Suspension of competitive power generation market does not affect electricity prices

The suspension of the competitive electricity market does not affect the development roadmap of the electricity market in Vietnam or the electricity price.

In response to concerns about the pressure on electricity prices to increase when the Ministry of Industry and Trade requested to temporarily suspend the competitive electricity market from September 26, the Ministry of Industry and Trade affirmed that the suspension of the competitive electricity market is carried out in accordance with Circular 30 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which stipulates cases of permitted intervention and temporary suspension of electricity market operations; it does not affect the development roadmap of the electricity market in Vietnam as well as the electricity price.

According to Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Director of the Electricity Regulatory Authority (Ministry of Industry and Trade), the reason for the temporary suspension of the electricity market comes from both the supply and demand sides.

During the period of temporary suspension of the electricity market, the mobilization of power plants is carried out according to the principle of economic dispatch.

Specifically, in the first 8 months of 2017, electricity load only grew by about 8.5%, 3% lower than the plan set at the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, the supply from hydroelectric plants has been mobilized to the maximum (because the water flow to the lake is quite high, many lakes even have to discharge water to ensure dam safety).

Along with that, the system must simultaneously exploit additional gas-fired power sources to fully exploit the contracted gas output and limit overload on the 500kV line.

During the period of temporary suspension of the electricity market, the mobilization of power plants is carried out according to the principle of economic dispatch, prioritizing the mobilization of hydropower plants that must discharge water; maximizing the exploitation of gas-fired thermal power sources, and prioritizing the mobilization of coal-fired thermal power plants according to contract prices from low to high, taking into account the technical constraints of equipment and power systems.

As expected, the competitive electricity market will be operational again around late November and early December 2017.

According to calculations, the mobilized gas thermal power output is not much, only about 0.1% of the total load demand in the last 3 months of 2017. Therefore, the mobilization of electricity according to this economic dispatch does not affect the electricity price of the entire system.

Currently, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has directed the Vietnam Electricity Group, the National Power System Dispatch Center, power generation units and related units to closely monitor the hydrological situation of hydropower plants, load demand, transmission capacity on the North-South 500kV Line, the mobilization of gas turbine plants... to make timely decisions to restore the competitive power generation market as soon as possible.

As expected, the competitive electricity market will be operational again around the end of November and the beginning of December 2017./.

According to VOV