Lacking electricity, rushing to build hydropower plants

16:20' 18/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – Lack of electricity has become the chronic problem of the national economy, which has also prompted investors to jump into the power sector.
According to the Lao Cai People’s Committee, there are 21 hydropower plants now under construction in the northern mountainous province which will have the total capacity of 465MW once operational, capitalised at VND8tril.
In the short period of 2002-2007, big corporations, including the Vietnam Construction Import-Export Corporation (Vinaconex), Song Da Construction Corporation, Electricity of Vietnam, went to Lao Cai to initiate hydropower plants Ngoi Phat (72 MW), Minh Luong (23MW), Seo Choong Ho in Sa Pa district (22 MW).
Most recently, the construction of Nam Pung Hydropower Plant on an area of 31.8 ha in Bat Xat district also kicked off. The plant, which has the total investment capital of VND134bil, is expected to have the capacity of 108.4 MW once operational.
The movement of building hydropower plants in the central region and Central Highlands has also been growing rapidly in recent years. Quang Nam province alone has 57 power plant projects, including 46 ones kicked off in 2006.
Dak Nong province, which has plentiful water resources, is also planning to build 64 hydropower plants from 2004 to 2010 which it hopes will connect to the national grid.
An official of the Energy Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that Vietnam was striving to use hydropower effectively together with gas and coal to ensure electricity for socio-economic development.
The wide-scale construction of hydropower plants has been supported by management agencies and applauded by people as they are believed will help ease electricity shortages. However, experts say that hydropower plants are not the best solution in all cases.
Nguyen Quoc An, Assistant to the Chairman of the Vietnam Energy Association, said that in fact, the capacity of small hydropower plants is very low, just ‘grains of salt in the sea’.
An said that hydropower plants only run well during the rainy season, when the demand for electricity is not high. Meanwhile, in the dry season, when the electricity demand increases, the plants do not have enough water to run at full capacity.
He added that injecting money in small hydropower plants proves to be not the optimum solution.
In the past, Vietnam focused on building big hydropower plants, but now, as there are no more big water sources for big hydropower plants, investors have turned to building small hydropower plants. However, as said above, the small capacity of the plants cannot help settle the electricity shortage, while they require heavy investment.
An said that investors and local authorities should consider other types of energy sources, including wind, solar and other kinds of energy. If investors can make power with these types of energy sources, they will have sustainable and long-term power.
There is another worry about the construction of a massive number of hydropower plants, that the plants will badly affect agriculture. In principle, hydropower plants have big impacts on natural conditions, as they change the flow of rivers.