Vietnam: EVN asked to keep key role in national electricity supply

Vietnam: EVN asked to keep key role in national electricity supply

The Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) should continue promoting its key role as a
State-run company in national power supply, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc
said at a conference in Hanoi on January 3.

For that goal, the group needs to ensure the progress of underway power
projects, while carrying out new ones and working on projects to develop
renewable energy. It should work out mechanisms to encourage all economic
sectors to produce electricity and fine-tune financial mechanism, the PM
said.

The PM asked the group to push ahead with restructuring to improve its
operational efficiency and competitive edge as well as complete the
equitisation of its three power generation corporations in 2017-2018.

The EVN will keep operating six strategic, multi-target plants and relevant
ones, whilst equitising the retail and service sections, he directed. The
Government leader requested the EVN to strengthen management, especially
financial administration, to prevent corruption in equitisation and
investment stages.

He reminded the group to focus on environmental protection and not to
produce electricity at all cost.

Regarding the nuclear power project in the central province of Ninh Thuan,
PM Phuc ordered the EVN to arrange the project's human resources
appropriately and utilise infrastructure effectively to make up the lost
amount of electricity due to the project's halt.

He pointed to shortcomings such as uneven distribution of electricity in the
southern region, economic losses of some fundamental construction projects,
and several projects harming local people's living environment. A shortage
of electricity in the middle and long term is likely to occur, he worried,
adding that the EVN should work out measures to meet the country's
development targets such as economic growth of 6.5-7 percent, one million
businesses by 2020, and export surge of 8-10 percent.

The EVN needs to step up administrative reform and directly help the country
enter the leading group of competitiveness in ASEAN, he said, noting that
Vietnam is ranked sixth in ASEAN in the index of electricity access.

In 2016, the EVN generated and purchased 176.99 billion kWh of electricity,
a yearly increase of 10.8 percent. Commercial electricity reached 159.45
billion kWh, a year-on-year rise of 11 percent, surpassing the annual target
by 350 million kWh.

The group coordinated with the irrigation sector to provide over 3 billion
cubic meters of water for the 2015-2016 winter-spring crops in the northern
delta while ensuring sufficient water for drought-hit areas in the central
and Central Highland regions.

At the end of 2016, 73 power plants joined the power market, generating
17,929 MW of electricity.

The EVN fetched over 264.6 trillion VND (over 13 billion USD) in revenues
last year, up 12.9 percent against 2015.

The group also put into operation the Lai Chau hydropower project in the
northern province of Lai Chau in 2016, one year earlier than scheduled,
saving 5 trillion VND and ensuring electricity for flood-hit localities.

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com