In a report to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the EVNunderlined that the water level of reservoirs in the northern region in thefirst four months of this year was equivalent to 70-90% of the average in many years.Similar situation was also seen in many other reservoirs in the central and southernregion.
As of April 24, the water level had been low enough to posea risk of affecting power security and electricity supply for daily activities inthe rest of this year’s dry season. As a result, the remaining capacity of producingelectricity of reservoirs in the whole system is 4.5 billion kWh, 1.6billion kWh lower than the plan, and 4.1 billion kWh lower than the same periodin 2022.
According to the National Centre for HydrometeorologicalForecasting, the El Nino phenomenon will occur in the last months of 2023,causing the temperature to rise and the rainfall to be lower than the averageof many years. This is likely to make the flow to the lakes in the last monthsof the year to decrease.
Meanwhile, the supply of fuel for coal and gas power plantsis also limited due to low production and exploitation. EVN-managed plants will face a shortage of 1.3 million tonnes of coal.
Production from renewable energy sources such as wind power in May, June,and July are also forecast to be lower than 2022.
The EVN held that in the event of extreme situations such asa year-on-year rise of 15% in power consumption in the north due to hotweather, power system incidents and a sharp fall in the water level of largehydropower reservoirs, the northern region may face a power shortage of up to 1,600- 4,900 MW in May and June.
To prevent the situation, the EVN will optimisehydroelectric power sources in the north, while increasing powertransmission from the central region to the north and regulating watersources to ensure operations of hydropower projects.
At the same time, it will also intensify inspections to minimise incidents, and speed up the negotiations forelectricity purchase from renewable energy projects.
The EVN also underlined that saving electricity and usingelectricity efficiently is a very important solution to ensure enoughelectricity during the hot period./.