Capital shortages for electricity infrastructure could also be one of
the reasons why the Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN) has had to increase power
purchase from other sources, including China, in the first seven months of this
year.
The Ministry of Construction has
said that work on many electricity projects of EVN and the Vietnam National Oil
and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) cannot continue due to a capital shortage from
investors, newswire Vnexpress reported.
In the first seven months of this
year, EVN bought 36.78 billion kWh of electricity from outside providers,
accounting for 56.1 percent of the total output, said EVN.
It bought 1.571 billion kWh from
neighboring China, EVN said in its report on business and production
performance in January-July.
In July alone, EVN’s electricity
supply for households and production was sufficiently maintained at a total
10.38 billion kWh, of which, power production was 5.551 billion kWh, accounting
for 53.5 percent.
Cumulatively, in the first seven
months of this year, EVN’s electricity production and purchases were 69.097
billion kWh, rising 11.2 percent over the same period last year.
Specifically, electricity
production was 30.315 billion kWh, making up 43.9 percent of its total output.
According to EVN, as expected,
this month the load of the power system is able to reach up to 348 million kWh
per day, and the largest capacity would range around 19,000-19,300 MW.
Also this month, the group’s
electrical system operation target is to exploit hydropower plants such as Son
La and Hoa Binh to ensure safe operation of the grid.
Well-paid for pricier power
Vietnam is currently buying
electricity from China at the price of 1,300 dong/kWh (6.08 US cents), while
the electricity price from local small hydropower plants is about VND800-900
dong/kWh; coal-fired thermo power plants at VND1,280-1,300 /kWh; and
oil-fuelled power plants at VND5,500-6,000/kWh, said the Ministry of Industry
and Trade in early June.
In 2011, Vietnam bought
electricity from China at the price of 5.8 US cents/kWh.
With the new pricing mechanism,
electricity prices from China are higher than the electricity prices from local
small hydropower plants by VND400-500 /kWh.
Vietnam started buying
electricity from China in 2004, and the annual electricity import volume from
China has reached about five billion kWh.
In the first five months of this
year, Vietnam’s electricity purchase from China was over 1.16 billion kWh,
according to the ministry’s data.
An electricity purchase contract
with China is signed once per five years, and the electricity price is
calculated by Chinese partners.
Earlier, many local small and
medium hydropower companies said that EVN is buying electricity from local
plants at extremely low prices, causing losses and even bankruptcy for local
businesses.
Therefore, in the ministry’s
press conference in May, the ministry’s leader allowed EVN to increase the
electricity buying price by an additional 5 per cent from 2011 for 10 small
hydropower plants with capacity of less than 30 MW.
“Ongoing power projects account
for 40 per cent in planning and 75 per cent of the capacity of the whole
sector”, said the ministry.
A long way for a comprehensive competition
Vietnam aims to follow a
competitive power market model by the end of 2022, said Minister of Industry
and Trade Vu Huy Hoang.
EVN currently holds a monopoly in
electricity transmission and distribution. Other groups such as PetroVietnam,
Vinacomin and Song Da Corporation have joined EVN to generate electricity.
This monopoly affects the
competitiveness of power plants and the motivation for development of the power
sector and the interests of consumers, Hoang said, adding that the government
has introduced a roadmap to abolish the monopoly in the electricity industry.
Vietnam is scheduled to begin
operating a competitive model in electricity generation from July 1 of next
year, after pilot programs are carried out.
Then, the nation seeks to carry
out competitive wholesale and retail electric energy markets by 2014 and 2022,
respectively.
Previously, EVN said that in 2010-2011, it had to buy electricity at
high prices and use oil for electricity production due to increasing demand and
unfavorable weather conditions. This brought a total loss VND11 trillion ($529
million) to EVN.
As of December 31, 2011, EVN’s total audited loss due to forex rate
fluctuations was VND26 trillion ($1.25 billion).
TuoiTre news
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programmes. Many thanks for visiting www.yourvietnamexpert.com and/or contacting us at contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
No comments:
Post a Comment