Vietnam plans to produce 24.38 billion kwh electric power in 1999, 2.72 billion kwh higher than 1998, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported on February 9, 1999.
In 1999, said VNA, Vietnam's electricity sector will invest 13,000 billion Vietnamese dong (vnd) (929 million U.S. dollars) in building the electricity transmission network and power plants. Of the sum, 53.5 percent would be spent for the construction of power plants.
According to the Vietnam Electricity Corporation, a number of power projects are scheduled to be put into operation this year. They include two gas turbines in Tra Noc Power Plant in Can Tho Mekong Delta Province, two turbines of the Yaly Hydro-Power Plant in Vietnam's central highlands, and Turbine Group No.1 of the Hinh River Hydro-Power Plant in the central coastal province of Binh Thuan with a combined capacity of nearly 1,000 mw. More than 1,410 kilometers of power transmission lines will be connected to the national grid in 1999.
Vietnam's electricity sector plans to reduce the hydro-electricity percentage from 67 percent of the country's total electricity output at present to 50 percent to make itself less dependent on natural conditions, especially in the dry season.
Vietnam's electricity grid has 15 major power plants and a number of hydro-electric and diesel-fueled turbines with a total capacity of 4,956 mw. The electricity sector turned out 21.6 billion kwh electric power last year, a 13 percent year-on-year increase over the previous year. Its commercial electricity output reached more than 17.7 billion kwh.
Electricity has been supplied to nearly 95 percent of the country's districts and 75 percent of all communes nationwide. Nearly 63 percent of all farmer households have access to the national electricity network.
Under the sector's development plan for the 2000-2005 period, it strives to turn out 30 billion kwh electric power by 2000 and 48 billion kwh electric power by 2005.
Vietnam is accelerating preparations to start the construction of the 3, 600 mw Son La Hydro-Electric Power Plant by 2000.