Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam could face an electricity shortage of 6.6billion kWh in 2021 and 11.8 billion kWh in 2022. The shortage could increaseto 15 billion kWh in 2023, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade(MoIT).

Phuong Hoang Kim, director of the ministry’s Electricity and Renewable EnergyAuthority, said the reason for the shortage was due to delayed progress in 47out of 62 power projects with capacities of more than 200MW in the VietnamPower Master Plan VII.

It was expected that the electricity sector would still meet the country’spower demand in 2020. However, there would be risks of a shortage if the demandis higher than forecast, poor water flow to hydropower reservoirs or a lack ofcoal and gas for electricity production, Kim said.

In the first half of the year, electricity consumption increased 10 percentfrom the same period last year because of prolonged hot weather.

The power consumption was expected to continue to increase by 10 percent atyear-end.

Currently, power projects have been implemented in three investment modelsincluding those invested by Vietnam Electricity (EVN), the Vietnam National Oiland Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and Vietnam National Coal and Minerals Group(Vinacomin); build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects and independent powerproducer (IPP) projects.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong said the main reason forthe delayed progress was due to capital and contractor issues. Power projectsare often on a big scale with total investment of more than US$2 billion eachand long construction times. Therefore, it was not easy to find capablecontractors. In addition, the removal of the Government guarantee mechanism forpower projects has made it difficult to raise capital.

In addition, it took a long time for BOT projects to negotiate power priceswith EVN to ensure their profits, thus causing delays.

Vuong added that prolonged land clearance and low power tariffs were notattractive enough for investors.

He proposed that the Government should promote the implementation of renewableenergy projects as they take a shorter time to complete.

According to EVN, it took only six months to implement a solar power projectwhile that of a 220kV or 500kV plant was three to five years.

He added that the ministry would consider importing electricity from Laos andChina to resolve the power shortage. However, this would be a temporarysolution. The country should accelerate the progress of large power projects.

Trinh Quoc Vu, deputy director of Energy Saving and Sustainable DevelopmentDepartment said the sector should improve businesses’ awareness to save power.Some of the firms signed a commitment with EVN and the department to save 10 percentof power consumption this year.

Minister Tran Tuan Anh asked EVN and relevant agencies to quickly completeprojects in the Power Master Plan VII while updating regulations to attractinvestment into the sector.

Anh also asked to review regulations on responsibilities of investors ofdelayed projects and localities’ leaders. — VNS/VNA