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Power shortage and countermeasures
Severe droughts since late 2009 have exerted a negative impact on water accumulation in reservoirs, lowering water levels and preventing hydro-power plants from generating nearly one billion more kWh.
The drought situation has been forecast to remain, putting more pressure on the demand for water in agriculture and demand for electricity as the economy is recovering. In the first three months of 2010, the demand for electricity surged by nearly 22 percent; the figure for the whole year is predicted to stand at 18 percent.
In the face of a serious power shortage in the coming months, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked ministries, sectors and localities to make a comprehensive effort to ensure enough electricity for production in the dry season of 2010.
In his instruction dated April 5, Mr. Dung requested the Ministry of Industry and Trade lead the Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN) and other related units to monitor the supplies of electricity regularly and balance power output between the northern, central and southern power grids. He also told them to consider hydro-meteorological situations in each region to work out the optimal use for power supplies. In addition, the ministry will scrutinize power projects to accelerate their construction.
EVN has been asked to coordinate with units from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the National Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting Centre to effectively use water resources for electricity generation. It will also buy more electricity from independent power plants and from abroad, and try to activate a number of generators in several power plants in the north and central regions.
PM Dung also asked Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PVN) to work with its partners to ensure sufficient gas for electricity production under signed contracts.
As for provinces and centrally-run cities, they have been required to implement measures to save electricity. The Ministry of Information and Communications will launch campaigns to raise public awareness of this issue.
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