Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung asked forsufficient electricity for development and daily life by any means whenchairing a conference on coal supply for power production in Hanoi on December12.
Dung witnessed the signing of acontract on long-term coal supply for power generation at Thai BinhThermo-power Plant between the Vietnam National Coal, Mineral IndustriesHolding Corporation Limited (Vinacomin) and the Vietnam Electricity (EVN).
On behalf of the Government, theDeputy PM appreciated efforts made by the two corporations to take theinitiative in seeking long-term cooperation to ensure enough electricity toserve people’s demand and production development.
He noted that in Vietnam, hydro-powerand thermo-power are the two main sources of electricity, with hydro-power meetingonly 30 percent of demand.
Therefore, the demand for thermo-power,especially thermo-power using coal, remains huge, Dung stated, stressing theneed to develop thermal power with modern and environmentally-friendlytechnologies.
To provide enough coal for thermalpower plants, the Deputy PM urged the Ministry of Industry and Trade to soonapprove a plan on coal supply for coal-fired thermal power plants, and map outa master plan on the demand for coal.
The ministry was also requested to workwith the Ministry of Science and Technology and EVN to consider the use of coalblended between domestic and imported coal.
Dung also urged Vinacomin and DongBac Corporation to soon sign contracts with EVN and other coal consumingpartners on coal trading for 2019.
According to EVN statistics, totalelectricity output will reach 232.5 billion kWh in 2019, half of which will begenerated by coal-fired thermal power plants.-VNA