Proposing the government to eliminate 324 small hydropower projects
According to the report, in addition to 64 small hydropower projects with a total capacity of 226.2 MW that have been unanimously eliminated by the provinces, the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed that the Prime Minister direct the elimination of an additional 260 small hydropower projects with a total capacity of 434 MW and three potential locations (mostly with a capacity of less than 3 MW) that have not had investors registered since the planning approval or have been studied for investment but with low efficiency...
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This result is based on reports from 13 provinces out of 37 provinces with hydropower projects nationwide. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, from December 2009 to now, the Ministry has coordinated with the People's Committees of relevant provinces to review, evaluate the planning and investment in the construction of hydropower projects nationwide.
In particular, the Ministry has requested to eliminate (or study and reasonably adjust the scale of) low-efficiency, small-scale projects that have no interested investors, have negative impacts on the environment and society, affect other planning, and are inconvenient in terms of traffic and electricity connection.
On that basis, the People's Committees of the provinces agreed to remove from the planning 117 hydropower projects with a total capacity of 617.65 MW; not to consider adding to the planning 156 locations identified through planning research, with the potential to exploit about 335 MW. Thus, compared with the planning review results reported by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to the Prime Minister in Document No. 4638/BCT-TCNL dated May 31, 2012, the provinces agreed to remove an additional 64 small hydropower projects, with a total capacity of 226.2 MW.
In addition to the projects that have been unanimously removed from the above planning by the provinces, the whole country currently has a total of 1,110 hydropower projects with a total installed capacity of about 25,291.3 MW, including projects that were built before the master plan was established. Of these, 239 projects have been put into operation to generate electricity; 217 projects are under construction and expected to be put into operation to generate electricity from now until 2017; at the same time, 294 projects are being studied for investment to operate to generate electricity in the period 2015-2020; the remaining 360 projects (total capacity of 1,482 MW) have not yet had investors registered or have not yet been assigned for investment research. These projects are mostly small-scale, low-efficiency, and not convenient in terms of transportation and power connection...
Regarding the hydropower cascade planning on major rivers, the country has also put into operation 49 projects with a total installed capacity of 11,600 MW and a total flood prevention capacity of 9.25 billion m3; at the same time generating electricity from 190 small hydropower projects (total capacity of 1,466.3 MW).
The Ministry of Industry and Trade said that investing in the exploitation of small hydropower projects, in addition to the project investor's capital for construction, also requires state capital to invest in the construction of power grid works (power lines and transformer stations) to collect and transmit the capacity of these plants.
Meanwhile, small hydropower projects are scattered, mainly in areas with difficult and especially difficult socio-economic conditions, with limited transport infrastructure and power grids; low local load demand, so power must be transmitted over long distances, causing great losses and reducing investment efficiency. With reservoirs that can only regulate day and night or not regulate, small hydropower plants also depend heavily on the natural flow of rivers and streams, so the quality of power supply in the dry season is unstable.
Currently, many small hydropower projects are being invested or are preparing for investment but have had to be suspended or delayed due to difficulties in capital sources. Meanwhile, state capital for investment in grid construction is also limited. Many projects have not been completed or have not been studied for investment, so the authorities do not have enough information on efficiency, environmental and social impacts... to consider and evaluate.
Therefore, to ensure effective investment in the construction of hydropower projects, protect the natural and social environment, and be consistent with the current electricity load growth of only about 10%/year, the Ministry of Industry and Trade recommends that the Prime Minister direct the provinces to temporarily suspend and only consider allowing investment in construction after 2015 for 102 small hydropower projects with a total capacity of 662.8 MW.
Based on the implementation of projects and reports of the provincial People's Committees, the Ministry of Industry and Trade also recommended that the Prime Minister consider directing the provincial People's Committees to continue to coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and relevant agencies to review and evaluate in order to promptly make reasonable adjustments or withdraw and remove from the planning hydropower projects that have been and are being studied for investment but have not yet started construction, have a large negative impact on the environment and society, are ineffective, and affect other planning...
These are 186 small hydropower projects with a total capacity of 1,665.8 MW and 11 hydropower projects with a total capacity of 760 MW under the Hydropower Ladder Plan./.
According to VNA-M
