is scrambling to put in place measures to overcome the problem.

Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) said it would commission a large new hydroelectric plant in the northern Quang Ninh province this month.

The 300MW Uong Bi plant would produce around 6 million Kwh per day.

One new turbine each would begin churning out power at the Quang Tri hydroelectric plant in the central region in April and June. They will together produce 600,000 Kwh daily.

State oil giant PetroVietnam will open a power plant in Ca Mau province in April.

Two more hydropower plants, Tuyen Quang and Dai Ninh, in northern Vietnam are scheduled to go on stream in October and November respectively.

EVN also announced Thursday that the halt of gas supply from the Nam Con Son oil field to the Phu My power complex in southern Vietnam due to pipeline overhauls, slated for June, would last just a day-and-a half instead of the scheduled 14 days.

In the short run, plans to buy power from China to tackle the shortage were also on the cards, it said.

Besides, EVN has called for a nationwide reduction in power use and set up Thursday 11 task forces to monitor it.

It warned it would resort to large-scale power cuts if demand continued to rise, adding that a total shortfall of 131 million Kwh was likely in March, April, and May.

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