Ban Ve Hydroelectric Reservoir continues to store water, reducing floods downstream

Due to the impact of prolonged heavy rain, a major flood occurred in the upstream of the Ban Ve hydroelectric reservoir basin on August 3. The maximum flood peak flow to the reservoir was 2,700m³/s, appeared at 01:15 on August 6. The total flood volume in the lake as of 7:00 on August 8 was nearly 600 million m³Currently, Ban Ve Lake has almost completely accumulated flood water, contributing to flood reduction downstream.

Flood reduction and cutting for downstream areas caused the water level to rise rapidly from 158.8m (3:00 p.m. on August 3) to 181.1m (7:00 a.m. on August 8).

Mr. Ta Huu Hung - Director of Ban Ve Hydropower Company said: According to the forecast of the North Central Hydrometeorological Station, the flood in Ban Ve reservoir is likely to last longer. The company is closely monitoring the flood situation to have a plan to operate the reservoir to cut and reduce the flood, avoiding damage to people and property of people in the downstream area.

Previously, due to the influence of El Nino, the water flow to Ban Ve reservoir was much lower than the average level of many years; meanwhile, the demand for water supply downstream was very large, so from the beginning of the year, to ensure productivity for the winter-spring crop, the People's Committee of Nghe An province requested Ban Ve hydropower plant to release water 3 times, especially at the end of April, when thousands of hectares of winter-spring rice entered the flowering period and needed to use a large amount of water. Most recently, on June 2, 2023, the People's Committee of Nghe An province continued to direct to serve the water supply for people planting the summer-autumn crop, requesting Ban Ve hydropower plant to supply water with a flow of 200m³/s in the first 8 days of June.

Ban Ve Hydropower Plant is the largest hydropower project in the North Central region, with a capacity of 320 MW. As a multi-purpose project, in addition to the task of supplying electricity to the national economy, the plant also has the responsibility of supplying water to the downstream during the dry season, cutting and reducing floods during the flood season according to the operating procedures of inter-reservoirs in the Ca River basin. After nearly 13 years of operation, Ban Ve Hydropower Plant has connected to the national grid nearly 13 billion kWh, making an important contribution to the task of ensuring energy security for the country, contributing to the State budget up to thousands of billions of VND and contributing significantly to the economic - industrial - tourism development of the Western Nghe An region.