Vietnam has planned to spend roughly US$160 million purchasing 3.5 billion kWh of electricity this year from China, local newspaper Vietnam News reported Monday.

The Electricity Vietnam (EVN), the country's biggest electricity producer and sole distributor, will have to pay 4.5 US cents for each imported kWh of electricity, and resell it to local consumers with price of 5.6-11 cents, said EVN deputy general director Nguyen Manh Hung.

The state-owned EVN, which bought 2.67 billion KWh of electricity from China's Yunnan Province in 2007, is building 45 power plants with total capacity of 14,589 MW. The plants, mostly thermoelectric ones, are expected to come into operation in 2010.

The EVN is expected to increase its output by around 15 percent this year, while local demand is estimated to rise by 17-18 percent. In some provinces, the electricity demand increased 40 percent in the first quarter of this year.

(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2008)