Vietnam likely to face power shortage: PM

A shortage of electricity in the middle and long term is likely to occur in Vietnam, Vietnam News Agency on Tuesday quoted prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc as saying.

The prime minister asked the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), Vietnam's key electricity producer and sole distributor, to ensure the progress of underway power projects, while carrying out new ones and working on projects to develop renewable energy.

He also asked the EVN to push ahead with restructuring to improve its operational efficiency and competitive edge as well as complete the equitization of its three power generation corporations in the 2017-2018 period.

The prime minister pointed to shortcomings such as uneven distribution of electricity in the southern region, economic losses of some fundamental construction projects, and several projects harming local people's living environment.

Regarding the nuclear power project in the central province of Ninh Thuan, he ordered the EVN to arrange the project's human resources appropriately and utilize infrastructure effectively to make up the lost amount of electricity due to the project's halt.

In 2016, the EVN generated and purchased 176.99 billion kWh of electricity, up 10.8 percent against 2015. Commercial electricity reached 159.45 billion kWh, up 11 percent.

At the end of last year, 73 power plants joined the Vietnamese power market, generating 17,929 MW of electricity.

The EVN fetched over 264.6 trillion Vietnamese dong (some 12 billion U.S. dollars) in revenues last year, up 12.9 percent. Enditem