Hydropower burst spurs on EVN

In 2012, the power sector churned out around 117 billion kWh in total, of which 53 billion kWh came from hydropower plants, 21.2 billion kWh from coal-fired thermo-power plants, 40.2 billion kWh from gas-fuelled turbines, 159 million kWh from oil-fuelled thermo-power plants (79 million kWh alone from plants fuelled with FO oil) and 2.7 billion kWh from import, according to EVN’s deputy general director Dinh Quang Tri.

Meanwhile, in light of the power supply and power system operation plan regulated in Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Document 6785/QD-BCT dated December 23, 2011,  total power output generated by local power plants and from import in 2012 would amount to 120.8 billion kWh, up 10.89 per cent against 2011.

Of this amount, 45 billion kWh will come from hydropower plants, 45.7 billion kWh from gas-fuelled thermo-power plants, 24.7 billion kWh from coal-fired thermo-power plants and 506 million kWh from oil-fuelled thermo-power plants (271 million kWh alone from FO-fueled plants) and 4.65 billion kWh from import.

There was a big divergence in actual power output and the production plan with a sharp hike in hydro-power actual output—about eight billion kWh more than projected.

Significantly, hydro-power is the cheapest among diverse power sources, averaging VND507 per kWh (based on the power cost at EVN’s multi-purpose hydropower plants) against the rate VND1,037 per kWh at gas-fuelled thermo-power plant and VND4,692 per kWh at oil-fuelled thermo-power plants, according to Tri.

Soaring hydro-power output and remarkably sliding output from coal-fired, gas-fuelled and oil-fuelled thermo-power plants had contributed to bolstering EVN business efficiency.

Accordingly, in late December 2012, the power sector reportedly posted estimated profits in the range of VND3.5-4 trillion ($166-$190 million).

In 2011, EVN’s accrued losses from power generation fell to VND5.297 trillion ($252 million) instead of an estimated VND11 trillion ($523 million), also thanks to a sharp hike in hydropower output and sliding output from other thermo-power sources.