Completing new power plant takes up to four years: analyst

Nguyen Anh Tuan, deputy head of the Institute of Energy and Environment, said at a forum Wednesday that the recent power shortages in the north had been warned of several years before, but it typically took three to four years or longer for a power project to be completed.

A representative of a power project developer in central Vietnam said that delays in paperwork, land clearance and mobilizing capital were among the biggest challenges for businesses in building energy projects.

It takes a long time for the government and private companies to negotiate in build-operate-transfer projects, and this has been acknowledged by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in its reports.

Tuan therefore said that ensuring power sufficiency required early planning and execution.

Nguyen Duc Hieu, deputy head of the Central Economic Committee, said that Vietnam’s demand for power was growing fast while supply was low as many projects were delayed.

Breakthroughs in policy are needed to ensure power efficiency and security, as Vietnam has been net importing coal, oil and gas for power production since 2015, he added.

For the last three weeks northern Vietnam has been suffering frequent load shedding as hot weather dries up reservoirs at hydropower plants, while power consumption in May rose 20% from April to 820 million kilowatt-hours a day.

Some thermal power plants are also having technical issues due to non-stop operation.

Hien said that under the Power Development Plan 8 for the 2021-2030 period, new power sources were planned to help the country achieve a GDP growth rate of 7% annually.

The plan includes renewable sources, but Tuan said that to fully utilize these sources a consistent grid development plan was required.