|
Complex task to cut losses from grid
Electricity of Viet Nam says the goal to reduce annual transmission losses to 8 per cent by next year is not feasible because of lack of funds and the complicated nature of the country’s power grid.
Instead, the State-owned company has suggested to the Ministry of Industry and Trade that from 9.21 per cent this year, it would reduce the loss to 9, 8.9, and 8.8 per cent in the next three years.
EVN says it needs an estimated VND15.6 trillion (US$876.2 million) to achieve the 8-per-cent goal, noted in a Governmental decision issued in 2006, because it could not afford enough for the cost basing on its financial capacity.
EVN is also worried about the adverse effects of cutting off supply to many places to carry out the work required to reduce the transmission losses – like replacing old lines and facilities with new, standard ones.
EVN has been taking over rural power grids that were built and managed by agricultural co-operatives around the country. These grids lose 25 to 30 per cent during transmission, threatening to take losses next year to 10.9 per cent, EVN estimated.
The ministry’s Power Regulation Department is planning a meeting next week to consider EVN’s suggestion and evaluate its efforts to upgrade the electricity grid in the last three years.
EVN has succeeded in cutting transmission losses from 12.3 per cent in 2004, or an average of 0.6 per cent a year.
But in the first half, it reported a loss of 10.39 per cent, 0.76 per cent higher than in the same period last year.
vietnamnews
|
