Latest draft of national Power Development Plan VIII up for comments

Renewable energy is expected to account for around 25 per cent of total generation capacity by 2030

In the latest draft, the total installed capacity of the whole power system will come to around 130,370-143,839MW by 2030. Hydropower would account for 17.7-19.5 per cent of the total installed capacity, while coal-fired thermal power will make up 28.3-31.2 per cent, oil and gas-fired thermal power (LNG included) 21.1-22.3 per cent, renewable energy (wind and solar power and biomass) 24.3-25.7 per cent, and imports would account for about 3-4 per cent.

Total power output from production and import by 2030 would be about 551.3-595.4 billion kWh, with 15.4-16.8 per cent to be coming from hydropower, 44-45.5 per cent from coal-fired power, 23-23.8 per cent from oil and gas-fired thermal power, 11.9-13.4 per cent from renewable energy, and 2.9-3.6 per cent from imports.

Earlier in March, the Ministry of Industry and Trade submitted a statement on approving the Power Development Plan (PDP) VIII, but the former government apparatus could not deliver a final decision on it.

The new government has reviewed the draft and according to Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh, it reflects an irrational distribution of power sources among the country’s different regions, leading to power being transmitted from the south to the north at escalating investment cost.

“More prudence is needed with the planning and we cannot rush this legislation to ensure implementation and the best results,” said Thanh.

The PDP VIII is one of Vietnam's major sectoral plans. It aims to ensure that power generation is a step ahead of production to ensure sufficient supply, ensuring national socioeconomic development and people’s demands at optimal cost.

The total investment demand of the power sector is set at $12-13 billion a year in the PDP VIII, meaning a total investment of $320 billion by 2045.

This was calculated based on the target to raise the current generation capacity from 69,258MW in 2020 to 102,193MW by 2025 and 137,662MW by 2030 and then an estimated 276,601MW by 2045.

The power sector’s total capital demand during 2011-2018 was estimated at about VND102 trillion ($4.43 billion) per year.

In the first half of this year, total power output from production and import reached 128.51 billion kWh, up 7.4 per cent on-year. Of which, hydropower reached 30.46 billion kWh, making up 23.7 per cent; coal-fired thermal power was 66.67 billion kWh, or 51.9 per cent; gas turbines contributed 15.66 billion kWh (12.2 per cent); renewable energy 14.69 billion kWh (11.4 per cent); and imported power 624 million kWh (0.5 per cent).