EVN has submitted to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) a report on negotiations and power purchasing agreement (PPA) for projects on electricity import from Laos.

Under the MOU signed between the governments of Vietnam and Laos on October 5, 2015, the total capacity of electricity to be imported from Laos is 3,000MW at minimum by 2025 and 5,000MW by 2030.

To date, the Prime Minister has approved plans to import electricity from some projects/groups of projects with total capacity of 2,689MW.

EVN has received proposals on electricity sale from investors. EVN and the investors of 10 projects/groups of projects with the total capacity of 1,577MW have come to agreements on connection methods. 

EVN has reported to MOIT the plan to import electricity. The ministry has considered the plan and has asked the PM to additionally approve some projects with total capacity of 705MW.

However, Lao Power Company has sent a document to EVN, saying that it won’t continue to sell electricity to EVN from the two projects – Nam Ou 5 (240MW) and Nam Ngum 4 (240MW), adding that the sale of electricity from the projects will be ineffective.

As such, if the PM approves the import plans for the remaining projects, EVN will only be able to import 226MW of electricity through two lines, including the 220KV Nam Mo-Tuong Duong (203MW) and the 220KV Nam Kong-Bo Y (22.5MW).

Regarding the 53 projects with total capacity of 7,204MW (the investors have suggested selling electricity to EVN and using connection methods), the connection methods are not feasible or the two sides are still under negotiations. EVN therefore has not proposed electricity import from the projects.

Meanwhile, no connection methods have been reported to EVN about the 7,732MW of electricity of other projects.

EVN commented that the proposals on selling electricity to EVN are all separate plans, which are not based on the electricity system development plans of the two countries.

This will cause EVN to face difficulties in connection planning and capacity at connection points.

The consideration of every separate projects will also affect the operation of power plants, once the number of power plants wanting to sell electricity to Vietnam increased, including small-scale power plants with capacity of below 30MW.

EVN has also expressed worry as the electricity price framework after 2025 still has not been set, which will hinder the purchase of electricity from Laos in the next period.

Meanwhile, the execution of transmission lines that serve  electricity import from Laos cannot be completed prior to 2025.

Luong Bang