Vietnam coal group to increase supply for thermal power plants

Vietnam’s national mining group Vinacomin will supply almost 18.7 million tons of coal in the second half of this year for thermal power plants in the country to help ease electricity shortages, its CEO Dang Thanh Hai said.

The amount is about 1.2 million tons higher than contracts signed for the period between Vinacomin and coal-fired plants of state utility Vietnam Electricity, or EVN, and other plants. A majority of this increase will go to EVN plants.

He said that per EVN’s request, Vinacomin will provide an additional 10 tons of coal to each contracted EVN plant per month.

At a meeting on Tuesday between EVN and Vietnamese coal suppliers, EVN asked Vinacomin and Northeast Corporation (another leading coal provider) to provide an additional one million tons in the second half. The answer was a pledge of 1.2 million tons, the Vinacomin CEO said.

Hai said his group supplied almost 21 million tons of coal for power plants in Vietnam in the first half of the year, equal to 54.5% of the full-year contracted total, and up 15% year-on-year.

Northern Vietnam has suffered from heat waves which have caused hydropower reservoirs to dry up amid a spike in electricity demand. However, torrential rains over the past few days have helped re-fill the lakes partially, allowing hydropower plants to resume operations on a limited scale.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh earlier last week requested urgent measures to ensure power supplies during this dry season and beyond. In a dispatch, he emphasized that the severe heat and impacts of the El Nino phenomenon have led to a surge in power demand, coupled with drought in the country causing extremely low water levels in hydropower reservoirs, thus affecting electricity supplies.

In a letter sent to EVN last week, port and logistics companies in northern Vietnam's Hai Phong city had cried out for help as the frequency of power blackouts continued to rise amid electricity shortages.