Nghe An province intensifies efforts to address violations of power grid safety corridors.
The power grid safety corridor is a safe distance to protect power grid infrastructure and people's residential buildings. Although the number of violations has decreased, violations of the power grid safety corridor still occur in the province, requiring more decisive solutions.
Violations of power line corridors continue.
Anh Son Power Company currently manages and operates over 300km of 35kV medium-voltage lines, nearly 700km of low-voltage lines, and 200 distribution substations, serving nearly 40,000 electricity customers. In previous years, there were many instances of trees encroaching on the power line corridor, leading to widespread power outages due to trees colliding with power lines, especially during rainy and stormy seasons. For example, in Veu village, Phuc Son commune, the 373E15.4 power line section passing through Lang Son, Hoa Son, and Tho Son communes affected the daily lives of the people and impacted local security and economy.
Through various solutions such as public awareness campaigns to encourage people to cooperate with political and social organizations in the area to clear power line corridors, prune trees, and encourage people not to plant trees under or near power line corridors, and to switch from planting perennial trees such as acacia, bamboo, mahogany, etc., to short-term crops such as tea, cassava, sugarcane, and corn; the number of incidents has significantly decreased, making it one of the units with the fewest incidents in the entire Nghe An Power Company.
Mr. Ngo The Lu, Director of Anh Son Power Company, stated: "Previously, there were 33 locations where houses, buildings, and structures violated the safety corridor of the power grid, leading to unfortunate accidents involving people, equipment, and power grid failures in the area. In recent years, the power sector has implemented various solutions, prioritizing funding to realign power lines, increase phase-to-ground clearance, replace bare wires with insulated wires, and address violations of the power grid corridor in areas such as Dinh Son, Cam Son, and Phuc Son, contributing to the stability of the power grid and ensuring a safe and stable power supply in the area."
Nghe An currently manages and operates a 110kV power grid with nearly 884km of lines; the medium-voltage power grid has a length of over 7,129km with 167 lines. Compared to previous years, the number of violations of the power line corridor has decreased. However, there are still some violations of the high-voltage power line safety corridor.
The main violations include constructing houses and structures that encroach upon the safety corridor of high-voltage power lines; dumping soil and rocks, stockpiling materials, and leveling the ground, reducing the phase-to-ground distance compared to the original design of the power line, thus compromising the safety of the line. In addition, the use of mechanical equipment for construction under power lines violates the safe distance for electrical discharge, threatening the risk of accidents to people and power grid failures...
Furthermore, there is the issue of people replanting trees in or near the power line safety corridor after receiving compensation for land expropriation; switching from short-term crops with low height (sugarcane, fruit trees, etc.) and low economic efficiency to tall trees (acacia, eucalyptus, etc.), which risk touching power lines, causing incidents and safety hazards. Then there are the continued occurrences of people catching birds at power substations and poles; fishing, flying kites, cutting trees, and digging near high-voltage power lines, leading to potential accidents.
Surveys show that violations of power line safety corridors still exist in localities, especially in mountainous districts. According to annual statistics, the percentage of incidents caused by trees encroaching on high-voltage power line safety corridors accounts for over 35% of the total number of incidents. Among these, power lines with a high percentage of incidents due to trees encroaching on the corridor are in districts such as: Que Phong, Quy Chau, Quy Hop, Nghia Dan, Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Con Cuong, Anh Son, Tan Ky, and Thanh Chuong.
Strengthen enforcement against violations.
The violations are caused by people arbitrarily exploiting trees near high-voltage power lines. In some localities, land allocation and construction permits for residential buildings do not deduct the safety corridor for power lines or do not impose conditions to restrict land use and the space between power lines and buildings. In many places, land leveling for road infrastructure projects has altered (reduced) the safe distance between power lines and the ground compared to the original design...
Reportedly, since the beginning of the year, the electricity sector has focused on addressing violations of the high-voltage power grid safety corridor.
