With the high power demand, Anh estimated that the country will need to invest some US$5-7 billion yearly for power to maintain the economic growth rate.According to Anh, Vietnam’s power industry has developed fast and sustainably for the past years, which has helped the country maintain high economic growth rates.
Phu My Power Plant in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau
|
In the World Bank’s Doing Business 2017, Vietnam’s Getting Electricity Index climbed 32 places from 2016 to the 64th among 190 countries and economies. It surpassed the 70th position targeted by the Government.
Vo Quang Lam, Deputy General Director of the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the country’s key energy group, said basing on projections of power supply and demand in 2018, the group believes that the electricity system will be able to ensure sufficient supply for the economy and daily activities if there are no abnormal situations.
The group aims to produce and buy 210.49 billion kWh of electricity this year, up 9.38 percent from 2017, while working to reduce the rate of power loss by 0.27 percent to 7.2 percent. It also plans to raise labor productivity by 8-10 percent from last year.
He said to that end, EVN has asked its subsidiaries to boost the stability and capacity of power generation, especially in thermal power plants in the Vinh Tan and Duyen Hai electricity centers, and ensure fuel for electricity production.
The group will continue carrying out solutions to further facilitate electricity access, implement the “single-window” mechanism between EVN units and state managerial agencies, and improve its staff’s capacity.
To meet the targets, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung asked EVN to restructure power generation sources, replace polluting sources with clean ones and accelerate key investment projects to meet electricity demand in the coming years while saving natural resources and protecting the environment.
Besides the targets, the government has also pledged to ensure power for rural and isolated areas, where 2 percent of households haven’t got power.
Minister Anh said that the national target program on providing electricity for rural, mountainous and island areas during 2016-2020 needs about 1.2 billion EUR, most of which will come from ODA capital source and preferential foreign loans.
Once the program is completed, about 750 villages with about 60,000 households in 23 provinces, an island district and two island communes are expected to access electricity.
To support Vietnam’s energy industry, the European Commission (EC) and the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade on February 27 publicized a component on the EU’s technical assistance to the industry.
The technical assistance is to serve the implementation of a 108 million EUR (US$133 million) program under which the EU will help Vietnam’s rural areas access sustainable energy. The program aims to contribute to building a more sustainable energy sector in Vietnam by promoting the efficiency of clean and renewable energy sources among the public.
The component, co-sponsored by the EU and the German Ministry of Economic Development, will be carried out by the German Development Cooperation Agency (GIZ) in conjunction with the MoIT.
According to Stefano Manservisi, the EC’s Director General for International Cooperation and Development, the program is expected to help the Vietnamese Government fulfill the target of providing electricity for 1.2 million rural households from 2013-2020, while enhancing State management in the energy sector to facilitate the country’s transition towards a more sustainable energy sector.
