65 years ago, on May 4, 1959, Vinh Power Plant was officially inaugurated after 2 years of construction on the land of SIFA Power Plant (France) - Ben Thuy with the help of Soviet experts, with the plant's construction items having a capacity of 8,000 kW.
Vinh Power Plant – the first child of the socialist Vietnamese industry – was one of the first training centers for the Vietnamese Electricity industry. The plant went into operation, producing electricity to serve the development of industry, agriculture, national defense and the lives of the people of Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces. Marking this important event, Nhan Dan Newspaper on May 4, 1959 wrote:“The Vinh Power Plant was built, bringing light to the entire city, the Vinh - Ben Thuy wharf after 9-10 years of war was more bustling than before, the Vinh Power Plant initially made an important contribution to the economic recovery in Nghe An. The plant provided electricity for local industry and agriculture, thanks to electricity, more than 17,000 hectares of rice fields in the Southwest of Nghe An had irrigation water, electricity was also provided to mills, water plants, bricks, cement, construction works, cooperatives, mechanical corporations, agencies and people in the town with enough light, electricity also served the radio station, theaters, cinemas, hospitals…”.
At the construction site, Vinh Power Plant was honored to welcome beloved Uncle Ho to visit. Meeting and talking with cadres and workers on June 15, 1957, Uncle Ho advised:“You are assigned to manage this precious asset. Please try your best and do not let poverty and backwardness return to our Soviet homeland of Nghe Tinh.”
Over the past 65 years, generations of employees of Nghe An Power Company have strived to follow Uncle Ho's teachings. Uncle Ho's advice and affection for employees of Vinh Power Plant that year are always engraved in our hearts, a guiding compass that urges each person to overcome countless difficulties and hardships to build and develop Nghe An Power Company today.
The period from 1965 to 1975 is considered the most glorious and heroic history of Vinh Power Plant. During the 10 years of resistance against the US, Vinh Power Plant became a bomb bag for the US enemy to drop, a target of destruction by the US Air Force.
With the slogan of action "The Fatherland needs electricity as the body needs blood", all employees of the factory did not hesitate to sacrifice, bravely and steadfastly stuck to the furnace and the machine, bravely fought, creatively produced, overcame all dangers, maintained the power source for production and combat. Also during this period, many initiatives were promoted, production was organized, technical improvements were made suitable for wartime, the construction and installation of Diesel Stations were expanded, the 3/2 Thermal Power Plant was built... The factory was destroyed and restored 26 times through hardships, difficulties, sacrifices, and losses. But“The enemy attacks, we recover; the enemy attacks again, we recover again”; “The main chimney collapses, we make a corrugated iron chimney; the corrugated iron chimney collapses, we make an underground smoke tunnel to blind the enemy”; “We hold on steadfastly, vowing to die for the current to survive”.
In those days, the people of the Red City always looked to the factory with faith and hope that the factory was still operating. It truly became the faith and pride of the Electricians in Uncle Ho's homeland, worthy of the flag embroidered with 12 golden words "bravely fight, creatively work, gloriously win" awarded by the Nghe An Trade Union Federation. Also during this fierce war period, 14 cadres and workers of Vinh Power Plant heroically sacrificed their lives while still holding their working tools, the blood of the martyrs has colored the golden history of Vinh Power Plant, to"The electricity never turns off in the Soviet homeland of Nghe Tinh".
By April 30, 1975, the Spring General Offensive had won, the South was completely liberated, and the country was unified. Vinh Power Plant began to enter a period of restoration and development. The plant was gradually restored, more Diesel machines were installed, and Thermal Power Plant 3/2 was dismantled and brought back to Ben Thuy.
On February 8, 1983, Vinh Power Plant was first connected to the national grid. This was also a period of tension in power sources, a period of extremely difficult electricity production because the power source could not meet the development requirements of production and life.
