Power capacity rose by 8,000 MW only in the last 10 years

Not attaining the goals set before in the General Map on Electricity Development, the power capacity rose by 8,000 MW only in the last 10 years, causing the prolonged electricity shortage.
From 1996 to now, Vietnam has had two general maps on electricity development, the map for 1996-2000 with the vision to 2010, and the map for 2001-2010 with the vision to 2020, called General Map IV and V

The General Map IV approved by the Prime Minister in 1997 stated that the electricity supply was very tight, and that any delay in power plant construction would certainly lead to power cuts and shortages. Therefore, in the 1996-2010 period, Vietnam planned to have 15,261 more MW of electricity, which would help raise the total capacity of power plants in Vietnam to 19,000 MW, including 9,000 MW of hydropower plants, or 47%, while thermopower and gas turbine-run plants would account for 53% of total capacity.

However, in fact, the total electricity capacity has reached 12,200 MW only, while the usable capacity is 10,200 MW. The electricity capacity was 4,435 MW in 1996, which spells that only 8,000 MW of electricity capacity has been added in the last 10 years.

The problem was in the delay in the implementation of power plant projects

Under the General Map IV, the 300 MW Electricity Generating Unit No 1 of Quang Ninh Thermopower Plant should have been put into operation in 1999-2000, however, the project has not been completed up to now.

The project on 300 MW Dai Ninh Hydropower Plant was initially scheduled to become operational in 2000 or 2002, but the construction of the plant was only started in 2003, and will only become operational in 2008.

The General Map V stated that during 2001-2010, Vietnam needs to upgrade and build 37 power plants with the total capacity of 12,400 MW, including 22 hydropower plants with the capacity of 4,000 MW, eight gas-run thermopower plants (5,200 MW) and seven coal-run thermopower plants (3,200 MW).

With such a development programme, by 2010, the total capacity of power plants in Vietnam is expected to reach 20,500 MW, ensuring the demand for additional power at 16,033 MW. However, as said before, the total capacity is now just at 12,200 MW with no provided capacity.

The expanded Uong Bi thermopower plant, was initially planned to begin operating in 2005, but it is now still in the experimental period. Officials still argue about the location for setting up the 300 MW Ninh Binh thermopower plant, while it was planned to become operational in 2007. The project on the 600 MW Hai Phong thermopower plant, which was previously planned to operate in 2006-2007, remains on paper.

As a lot of power plants have not been built as planned, the only measure to deal with the electricity shortage now is cutting power.

Source: VNE