Serious power shortage could cripple Vietnam

Vietnam's looming power shortage is expected to worsen despite a drop in demand.

Nguyen Anh Tuan of the Institute of Energy said the shortage would continue despite an annual increase in demand of only 13.7% instead of the forecast 16% to 17%, due to the worsening recession.

He believes the shortage will be most serious in the south by 2015 where demand will increase the most but will not be met because of the absence of new power sources.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said 2,900MW was added to national grid iun 2011, of which plants in the south contributed only 650MW. Viet Nam imported about 1,000MW or 5 billion kWh from China, accounting for 32% to 4% of domestic power production.

Vietnam intends to import more electricity through its investment in several power plants in Lao and Cambodia, but the construction of these power plants is behind schedule, Tuan said.

The installation of power lines and transformer stations for the electricity grid is being delayed by bottlenecks in finance and difficulties in land acquisition and compensation for residents.

"To improve the situation by 2020, nuclear electricity will have to contribute 2%" said Tuan. "Otherwise, we must increase renewable energy supply from 3.2% to 5%."