On August 13, 1984, the history of Dien Vinh turned a new page, Vinh Power Plant was renamed Nghe Tinh Power Department. Along with the name change, the structure, tasks and functions also changed. From here, in addition to the tasks of producing electricity to serve politics, it now has the additional task of selling electricity, and at the same time, it also has the function of performing state management of electricity in the area to ensure the supply and use of electricity in accordance with the law.
Nghe Tinh Electricity Department has expanded the construction and development of medium and low voltage grid systems to directly serve consumers in the area. Electricity Branches have been established to manage the grid according to planned areas to ensure stable power supply for customers and convenient business operations.
By October 1985, after many ups and downs, Ben Thuy Thermal Power Plant officially stopped operating due to the increase in power sources in the North. From producing electricity for political purposes, it now switched to receiving electricity from the grid for electricity sales. After nearly 30 years of operation, Vinh Power Plant has completed its glorious historical mission, being a historical witness of a production unit whose name has entered the history of the nation and the Vietnamese Electricity industry.
The factory was recognized by the Party and State as a Heroic Unit in early 1967 at the Congress of Heroes and Emulation Fighters against the US to save the country, awarded the title of Labor Hero to two comrades Huynh Ngoc Du and Truong Quang Tham and more than 30 medals of various types to outstanding collectives and individuals. There were 5 comrades who were cadres and employees of the factory who were elected to the National Assembly through the terms.
To praise those achievements, Vietnam Documentary Film Studio has built a film“The current never stops.”In particular, during its operation, the Factory has been honored to welcome Party and Government leaders many times, such as Uncle Ho, General Vo Nguyen Giap, Vice President Ton Duc Thang, Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Nghi, Deputy Prime Minister Do Muoi, etc.
On September 30, 1991, Nghe Tinh Electricity Department was divided into two administrative management units, after separation they were called Nghe An Electricity Department and Ha Tinh Electricity Department. At that time, Nghe An Electricity Department managed more than 2,400 km of high voltage lines, 21 intermediate and distribution transformer stations, nearly 1,400 transformer stations with a total capacity of more than 531 thousand kVA. Investment in basic construction was increased at a rapid pace, with an average of more than 80 voltage stations of all kinds put into operation each year, nearly 200 km of lines, and a rapidly developing power grid system extending to complex areas.
By January 1996, all 19/19 districts, cities and towns in Nghe An province had access to the national grid, the last 4 mountainous districts of the province, Tuong Duong, Ky Son, Quy Chau and Que Phong, all had access to the grid. Also in 1996, Nghe An Electricity Department was renamed Nghe An Electricity, gradually implementing innovation in production and business.
With the contributions of the Factory throughout the heroic historical period of the nation, in 2007, the Ministry of Culture and Information issued a decision to rank the Vinh Power Plant historical site as a National Monument, this is a historical evidence of the anti-American resistance period, a symbol of Vietnamese revolutionary heroism in the Ho Chi Minh era, a testament to the most heroic and glorious history of electricians in the heroic Soviet homeland. Aware of the value and historical significance of the Factory, throughout the past time, Nghe An Power Company has always paid attention to protecting this historical site.
In addition to keeping a part of the former Factory's premises intact, the Company also preserved, renovated and repaired some items on the old grounds of the Factory such as the chimney, the Soviet Union's (former) furnace production control center, the D6 tunnel system in Dung Quyet mountain and many artifacts kept in the Traditional Room. Every June 4, the Company and the Retired Liaison Committee hold an incense offering ceremony to commemorate the martyrs who heroically sacrificed for the never-ending electricity in the Soviet homeland.
The year 2010 marked a new milestone in the history of the company's formation and development. On April 14, 2010, Vietnam Electricity Group decided to change the name of Nghe An Electricity to Nghe An Electricity Company under the Northern Power Corporation, and the Electricity Branches to Electricity. The model conversion marked a major step forward for the Company in line with the development trend of the country. The work of arranging the organizational structure to perfect the management apparatus has achieved many important steps forward, streamlining, compactness, professionalism, and efficiency with the desire to satisfy all customers.
