Vietnam: Give priority to the development of renewable energy such as photovoltaics. In 2021, coal power will be reduced by 6%
Vietnam plans to reduce coal-fired power generation by 6% this year to give priority to the development of solar energy and wind energy, although Vietnam is trying to solve the problem of limited transmission capacity.
This means cutting 8 billion kWh of coal-fired power generation from the estimated 126 billion kWh this year. Vietnam Electric Power Company (EVN), a national utility power company, estimates that the total power generation from all sources is 260 billion kWh.
In the first four months of this year, Vietnam also suspended the capacity of about 8,000 MW hydropower plants from 11: 00 am to 12: 00 pm every day to give priority to the use of solar power.
However, reducing the capacity of coal-fired and hydro-power plants also has a certain impact, for example, the frequency of turbine restart increases, and the risk of system failure also increases.
Last year, the number of restarts caused by oversupply jumped 2.6 times compared with 2019, reaching 192. In the first four months of this year alone, there were 334 restarts.
Through these cuts, EVN seeks to give priority to the absorption of solar energy and wind energy, and also hopes to further improve the renewable energy production capacity. This year, solar and wind power generation will reach 20,000 MW, accounting for 30% of the total supply.
However, due to the limited capacity of the transmission system, renewable energy accounts for only 12% of the total output. It is expected that this figure will rise to 17% in the next five years. The rest of the power supply will come from traditional sources, such as thermal power generation and hydropower generation.
EVN said earlier that it would also cut solar and wind power generation capacity by 15% to 20% to reduce the pressure on the national grid.
Nguyen Duc Ninh, director of the National Load Dispatching Center of EVN, said at the meeting on Tuesday: "Reducing renewable energy is what EVN does not want because it hurts developers."
Experts say that Vietnam is facing the dilemma of excessive supply of renewable energy, but the limited transmission capacity can not be completely absorbed, which is caused by poor management and planning.
Tran Dinh Long, vice chairman of Vietnam Electrical Engineering Association (VEEA), said that the vigorous development of solar energy in recent years shows that people lack expectations for the burden that renewable energy such as solar energy will bring to the national grid.
