VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Industry and Trade has said that if not building new power plants or speeding up the construction of the Long Phu I and Duyen Hai III plants before 2018, the South Vietnam will face power shortages.

Reporting at the regular meeting of the Government on August 27-28, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that in the first half of 2013, commercial electricity output reached 55.63 billion kWh, up 10.13 percent compared with the same period in 2012. It is forecasted that the commercial electricity output of Vietnam will reach 117 billion kWh in the whole year, an increase of 11.07 percent compared to 2012.

At the meeting, Minister Vu Huy Hoang said, without unexpected problems, the power sector can guarantee sufficient power supply to the economy by 2016. After this period, electricity for the South will be in shortfall.

According to calculations by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in 2017 the South will lack about 228 million kWh (equivalent to 0.21 percent of total demand of the region). The figure will be 2.7 billion kWh in 2018 and 1.1 billion kWh in  2019.

At the same time, power supply for the northern and central regions will be excessive but power transmission from north to south will exceed the operating limit of the 500 kV line. This will lead to high risks for the line, especially the section running through Ha Tinh to Da Nang.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said that to deal with this, Vietnam needs to have new sources of power supply totaling about 1,500 MW before 2017. On this basis, the Ministry proposed three alternatives to consult the Prime Minister. The most feasible solution is accelerating the construction of power plants in the south, including Long Phu I, Duyen Hai III and Vinh Tan IV.

Minister Vu Huy Hoang also said that the power sector may have to increase power transmission from North to South but the actual risks are big so the sector needs a safety plan. Hoang asked the PM’s permission to build a 500 KV station in Pleiku city (Gia Lai).

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said that Vietnam will not import power from China and Cambodia from now to 2020. However, it will import power from Laos.

Na Son