VietNamNet Bridge - Supply is declining since water levels are dwindling due to a drought while demand will rise in the ongoing dry season.

There will be a shortfall of around 1.7 billion kW during that period, the Electricity Moderation Department said.

Power output has fallen sharply since an ongoing drought has seen water levels in many hydropower reservoirs fall to almost dead storage levels, it said.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong said his Ministry is trying to increase supply from thermal plants to ease the shortage until June.

Even if all possible sources are used, sufficient supply can only be ensured if demand does not increase by more than 15 percent, he said.

But EVN has said demand will rise by 18.3 percent over last year’s dry season, he added.

Yesterday the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee held a meeting with Electricity Corporation to discuss the power supply and demand status.

Peak-hour consumption in the City is now approximately equivalent to the supply allocated by EVN, while it is lower during off-peak hours and on weekends, the city Electricity Corporation reported.

However, average use of electricity in March is estimated at 48.4 million kWh per day, 1.5 million kWh higher than the allocation.

The shortage may rise to 2 million kWh in April and May before again going down in June to 350,000 kWh.

At the meeting, the Corporation proposed a 50 percent power cut for outdoor advertising and called on state agencies and businesses to reduce electricity use by 10 percent.

It urged the manufacturing sector to avoid production during peak hours and switch to Saturdays and Sundays.

However, industrial parks and export processing zones said such changes are hard to implement since they will have a bearing on labor policies.

“If households, which use about 40 percent of the total power, can save 10 percent, the city will have enough power for its needs and will not have to resort to cutting power,” Le Van Phuoc, the Corporation’s general director, said.

For the time being, the Corporation plans to cut power supply at differing rates – from 2 to 10 percent – for different categories of consumers.

Priority will be given to key government agencies, hospitals, and traffic lights. Businesses and households will be informed in advance about the power outage schedule, with the cuts not exceeding five hours a day for anyone and not more than twice a month.

City party committee secretary Le Thanh Hai, urged state agencies to cut power use by 10 percent, power suppliers to give priority to manufacturing, trading, and services, and households to economize on power.

Hanoi to seriously lack electricity in Mar-May

Hanoi will suffer a severe power shortage in three dry-season months starting March, Vu Quang Hung, deputy general director of the Hanoi Electricity Corporation, said.

At yesterday’s press conference held by the Hanoi Party Committee, Mr. Hung said the shortage was due to a strong decline in overall power output.

He said the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade will coordinate with the Corporation to inspect the use of power at administrative agencies, restaurants, hotels, trade and service enterprises, and manufacturers to know whether the power source has been used reasonably and efficiently.

Electricity consumption for lighting systems for gardens, parks and outdoor advertising must be cut down 50 percent during peak hours in evenings, he said.

Water levels at hydropower reservoirs have recently declined sharply, with the current levels being 4-10 meters higher than the danger threshold, reported Duong Quang Thanh, deputy general director of the Electricity Group of Vietnam (EVN).

The volume of water flowing into the reservoirs in the first two months of this year was 490 million cubic meters less than that in the same period last year, Mr. Thanh said.

EVN has been mobilizing all possible power sources to improve the situation.

EVN has also accelerated the construction of many power works, including those at Song Tranh 2 hydropower plant, Son La hydropower plant, and Uong Bi thermal power plant, to put them into operation soon this year.

The utility will add a new source of 2,600MW to the country’s total power output this year and try to minimize power loss during transmission.

In the first half of the year Hanoi’s power supply will be 5 percent less than demand, the Hanoi Electricity Corporation said. The severest shortages will be between March and May, it added.

Vu Quang Hung, the Corporation’s deputy general director, all efforts will be made to ensure supply especially for key political and social events and to water pumping stations o irrigate the winter-spring rice crop.

“The Corporation is taking measures to improve power saving. It has cut 50 percent of power for public lighting and turns off the system at 10 pm,” Hung said.

“We are also working with a number of customers to ensure thrifty power use.”

Businesses will be informed of power cuts by telephone and email and households through public address systems, he added.

Source: Tuoi Tre