As it will help save tens of billions of dollars, it will help cut production costs. 

Thanh on April 26 presided over a meeting of the council for appraisal of national power development plan in 2021-2030, with a vision towards 2045 (eighth plan), an important component in the national planning system.  

Council members voted for the eighth plan and the plan will be submitted to the Government for consideration and approval in May 2022. 

This is difficult planning because of a lot of problems, such as placement of power generation sources, electricity lost during transmission and additional charges. It also needs to ensure reasonable electricity production costs and implement Vietnam’s commitments on zero emissions by 2050 made at COP 26. 

Closing the meeting, Thanh agreed with the assessments of the appraisal council that the eight plan has been prepared thoroughly, scientifically, with a high sense of responsibility with consultation of experts, scientists, the business community, and leaders of ministries, branches and localities. 

The eighth plan follows the Politburo's Resolution No 55 on the National Energy Development Strategy to 2030, with a vision towards 2045; it is associated with commitments related to energy transition in the spirit of commitments at COP 26. 

The plan has achieved its objectives and solved problems which existed in the past. The total power generation capacity is expected to reach 146,000 MW by 2030, a decrease of 35,000 MW in comparison with the previous draft plan. If striving for the initial targeted capacity, the required investments would be huge. 

“We also highly agree on the electricity source placement, with restrictions on distant transmission. This is an important issue, because if we have to transmit electricity from the central region to the north, it would cause waste and loss,” Thanh said. 

The other problem that the latest draft plan can fix, according to Thanh, is the electricity source structure with the expansion of renewable energy and reduction in coal-fired electricity. The planning shows innovative thinking when it relates to the interests of localities and businesses. 

The spirit of the planning is to put the common good first, saving tens of billions of dollars. The reduction in investments in transmission lines will help reduce production costs. 

Thu Hang