Power production over the period 1990-2001 increased 3.5 fold compared to the annual average growth rate of 12.85%, notably over the period 1994-1996 the annual average growth rate reached almost 17% compared to the GDP average growth rate of 9%. Particularly in 2001 GDP growth rate receded to 4.8% despite the fact that power production grew at 15.1%. Regarding the power production mix, the hydropower production, which regularly had a high proportion of over 70% from 1990 to 1996, has gradually decreased to 51% in 1998 and slightly increased to 59.5% in 2001 thanks to redundant water and better monitoring. Gas-fired power production, particularly natural gas-fired power-production, kept rising continuously and reached nearly 23% in 1998. In 2001, due to high hydropower production, the proportion of gas-fired and diesel-fired power dropped to 19.4%.
- Situation of power grid development
Up to the end of 2001 the national power grid has been installed in all provinces, almost 97.6% of districts and 84.9% of communes nationwide. There are four voltage levels in Vietnam’s power transmission system, namely 66 kV, 220 kV and 500 kV.
By and large, the transmission and distribution power grid has yet to develop synchronously with power sources and yet to meet the demand of additional charge growth due to limited investment, incomplete procedures, and slow implementation. For that reason, the power grid was overloaded in many regions, bringing about power loss and reduction of power quality and electricity blackouts.
Total volume of the national power grid:
Anticipation of energy consumption from now till 2020 (base scenario)
Development Plan for the Power Sector till 2020
- Source Development (base scenario)
Source Development Plan for the period 2000-2020 with a view to meeting the demand of approximately 26 billion kWh in 2000, 201 billion kWh in 2020 is identified as follows: total capacity of newly built plants will be around 35,000 MW, of which more thermal 11,300 MW is hydropower, thermal power (combined cycle and conventional thermal power) will be about 11,000 MW, coal-fired thermal power 6,100 MW, geothermal power 100 MW, power trading with neighboring countries about 4,000 MW, nuclear power 2,000 MW.
With this plan, by 2020 the total installed capacity of power plants is projected to be nearly 41,000 MW which hydropower accounting for 36.4%, gas-fired thermal power 33.0% coal-fired thermal power, 16.2%, imported power 9.6%, nuclear and geothermal power 4.8%.
In power production mix in 2020, hydropower accounts for 28.1%, gas-fired thermopower 39.2%, coal-fired thermal power 17.7%, imported power 8.2%, and nuclear and geothermal power, 6.8%. The total demand of primary fuels for power production in 2020 is projected to reach nearly 27.4 million TOE.
- Power Grid Development
- Power Development Plan in Rural Areas
By the end of 1999, the national power network system has been expanded to all 61 provinces and centers, specifically:
- 491 out of 503 districts, equivalent to 97.6% (12 mainland districts and 9 island districts have yet to connect with the national network; however, they already had a local or small hydropower station);
- 7,584 out of 8,939 communes, equivalent to 84.9%;
- 9,910,000 out of the total number of 12,841,000 rural households, equivalent to 77.4%.
By the end of 2000, power gird is projected to be installed in all provinces and districts nationwide and towards the target of 78% of communes and 60% of rural households having electricity for living and working. The number of rural households using electricity is projected to increase from 8.9 million households in 1999 (equivalent to 69.7%) to 13.73 million ones in 2010 (equivalent to 90%).
Power Trade and Interconnection
As for Vietnam, power interconnection with the region, particularly with the countries in Mekong river delta, will bring about benefits, firstly in the reduction of capital invested in building new sources of energy. Moreover, as the seasonal flow of Mekong river is relatively even, Vietnam will be able to import power from hydropower projects locating other upstream countries during dry season. Moreover, because the interconnection system with countries having high proportion of thermal power such as Thailand is already set up, in rainy season Vietnam will be able to export hydropower to Thailand, thereby increasing the efficiency of domestic hydropower sector.
Vietnam is taking part in several regional projects to conduct a study on a feasible region gird interconnection. On a larger regional scale, the Trans-ASEAN Power Grid Project and Trans-ASEAN Pipeline Project are being considered by the ASEAN member countries, namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Another project under study id the power grid interconnection in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) to set up a unified network in the region.
Recently, Vietnam has signed Agreements on Co-Operation in Power with Laos and Cambodia. Following these Agreements, Vietnam will import about 2,000 MW of electricity from Laos, which has abundant hydropower resources under development, and will export electricity to Cambodia (Vietnam will supply electricity at medium voltage to some communities, districts or/and towns of Cambodia close to the Cambodian-Vietnam border. For high voltage supply, Vietnam shall supply Cambodia with up to 80 MW of electric power from 2003 and up to 200 MW from 2005 onwards.)