This is also the stage where the company implements major target programs assigned by the Party, the Government and Nghe An province, which is to take over the entire rural low-voltage grid, directly sell electricity to households, ensure that people enjoy electricity prices according to the Government's regulations, and complete the program of bringing electricity to 100% of communes in Nghe An province. By the end of 2018, the company has basically completed the takeover of the rural low-voltage grid, selling electricity directly to customers in Nghe An province.
Nghe An Electricity Company has continued to invest in power source projects, develop transmission and distribution grids with hundreds of billions of VND to supply electricity for the development of economic zones, industrial parks, industrial factories such as Nam Cam, Hoang Mai, Dong Hoi, VSIP, etc. with a mechanism of selling electricity directly to each customer in the industrial park and ensuring stable electricity supply, creating favorable conditions for businesses to expand production, attracting many investment projects contributing significantly to the socio-economic development of the province.
By 2024, bring electricity to all villages and hamlets without national grid, serving people's lives.
In recognition of its contributions to the country's construction and development, in 2019, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of its tradition, Nghe An Power Company was honored to receive the Second Class Labor Medal from the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The important changes of Nghe An Electricity Company up to today are still marked in many areas of operation.
Currently, with a total of 1,431 employees, including 424 female employees (accounting for 29.6%), Nghe An Electricity Company is managing and operating 29 110 kV transformer stations with a total capacity of 1,924 MVA, 33 intermediate stations with a total capacity of 193 MVA, 7,447 distribution stations with a total capacity of 2,727 MVA, managing nearly 1,000 km of 110 kV lines, more than 24,000 km of Medium and Low voltage lines, with annual commercial electricity of more than 4,613 million kWh, annual revenue of nearly 9 trillion VND, selling electricity directly to more than 1.073 million customers.
Every year, the Company has also made efforts to seek different sources of capital to invest in upgrading and renovating the power grid system, limiting incidents, maintaining reasonable operating methods, improving power quality and reliability of power supply, meeting the socio-economic development needs of the province, successfully completing all planned targets assigned by the Northern Power Corporation, ensuring continuous, safe and stable power supply, with increasingly high quality services; reducing power loss, increasing average selling price, increasing revenue, etc.
With the motto of taking customers as the center, in recent years, Nghe An Electricity Company has been implementing many comprehensive solutions applying scientific and technological advances, promoting digital enterprises, successfully building a diverse and modern customer care system, solutions to improve the quality of convenient customer service and quickly satisfy the needs of users.
From the policies of Vietnam Electricity Group and Northern Power Corporation, Nghe An Power Company has turned into actions with positive changes in communication relations, creating an equal cooperative relationship with customers according to the motto“Innovation – Professionalism – Action – Efficiency”, further improve customer satisfaction index.
During that journey, all officers and employees of the Company have constantly innovated and reformed to reach higher goals, meeting the requirements of economic development of the homeland and the country in the spirit of creation. Synchronously implementing many meaningful and practical activities in social security work, customer gratitude, contributing to hunger eradication and poverty reduction, building new rural areas, ensuring labor safety, promoting the implementation of corporate culture, learning culture, 5S, promoting electricity saving, practicing thrift, fighting waste...
Projects to bring electricity to remote, mountainous, border and island areas and power projects serving industrial parks and key economic zones have truly lit up the confidence of people and businesses in Nghe An province.
In the upcoming journey, although there are still many difficulties and challenges, the staff of Nghe An Power Company will continue to maintain and promote the existing achievements, strive to fulfill all political tasks, maintain the role of ensuring safe and quality electricity supply, serving the socio-economic development and people's lives in the beloved homeland of Uncle Ho; build the unit to develop more and more sustainably, contributing to the common cause of the Corporation as well as the Vietnam Electricity industry./.