Regarding the reduction of structures and houses violating the safety corridor and failing to meet phase-to-ground clearance requirements: 4 out of 10 structures and houses violating the high-voltage power grid safety corridor have been addressed, and 2 out of 5 violations of phase-to-ground clearance have been resolved (data on violations as of the beginning of 2024). For the remaining violations, the Company's subordinate units have developed plans for handling them and are continuing to implement them according to the Company's assigned targets for reducing violations in 2024.
Regarding the clearing of corridors and the reduction of trees encroaching on power grid safety corridors, as of October 31, 2024, the company's subordinate units had cleared 758.1 km/600 km, achieving 126.4% of the plan for trees inside and outside power grid safety corridors.
As of October 31, 2024, the company's subordinate units had dealt with 29 out of 35 illegal tree planting sites (35 sites since the beginning of 2024). Six illegal tree planting sites remain: in Quy Hop (4 sites); Quy Chau (1 site); and Nghia Dan (1 site). The company's subordinate units are continuing to coordinate with local authorities to address these remaining illegal sites.
Under the decisive direction of the Steering Committee and the Standing Committee of the Nghe An Provincial Power Development Steering Committee, the work of protecting the safety of high-voltage power line corridors and ensuring safe and reliable electricity supply to serve socio-economic development, production, and daily life of people and businesses in districts, towns, and cities throughout the province has been carried out. Local authorities at all levels in the province and media agencies have coordinated with the power sector in disseminating information and handling and preventing violations of the corridor. This has received the support and agreement of some people, leading to the handling of some violations.
However, some localities have not been decisive in imposing administrative penalties on cases of deliberate violations, leading to people still planting trees in power line corridors, resulting in potential risks of power grid failures and electrical accidents for the public. Many households have not voluntarily converted or trimmed trees inside and outside the corridors where high-voltage power lines pass through; they do not cooperate, causing difficulties and hindering the power sector in clearing vegetation in power line corridors.
To effectively implement the management of power line safety corridors, contributing to reducing incidents, ensuring human safety, and providing stable electricity supply, Mr. Le Quang Thanh – Deputy Director of Nghe An Power Company – stated that Nghe An Power Company continues to direct its high-voltage power grid management and operation units in the province to regularly inspect and protect the power grid safety corridor. This is to detect newly planted trees, houses, and planned construction projects along the power transmission line corridor that may violate the power grid safety protection corridor. The company will coordinate with local authorities to raise awareness and encourage people and tree owners to cooperate and agree to allow the management and operation units to clear trees inside and outside the corridor, ensuring the power grid safety corridor complies with regulations…
The Deputy Director of Nghe An Power Company also requested that authorities at all levels, before allocating land and granting construction permits, pay attention to the safety corridor of the power grid in accordance with Decree No. 14/2014/ND-CP dated February 26, 2014 and Decree No. 51/2020/ND-CP dated April 21, 2020 of the Prime Minister. At the same time, they should facilitate the approval of land allocation for medium and low voltage power lines that currently lack or have incomplete legal documentation due to historical reasons.
The Power Company has proposed that violations of the power line corridor require inspection and handling. Specifically, the following locations are in violation by planting trees: Between poles 139-141 of the 110kV 172E15.30 Quynh Luu - 172E15.3 Quy Hop power line, located in Hung Nam hamlet, Tay Hieu commune, Thai Hoa town; Between poles 189-208 of the 35kV 374E15.3 Yen Hop power line, located in Trong Canh and Thai Lao hamlets, Yen Hop commune, Quy Hop district; Between poles 01-02 of the Ke Can NR power line, located in Phom Lau hamlet, Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau district; Between poles 01-07 of the Hong Yen NR power line, located in Tranh Yen hamlet, Nghia Yen commune, Nghia Dan district.
Location of the construction violations: Between poles 37-38 of the 110kV 171E15.30 Quynh Luu - 171E15.2 Nghia Dan power line, in Ngoc Son commune, Quynh Luu district; Between poles 44-47 of the 22kV 480E15.1 power line, in Hamlet 15, Nghi Kim commune and Kim Lien hamlet, Nghi Lien commune, Vinh City.
