PM requests extensions to 500kV national transmission lines be put into operation next June

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has demanded extentions to the 500kV national transmission lines to be completed and put into operation by June 2024, according to Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien.

The extension lines, once operational, will increase the supply of electricity from the South to the North, he said at a meeting on Saturday.

The 514-kilometer lines, running from Quang Trach district, Quang Binh province in central Vietnam to Pho Noi in the northern province of Hung Yen, will be built at a total cost of VND23 trillion ($973.85 million).

Included in the Power Development Plan VIII (PDP VIII), the project, consisting of four sub-projects, is expected to be put into operation in 2025-2026. However, in order to increase supply and ease power shortages in the North, the prime minister has brought forward the deadline to June 2024, Dien noted.

Minister Dien asked the state utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN) and its subsidiary National Power Transmission Corporation (EVNNPT) to complete the project's documents in July and submit them to competent authorities for approval in August.

"After the project is approved, EVN and EVNNPT will work with localities to accelerate site clearance," Dien said.

Localities the lines run through such as Quang Binh, Thai Binh and Hung Yen need to complete procedures for converting rice and forest land as soon as the project is approved and hand it over as early as possible, he said.

Speaking at the ministry’s conference to review the six-month performance on Friday, EVN general director Tran Dinh Nhan said that the electricity supply in the northern region in the coming period will still face many difficulties, especially in 2024-2025.

He said his group will focus on building the extended 500kV transmission lines from the South and Central to the North and is determined to complete them by May 2025.

Meeting the deadline of June 2024 set by the PM will be a huge challenge, Nhan said, adding that EVN and EVNNPT will mobilize their maximum resources to complete the project on schedule.

In order to ensure the progress, EVNNPT - the project's investor - proposed competent authorities approve the Quang Trach-Pho Noi 500kV transmission lines as an urgent part of the PDP VIII with special mechanisms.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment should verify the project's documents for their investment plans to be approved by the prime minister in July, it said.

Last year, EVNNPT put into operation the Vung Ang-Quang Trach-Doc Soi-Pleiku 2 500 kV transmission line, contributing to supplying 2,200 megawatts of electricity from the South to the North.

Once completed, the extended 500 kV transmission lines are expected to increase the power supply capacity from the South to the North to 5,000 megawatts, it said.