Not considering restarting 468 hydropower projects that have been removed from the planning

This is the information given by Mr. Hoang Quoc Vuong, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, at the Workshop "Planning small and medium hydropower plants, developing renewable energy: Safety - Efficiency - Sustainability".

Mr. Hoang Quoc Vuong said that Vietnam is a country with great potential for hydropower development. According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the total installed capacity has reached 35,000 MW and the average annual electricity output is about 300 billion kWh. However, when reviewing many aspects, 468 small and medium hydropower projects have been removed from the planning. Restarting these hydropower projects has not been considered because the Ministry of Industry and Trade has been very serious when making this decision.

“Currently, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has not yet reviewed 468 small and medium hydropower projects. This decision is based on full and serious research,” said Mr. Hoang Quoc Vuong.

Mr. Tran Dinh Thien, Director of the Vietnam Economic Institute, said that it is entirely possible to supplement and continue to implement small and medium hydropower projects. However, the prerequisite is to change policies, mechanisms, and solutions to ensure long-term benefits. Developing small and medium hydropower projects to take advantage of resources and also reduce the construction of new coal-fired thermal power plants, when Vietnam has to import coal and thermal power, causing many impacts on the environment.

“The potential of small and medium hydropower in Vietnam is still large and can be exploited if solutions are changed. For example, the policy mechanism does not follow the short term, doing projects to profit from forest land resources,... ensuring safety for the people and the environment. Restoration is not in the old way, a movement but according to a new strategy, new thinking” - Mr. Tran Dinh Thien commented.

Regarding the development of renewable energy such as wind power or solar power, Mr. Tran Dinh Thien said that policies and mechanisms are playing a very important role. What needs to be concerned is not to attract foreign investment arbitrarily and must aim for high technology. Strive to produce energy production equipment (such as solar panels) instead of just importing.

According to the plan, up to now, the country has 824 hydropower projects, with a total capacity of 24,778 MW, reaching 95.5% of the economic potential. Of these, 343 projects have been put into operation (capacity of 17,987 MW), 165 projects are under construction (capacity of 3,348 MW), 260 new projects are being studied for investment (capacity of 3,050 MW), the remaining 56 projects (capacity of 393.5 MW) have no investment policy.

For small hydropower projects with capacity ranging from 1 - 30 MW, the whole country has 714 projects (capacity 7,238 MW) in the planning, of which 270 projects (2,767.7 MW) are in operation, 141 projects (1,739 MW) are under construction, 250 projects (2,466 MW) are being studied for investment, and the remaining 53 projects (265.5 MW) have no investment policy. After review, 468 projects were eliminated due to not ensuring investment efficiency and negative impacts on the environment.

According to Young Knowledge