The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) has sent a document to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, proposing an eighth national power development plan (Plan 8).

Under the plan, the total investment capital needed in 2021-2030 is $113.3-134.7 billion, of which capital for electricity generation sources is $96.6-119.8 billion (87-88.9 percent, and capital for electricity transmission lines is $14.6-14.9 billion (11.1-12.9 percent).

The investment capital for 2021-2025 is $57.1 billion, including $48.1 billion for electricity generation and $9 billion for transmission lines.

The investment capital for 2026-2030 is $77.6 billion, including $71.7 billion for electricity generation and $5.9 billion for transmission lines.

The plan to implement Plan 8 includes a list of projects to be executed under public investment and other investment modes.

Regarding large coal-fired power projects, with a risk of delays because of difficulties during investment preparation and unspecified operation, MOIT will work with project investors to clarify the possibility of continuing to execute projects or terminate the projects in accordance with the laws.

As for power sources playing an important role in ensuring power security (thermal power run with imported LNG, domestic gas and large thermal power projects), it is necessary to review the execution progress and investment quarterly or annually so as to have the most accurate assessment about the national power supply each year, until 2030, and suggest solutions if the process is delayed.

Offshore wind power projects will be distributed by region. The offshore wind power capacity will be defined during the project implementation process. The selection of scale and locations of the projects will be determined by localities, depending on electricity production costs, the use capacity of the national grid, electricity transmission costs, and overall effects on local socio-economic development.

Meanwhile, the scale of concentrated solar power projects would be calculated based on the feasibility of execution, the actual implementation speed, the use capacity in the localities, and production costs.

The rooftop solar power projects in industrial zones (IZs) would have a total capacity of 2,600MW by 2030, based on the calculation of additional rooftop solar power capacity suitable to the scale of development shown in Plan 8; and the rooftop solar power capacity in every province after calculating the technical capacity of rooftop solar power in Industrial Zones.

As for the development of self-sufficient and self-supplied rooftop solar power, the number of systems would cover 50 percent of office buildings and people’s homes by 2030.

Luong Bang