Vietnam lawmakers raise concerns about power development anamolies

Members of the National Assembly’s (NA) Standing Committee expressed concerns Thursday about energy investors not being able to transmit their output for lack of transmission lines.

While discussing a thematic supervision report on energy development for 2016-2021, NA Vice Chairman Tran Quang Phuong said the report indicated that Vietnam was facing many challenges in ensuring energy security, with increasing energy imports, especially coal, and the "visible" possibility of long-term electricity shortages. The implementation of energy planning, especially renewable energy, has not met requirements, he said.

Timely and synchronous investments have not been made in energy and electricity infrastructure, the establishment of a competitive electricity market remains incomplete and price mechanisms remain unsuitable, he noted.

Phuong further commented that the report was relatively complete, but it needed to further evaluate bottlenecks and problems in managing electricity, coal, gas or gasoline prices; the current status of power development plans; and problems between planning and power transmission that prevent produced electricity from joining the grid.

“Poor planning and problems in power purchase agreements and prices have made a part of businesses and investors dissatisfied and lose confidence. Are there group interests here?" he asked, adding that supervision teams must detect problems and, if any, transfer suspect cases to competent authorities.

Chairman of the NA’s Economic Committee, Vu Hong Thanh, also addressed the problem of transmission inefficiencies. "Who bears the responsibility? Has the preferential feed-in-tariffs (FiTs) mechanism been used fairly and in accordance with the principles? Is there waste or loss of resources?,” he questioned.

NA Vice Chairman Phuong added that the supervision report needs to clearly point out the causes and responsibilities of relevant agencies and localities to propose solutions. "This must be done seriously," he stressed.

The 20-year preferential FiTs are 9.35 U.S. cents per kWh (Decision 11/2017) and 7.09-8.38 U.S. cents per kWh (Decision 13/2020) for solar power projects that became operational by December 31, 2020; and 8.35-9.8 U.S. cents per kWh (Decision 39/2018) for wind power projects that became operational by November 1, 2021.

Expressing dissatisfaction with the report, NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue said it was unclear on many issues and "highly qualitative" (not quantitative enough).“The report does not specifically identify energy projects with a high risk of loss and waste,” he said, adding that “after supervision, there must be practical changes. We need to point out what needs to be focused on.”

Thanh observed that the National Power Development Plan for the 2021-2030 period with a vision to 2050 (PDP VIII) was approved before the National Energy Master Plan for 2021-2030. This means the sub-sector plan has “run ahead” of the overall plan.

The supervision team should evaluate the quality of these plans, he said, adding that it was necessary to approve the overall plan first and then move to sub-sector plans.

To ensure sufficient electricity supply for socio-economic development and energy security, in addition to accelerating power source and grid projects, some members of the NA Standing Committee emphasized the need to consider developing new power sources, such as nuclear power.

“It is necessary to have a strategic orientation for nuclear power development in the coming time, and to restructure each electricity sub-sector to ensure energy security,” Thanh said.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Dac Vinh, Chairman of the National Assembly's Culture and Education Committee, said that amid insufficient electricity supply, drastic energy saving policies should be implemented.

“We need to encourage, support and even force energy saving, towards the use of new technology and solutions to save energy,” he said.