Vietnam faces power shortage in December

Dec 6, 2007, 4:47 GMT

Hanoi - Vietnam's electricity supply may fall well short of needs in December, due to technical problems at a gas-fired power plant and a shortage of water for hydroelectric dams, an official said Thursday.

The country's electricity consumption is forecast to be 5.95 billion kilowatt hours per day for December, while the total supply, including electricity purchased from China, is only about 5.68 billion kilowatt hours per day, according to Mai Duy Thien of the national power distribution company, Electricity of Vietnam.

'The gas-fired Phu My 3 and Phu My 2.2 plants are having technical problems, and have had to be unplugged from the national power grid,' Thien said.

The Phu My Power Complex in the southern province of Ba Ria Vung Tau operates five plants with a combined capacity of 3,900 megawatts, accounting for some 40 per cent of the national electric generating capacity.

Reservoirs that feed hydroelectric plants are currently storing water for the dry season, which lasts from December to April, while water inflow is very low, especially in northern Vietnam, according to Thien.

Overall, the national power generation system is running some 1,600 megawatts below its designed capacity.

'To ease the power shortage, we will operate thermoelectric plants using fuel oil and diesel oil at peak hours,' Thien said.

Vietnam, the second fastest-growing economy in Asia, often faces power shortages during the dry season.

The country plans to invest up to 16 billion dollars by 2025 to build eight nuclear reactors, with a total capacity of about 8,000 megawatts, to reduce its reliance on hydroelectricity and fossil fuels.

The first nuclear power plant is expected to begin operating in 2020 in central Ninh Thuan province, 400 kilometers northeast of Ho Chi Minh City.